New Jersey Adoption Resource Clearing House

FREE!

Having the opportunity to be surrounded by those who understand your family’s journey is a vital experience. There is sometimes a lack of understanding for the intersecting experiences LGBTQ+ families face. Such families require environments that honor those experiences, as well as spaces that provide opportunities to connect with individuals from similar family types.

C.A.S.E. looks forward to providing that space for your family.

Each group will meet virtually via ZOOM on the third Thursday of each month.

Meeting dates: 10/24/24, 11/21/24, 12/19/24, 1/16/25, 2/20/25, 3/20/25, 4/17/25, 5/15/25, 6/19/25, 7/17/25, 8/21/25

FREE!

This support group is designed to support adoptive parents who face the complexities of supporting children with both attachment and developmental issues. The support group will provide education, intervention ideas, space for members to share creative successes, and opportunities to work through challenges involved in engaging systems (medical, school, community) that are not always understanding of the special needs of adopted children or those with developmental challenges. Members will be asked to share their concerns and needs when signing up for the group so that the facilitator can incorporate information specifically relevant to those attending.

Each group will meet virtually via ZOOM on the second Thursday of each month.

Meeting dates: 11/14/24, 12/12/24, 1/9/24, 2/13/24, 3/13/25, 4/10/25

Join us for an informative session learning about Diakon Adoption & Foster Care programs.

The information session can help you to make a decision whether you are comfortable taking the next steps to become a licensed Diakon foster family.  Sessions are offered without obligation; participants are not required to proceed following the presentation.

There is no obligation to become certified with Diakon by attending.

Pre-registration is required so that the ZOOM link can be shared!

Spence-Chapin’s Birth Parent Support Group is a virtual meet-up for individuals who made an adoption plan (with Spence-Chapin or elsewhere) and are in any stage in their placement journey. This group is a safe place to get support and know that you are not alone. Topics will include coping with feelings of grief and loss, sharing challenges and successes with open and closed adoption, and improving communication with friends and family around your adoption plan.

Spence-Chapin’s Birth Parent Support Group meets on the last Tuesday of every month at 7pm EST.

There is no cost to attend. All attendees will receive a Zoom link to their confirmation email after registration.

Our International Team is excited to host this webinar and to share information about adopting from South Africa. Spence-Chapin is proud to have the longest history of any US-based agency of facilitating adoption from South Africa and we work with adoptive families living across the entire United States. The South Africa program welcomes adoptive applicants regardless of marital status or sexual orientation. In this webinar we will discuss common medical and developmental needs of children who are currently living in South Africa and waiting for their forever families. We will provide an overview the adoption process. We look forward to answering any questions you may have about adoption in general and specific questions about adoption from South Africa.

** We have chosen the Go to Webinar Platform to respect that during the exploration phase, some families are not yet ready to share their hopes to adopt with others and in Go to Webinar, your names and faces will not be visible to other participants. But we are always happy to support families in building an adoption community! If you do feel ready to connect with other pre-adoptive or adoptive parents, please let us know and we can facilitate introductions for those who wish to be connected to other families.**

*Free

Parenting is hard! Being the calm person when your child is having a hard time is easy to talk about and harder to actually do. Join us and have some fun and candid conversations regarding parenting and steps we can take to address our own triggers in the heat of the moment. *as you can see by the playful title, this book does use the term sh*t throughout, so if you are bothered by the language, please feel free to join our other book club.

*Free

Transitioning and launching a child into adulthood can be challenging for everyone – even without the complexities of adoption. We know parenting young adults and beyond is a unique season of life and can present its own set of challenges. Helping your adult adoptee navigate this season of life can be tricky and just plain exhausting at times. Whether your child has recently launched or has been on their own for many years, this change of roles can be hard for parents. In this group we will offer ways to stay connected with your child, talk through changing roles, and discuss how trauma plays a part in this transition. We want to offer a place for adoptive parents in this same season of life to come together to find support and community.

