Parenting Through Adoption 2011
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Wheaton College-Wheaton, IL*
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CONFERENCE
SCHEDULE &
WORKSHOP LISTING
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We are pleased to showcase an exciting array of
topics, ranging from pre-adoptive concerns to parenting issues for new and
“experienced” parents, to topics well suited for Adoption Professionals. Following is the conference day schedule,
and descriptions of each workshop. For
more information and biographies / credentials on our speakers, click here.
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Schedule
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7:30 - 8:30
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Conference Registration / Continental Breakfast
Exhibitor Area and Book / Merchandise Store Open for Viewing
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8:30 - 9:20
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Opening Remarks & Keynote Address by Adam Pertman
Welcome To The Revolution! |
| 9:30 - 10:40 |
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Session 1 |
| 10:50 - 12:00 |
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Session 2 |
| 12:00 - 1:00 |
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Lunch / Exhibit Viewing |
| 1:10 - 2:20 |
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Session 3 |
| 2:30 - 3:40 |
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Session 4 Exhibitor Area & Merchandise Store Open until 4PM |
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Audience Key:
Pre=Pre-Adoptive Parents, BP=Birthparents, FP=Foster Parents,
Pro=Adoption Professionals, AP-Y=Adoptive Parents-Young Children,
AP-PTO=Adoptive Parents-Pre-Teen+Older, AP-All=Adoptive Parents-Children All
Ages
Emphasis Key: D=Domestic
Adoption, I=Int’l Adoption, F=Foster Care Adoption
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SESSION 1
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9:30 am - 10:40 am |
1A. Continuing the Conversation with Adam Pertman
Presenter: Adam Pertman
Audience: All
Emphasis: All
This workshop provides an opportunity for conference attendees to discuss issues that Adam Pertman raises in his keynote address, to learn more about his work at the Adoption Institute for "triad" members, and to ask questions about your own children and families.
1B. Meeting the Challenges of Int'l & Domestic Adoption
Presenters: Cherie Jones Das & Kathleen Hogan Morrison
Audience: Pre
Emphasis: All
This workshop will emphasize how international & domestic adoptions have changed in the last five years. The presenters will address issues raised by the Hague Convention and country requirements in international adoption, as well as issues raised by the declining number and spiraling complications in domestic adoption. The focus of the workshop is on how prospective adoptive parents can adopt successfully, notwithstanding the challenges.
1C. Parents and Teachers: Supporting the Children Together
Presenter: Jane Katch
Audience: Pre, Pro, FP, AP-All
Emphasis: All
Children who spent their early years in orphanages or foster care can be at risk for difficulties in school. How can teachers adapt the curriculum to support their needs? How much should issues around adoption be brought into the classroom? When is it important for parents and teachers to talk about the child's history and what is the best way to do it? In this session we will discuss some of the issues that may come up in schools and discuss how parents and teacher can work together to support the children.
1D. Lessons Learned From Open Adoption
Presenter: Patricia Dischler
Audience: Pre, BP, Pro, AP-Y
Emphasis: D
Learn how your child's beginnings affect who they are & how you can support them in building a strong, positive self-image. Hear from a birthmother's perspective how adoptive parents have the power to overcome fears and negativity in adoption and set the standard for their child's view of being adopted. Patricia's personal journey as a birthmother will touch your heart & open your mind to a new type of relationship that supports the whole child.
1E. Commitment: Adopting a Child with Unknown Special Needs
Presenter: Susan A. Radcliff-Koniak
Audience: Pre, FP, Pro, AP-All
Emphasis: All
While many adoptees are identified as healthy, many adoptable children or children in the foster care system have unidentified special needs (Aspergers, ADD/ADHD, NVLD, FAS/FAE, etc). This workshop will look at: 1) the physical unknowns caused by drug or alcohol exposure, and possible genetic or unknown factors that may cause physical special needs; & 2) the mental unknowns caused by environmental influences, drugs & alcohol, trauma at birth, or genetics. This workshop will explore how a parent goes from wondering to being a kid's warrior. Resources will be offered.
1F. Effective Adoptive Parenting Styles
Presenter: Kathryn Herrera
Audience: Pre, FP, AP-All
Emphasis: All
This workshop was developed for adoptive families but can be applied to any family system. It is hard to find a family that has not been touched by loss: divorce, death, moving from one part of the country to another, losing the extended family system. Because of the nature of attachment and how important it is to the development of empathy, belonging and identity formation, it is clearly a cornerstone of parenting. This workshop will explore what does and does not work, in both changing behavior and encouraging children's attachment. Implementing effective parenting and discipline styles requires that we be committed to parenting in a conscious, deliberate manner.