Join us to learn about our Colombia Adoption Program. Our Colombia Adoption Program is open to singles, married couples, unmarried couples, and welcomes LGBTQ+ parents. In this webinar, we will detail the pathways to adopt from Colombia, including pathways available to individuals without Colombian Heritage as well as pathways available to individuals who hold a Colombian Cedula. We will share information about the system of child protection in Colombia and will share photos of some of the children’s homes where children reside while in protective care. We will discuss common medical and special needs of children who are awaiting adoption in Colombia. We will speak about eligibility factors for prospective adoptive parents in Colombia. Bring your questions – we’ll save time for Q&A.

** We have chosen the Go to Webinar Platform to respect that during the exploration phase, some families are not yet ready to share their hopes to adopt with others and in Go to Webinar, your names and faces will not be visible to other participants. But we are always happy to support families in building an adoption community! If you do feel ready to connect with other pre-adoptive or adoptive parents, please let us know and we can facilitate introductions for those who wish to be connected to other families.**

*Free

Join us for some discussion centered around the complex emotional landscape of the adoption experience. We will explore viewpoints from each member of the adoption triad and have candid discussions about hope and healing in relationships.

Adoption Unfiltered authors Sara Easterly (adoptee), Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard (birth parent), and Lori Holden (adoptive parent) interview dozens of adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents, social workers, therapists, and other allies—all sharing candidly about the challenges in adoption. While finding common ground in the sometimes-contentious space of adoption may seem like a lofty goal, it reveals the authors’ optimistic aim: working together with truth and transparency to move toward healing.

Have you read The Connected Child and love the things you’re reading but just don’t know how to apply them? Are you looking for parenting strategies to help you address your child’s trauma history?

TBRI® is a relational intervention with practical strategies, techniques and principles to help you and your family! While TBRI was originally created specifically for foster and adoptive parents, the intervention is now being used across a wide range of organizations and services.

very FRIDAY: January 10-February 28, 2025 (*January 10,17,24,31 & February 7,14,21,28)

8:30-11:30am PST / 10:30am-1:30pm CST

$175/person early bird through December 13th. $200/person after December 13th.

$250/person for Social Work CEU’s in Illinois through December 13th and $275 after December 13th. (24 CEU’s).

FREE!

This event is at 8:00AM Arizona time.

Do you live in Arizona and are considering adopting an infant? Learn about Spence-Chapin’s Domestic Adoption Program for Arizona families during this free webinar! This webinar is the first step for families interested in applying to Spence-Chapin as all webinar attendees will receive a Domestic Adoption Program application. Our team will share details about the adoption program, including the application process, open adoption, demographics of the children in need of adoption, the matching process, options counseling for birth parents, and more!

Bring your questions! The meeting will include ample opportunity to have your questions answered.

Spence-Chapin’s Domestic Adoption Program is open to residents of Arizona, New York, and New Jersey. If you reside in New York or New Jersey, please register for a webinar dedicated to Spence-Chapin’s Domestic Adoption Program for New York and New Jersey families. These events can be found on the Events Calendar page of Spence-Chapin’s website.

If you are unable to register for this webinar, please contact us to schedule a call to discuss additional pathways to grow your family through domestic infant adoption.

Do you live in New York or New Jersey and are considering adopting an infant? Learn about Spence-Chapin’s Domestic Adoption Program for New York and New Jersey families during this free webinar! This webinar is the first step for families interested in applying to Spence-Chapin as all webinar attendees will receive a Domestic Adoption Program application. Our team will share details about the adoption program, including the application process, open adoption, demographics of the children in need of adoption, the matching process, options counseling for birth parents, and more!

Bring your questions! The meeting will include ample opportunity to have your questions answered.

Spence-Chapin’s Domestic Adoption Program is open to residents of New York, New Jersey, and Arizona. If you reside in Arizona, please register for a webinar dedicated to Spence-Chapin’s Domestic Adoption Program for Arizona families. These events can be found here.

If you are unable to register for this webinar, please contact us to schedule a call to discuss additional pathways to grow your family through domestic infant adoption.