SESSION 2
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10:50 am - 12 noon
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2A. Your Adoption Options & How to Get Started
Presenter: Denise J. Patton
Audience: Pre
Emphasis: All
This program is designed to give persons interested in adopting both a general understanding of what is involved in the adoption process as well as a direction on how to get started. This seminar will present an unbiased view of the many different types of adoptions available today. Adoption terminology, common legal issues, informational resources and financial benefits available to adoptive parents will also be covered.
2B. Adoptees Grow Up
Presenter: Krista McCoy
Audience: All
Emphasis: All
This workshop will discuss issues, challenges and rewards as adoptees age. Much of the historical research has focused only on the adoptee as an infant or young child. More commonly now, research is focusing on adoption throughout the life span. This workshop will discuss how adoption issues change over time; families and professionals can learn what these changes are and ways to respond appropriately.
2C. Medical Issues in Adoptions and Foster Care
Presenter: Todd J. Ochs, MD
Audience: All
Emphasis: All
What should adoptive parents and workers be concerned about, in the rapidly-changing world of adoption and foster care? What health problems do international and domestic adoptees have, now, and what problems might we face in the future? Shedding light on medical issues present in international and domestic adoptees, and in foster children, will provide parents and adoption professionals with valuable tools to go forward.
2D. Celebrate Adoption: Opening the Doors of Communication!
Presenter: Michelle Mattes
Audience: Pre, BP, Pro, AP-All
Emphasis: All
Michelle Mattes, an adoptee, will share her forty-one year's journey growing up adopted. Mrs. Mattes can provide you with insight from an adoptee's viewpoint as she has been reunited with her birthfamily for over 14 years and has remained close to her adopted family as well. We will discuss how adoption can be made a deterrent or a celebration and how learning how to be more comfortable talking about adoption will send the message of an "open door" policy when it comes to any questions in the future.
2E. Thinking & Talking About Racism For Our Children & Ourselves
Presenter: April R. Sakaeda
Audience: BP, FP, Pro, AP-All
Emphasis: All
Transracial adoptees often mention racism as one of the issues that accompanies adoption. But same-race families may also suffer negative effects from racism. How can we think and talk about racism in ways that benefit our families? How can our growing insights and understanding about race and racism impact the way we interact with our children, our communities and our society? This lecture will challenge the way you think about race and racism with regard to adoption issues and suggest ways to take action in your own community.
2F. 10 Things Everyone Needs to Know About Adoption
Presenter: Adam Pertman
Audience: All
Emphasis: All
Adoption's secretive history has left a legacy of faulty stereotypes, corrosive myths, and basic misinformation. In this workshop, Adam Pertman discusses the realities of adoption and its participants - from birthmothers to adoptees to adoptive parents - all in the framework of "normalizing" adoption as just one more natural way to form a family.
SESSION 3
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1:10 pm - 2:20 pm |
3A. Born in the USA: Legal Aspects of Domestic Adoption
Presenter: Shelley Ballard
Audience: Pre, BP, FP
Emphasis: D
This workshop will present an overview of the legal aspects of domestic adoption, including the types of adoption, the finality of a birth parent's consent, birth father rights and the IL Putative Father Registry, interstate adoption, openness, and avoiding scams. Recent changes to IL adoption law regarding an adoptee's access to his original birth certificate and a birth parent's right to designate the adopting parent will be reviewed. In addition, we will discuss the financial & practical considerations, such as average costs, medical insurance coverage, employer benefits and the adoption tax credit.
3B. International Adoption 101
Presenter: Susan D. Orban
Audience: Pre
Emphasis: I
This workshop will provide the most up-to-date information in order to educate prospective parents about the current state and the current options for international adoption, as well as an overview of the steps involved in an international adoption process. In this workshop, we will cover: (1) some of the preliminary questions to ask yourself when deciding if adoption is right for you and your family; (2) ideas to think about when choosing an international program; (3) resources for more information.
3C. What Needs To Be In My Child's IEP?
Presenter: Jill Dressner
Audience: FP, Pro, AP-All
Emphasis: All
Parents attend Individual Educational Plan meetings for their children with special needs but do not always understand what legally should be written into their child's IEP in order to ensure that their child receives all appropriate educational services provided under current law. This workshop will teach parents what should and should not be in their child's written IEP, and how the document needs to be written in order to be a legally binding document.