Join us for an evening of connection, community, and discussion with fellow adoptees. Facilitated by Amy Trotter, Director of Post Adoption Services and Elliot Bliss, Supervisor of Adoptee Programs. We are excited to start this new monthly group!

Here are the dates for the upcoming drop-in groups!

• January- Tuesday 14
• February – Tuesday 11
• March – Tuesday 11
• April – Tuesday 15
• May – Tuesday 13

FREE!

Voices of Adoption (V.O.A.) is a virtual space for adopted people 18+ world-wide to join in conversation, meet peers and talk about the topics that are important to them. Hosted by Jessica M. Luciere, transracial adoptee born in Bogota, Colombia, and Manager of Community Engagement at Spence-Chapin, V.O.A. welcomes adopted people of all backgrounds to experience community amongst other adoptees.

Spence-Chapin is thrilled to partner with the experts at Your Adoption Finance Coach to provide our families with free access to experts, tools and content that can take the worry out of financing your adoption. In this webinar, we will be joined by Kelly Ellison, adoptive mother and Founder and CEO of Your Adoption Finance Coach. Kelly will provide valuable information about the Adoption Tax Credit which is available to families who adopt internationally or domestically. The adoption tax credit can greatly offset the costs of adoption. Feel free to bring your questions as we will save time for Q&A!

This webinar welcomes families who recently adopted through a Spence-Chapin program or who will be adopting internationally or domestically.

The webinar is a great way to learn more about Adoptions From The Hearts Open Adoption Program which places infants directly from the hospital.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Adoptions From The Heart is ONLY accepting applicants who are open to adopting children of all racial backgrounds and heritages. In addition, because we are an open adoption agency and are seeing an increase in the requested number of yearly visits, all prospective adoptive parents must also be open to a minimum of 2 visits a year with the childs birth parents. And while it is not a requirement, AFTH encourages open relationships through direct communication with birth parents, via text/phone and email post placement.

We look forward to connecting with you.

Fee: $15.00

FREE!

Join the National Center for Enhanced Post-Adoption Support for the Adoptive and Guardianship Preparation Train the Trainer Training. The goal of the training is to equip prospective adoptive and guardianship parents with the knowledge, skills, and insight needed to provide a nurturing home for their children. This training consists of four sessions, two hours in length. A certificate will be provided upon completion of all four sessions.

Four Sessions:
Tuesday January 21^st, 2025 Time: 2:30pm-4:30pm EST
Tuesday January 28^th, 2025 Time: 2:30pm-4:30pm EST
Tuesday February 4^th, 2025 Time: 2:30pm-4:30pm EST
Tuesday February 11^th, 2025 Time: 2:30pm-4:30pm EST

Registration is required. This training is limited to ion50 participants, sign up now!

Join us for a free webinar to explore the importance of prioritizing kinship care and learn strategies and tools for supporting kinship providers. 

Who should join?

Open to all audiences. This webinar will be especially helpful for child welfare professionals involved in recruitment, support, and retention of adoptive, foster and kinship families, as well as administrators who shape child welfare policies, procedures, and implementation.

What will I learn?

• The benefits of prioritizing kinship care and first placement with relatives and/or fictive kin
• Barriers relatives and fictive kin providers experience in the processes for first placement consideration, foster care/kinship licensing, fostering and adopting
• The impact of caregiver trauma and burnout on placement stability for relatives and fictive kin providers
• Strategies and tools for supporting kinship providers
• Hear from Ali Caliendo of Foster Kinship about her organization’s evidence-based Kinship Navigator Model and lessons learned in training, licensing, and supporting kinship providers
• Hear from Dawn Barton of South Carolina Department of Social Services about the agency’s work with this model and its efforts to prioritize kin-first placements

Fee: $100.00

AFTH wants families to make informed decisions when completing their profile keys. Dr. Erin Meyer is an internal medicine and pediatric hospitalist who works in the neonatal intensive care unit. She is also an adoptive mom and can speak from both professional and personal angles. She will be discussing the effects of drug and alcohol use on the newborn during pregnancy, as well as withdrawal symptoms and short and long term effects of exposure.