3D. Meet the Birthparents
Presenter: Vicki Twomey
Audience: Pre, BP, Pro, AP-All
Emphasis: D
A panel of birthparents from multiple adoption agencies in Illinois will tell their adoption stories and answer questions from the audience. This panel is intended for anyone that would like to meet, become comfortable with or would like to discuss birthparent issues. Our hope is to create an environment conducive to a meaningful and open discussion that allows people to gain a better understanding of this important member of the triad.
3E. Half & Half: Information For Raising Biracial Adoptees
Presenter: Michelle M. Hughes
Audience: Pre, Pro, AP-All
Emphasis: All
What does it mean to be "Biracial"? How are "Biracials" perceived in American society, both in the majority and minority communities? What is the history of Biracial adoptees? How does one have their Biracial child build a positive self identity in a world that says "choose"? What are the additional challenges for parents raising a Biracial child who are not interracially married themselves? There are support groups, Biracial advocates, and a growing number of resources; this discussion is to give a quick primer on being Biracial in America.
3F. Social Networking After Adoption
Presenter: Nancy Golden
Audience: All
Emphasis: All
Social network sites are fueling a revolution in adoption-a time in which adoptees and their birthparents can connect with a simple click of a mouse. This new world of connecting through social networking sites requires adoptive parents to reconsider how much information their children need to know about their birth families and the circumstances of their adoption. Participants will have an opportunity to consider how to think about and handle an unanticipated outreach from a birth parent or birth sibling. Contact initiated by young adoptees themselves will also be discussed.
SESSION 4
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2:30 pm - 3:40 pm |
4A. The Interstate Adoption Experience
Presenter: Sheila A. Maloney
Audience: Pre, Pro
Emphasis: D
In this day of using internet resources to pursue adoption, the number of interstate adoptions is on the rise. Each state's laws vary dramatically & prospective adoptive families need to know what to expect once the match is made. This presentation is intended to cover the purpose of the ICPC (Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children) and the steps required to ensure the speedy approval of the packet so the adoptive family can return home as soon as possible with their child.
4B. The Transracial 10
Presenter: Kevin Hofmann
Audience: Pre, FP, Pro, AP-All
Emphasis: All
As a transracial adoptee, Mr. Hoffman is often asked what his parents did right and what they could have done better. So from them, he has come up with the 10 things he thinks all transracial adoptive parents, foster parents and professional should know when considering transracial adoption.
4C. Dealing With Bullies
Presenter: Michael P. Maniacci, PsyD
Audience: All
Emphasis: All
Bullying can be difficult for everyone. This workshop will explore who bullies, who gets bullied, and what can be done about it. The common types of people who bully will be discussed, as well as the most common types of people who are bullied. This interactive workshop will give you an opportunity for questions & answers.
4D. Openness in Adoption Law & Practice Today
Presenter: Sally Wildman
Audience: All
Emphasis: D
Recent changes in Illinois Adoption law & practice recognize the importance of openness to all triad members both during the adoption process and later in the adult life of an adoptee. We will explore new techniques in the process: (1) Use of "Consent to Adoption by Specified Person" in private placements; (2) Use of "Designated Surrender for Purpose of Adoption" now in agency placements where adopting parents are selected by birth parents; (3) New Bill of Rights for Birth Parents. For adoption of those who are now adults, we highlight key search tools available.
4E. We're Home; Now What?
Presenter: Judy Stigger
Audience: All
Emphasis: All
Before placement, pre-parents attend training in the abstract; after, they love and raise a specific child. Now that parents have that specific context, they are ready for research-based, experienced-tested parenting approaches to the challenges faced by many of our "tough-start" kids (i.e.-an often-unknown mixture of genetics, less than optimal pre-natal care, and/or a period of substandard care before arriving home to us). This workshop will explore actions parents can take to settle in newly-placed children of any age, and emerging research on the implications of those tough-starts for behavior & discipline. We will develop practical parenting approaches to give our children the best chance at success in our families and with their lives.
4F. Chores, Responsibility And Self Concept
Presenter: Kelvin Gott
Audience: Pre, FP, Pro, AP-All
Emphasis: All
Self concept is the primary predictor of success in academics, career and personal relationships. This seminar offers proven ideas and techniques for improving your child's self concept and embrace of responsibility. Many of Kel's ideas are based on the Parenting with Love & Logic program of Jim Fay, Charles Fay and Dr. Foster Kline.
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| *This conference is not a function of Wheaton College - all inquiries regarding this event should be directed to CAFFA only-thank you.
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