New Jersey Adoption Resource Clearing House

Need help with career advice, navigating resources, or just want to connect? This space is here for you!

When?

Starting December, join us every 2^nd Thursday of the month from 6 PM-7PM (EST}

Where?

Virtually on zoom! Zoom link will be shared

Who Should Attend?

• Experienced foster care or are currently in foster care
• Been adopted
• Been impacted by the criminal justice system
• Experienced human trafficking
• Had an incarcerated parent during their childhood

Why attend?

• Get answers to your questions
• Receive guidance and support
• Connect with someone who understands your journey

This is voluntary and unpaid. It is designed to support and empower eligible youth in achieving their goals

Helping Children Heal from Sexual Abuse is a Free, virtual Parent Support Group for adoptive, foster, or kinship families raising children who have previously suffered sexual abuses.

WHEN: Scheduled to meet monthly on the third Tuesday at 7 PM

WHERE: Exclusively in the in the AFFCNY.Network

Just Adoptees: A Monthly Virtual Support Group JUST for Adopted Adults

Have you ever been told or made to feel like you’re Just an Adoptee? If so, then have we got the space for you! The fourth Wednesday of the month is, currently, set aside for Just Adoptees.

“Just Adoptees” is a peer led adoptee-centric support group just for adopted adults. We believe being adopted can come with complexities that only another adopted adult can understand. Our goal is to let every adopted person know they aren’t alone and the way they feel is normal for a not normal situation. This isn’t therapy – it’s better! It’s a group designed to be a “safe space” for adopted adults to gather and share experiences regarding their adoption experience without judgement or expectations.

February 25, 2026; March 25, 2026; April 22, 2026; May 27, 2026; June 24, 2026; July 22, 2026; August 26, 2026; September 23, 2026; October 28, 2026; November 24, 2026; December 22,2026

$60.00

The primary focus of work with traumatized children is to teach and support them to learn new ways of effectively managing their emotions and behaviors.  In this interactive/skill based webinar, clinicians will explore strategies to: Increase a child’s sense of safety for assist adoptive parents to anticipate, prepare and trouble-shoot transitions and change to avoid or minimize acting out behaviors, support children to identify and regulate their feelings, teach adoptive parents to respond rather than react to children’s behaviors using predictable and safe responses to minimize power struggles. This webinar will build the clinician’s toolkit to assist adoptive parents to tackle behaviors before they intensify while calming themselves before calming the child. [Required for Adoption Certificate Program]

Please use this form to sign-up for the CUB Zoom Peer Support Group for Birth/First Parents on Saturday May 16th, 2026 @ 11:00 AM PST / 2:00 PM EST. Note the call will last 1 hour and 30 minutes and is only for mothers and fathers who have lost children to adoption.

The CUB Zoom Peer Support Group is a volunteer-run peer-led experience that takes place on the third Saturday of the month. For more information about what to expect when you attend a CUB Zoom Peer Support Group please review our Guidelines for Attendees here: Attendee Guide.

The CUB Parents of Adoption Loss Writer’s Group is a volunteer-run peer-led experience that takes place on the third Sunday of the month.

This is a once-per-month virtual space for first parents who are interested in writing about their relinquishment and adoption experiences. It is intended to facilitate a person’s ability to process and learn about their own experiences. The group will provide a safe and supportive space to write collectively, using writing prompts and other tools to facilitate creativity. Writings can be kept private or shared with the group based on personal comfort and needs.

Learn about Spence-Chapin’s innovative host-to-adopt program that prioritizes adoption for children from Colombia, ages 10-13 years old. For families who are open to older child adoption, this pathway provides both you and the child an opportunity to get to know each other and commence the bonding process during a multi-week hosting period in your home. Two different hosting periods are available – a five-week opportunity over the summer, or a three-week opportunity in December. Host families need to complete a home study with Spence-Chapin prior to being matched with a child for hosting, so now is the right time to learn more and get underway with your home study!

This program is open exclusively to families residing in New York, New Jersey, Arizona, and Florida, so that our local social work team can fully support you and the child during the hosting period.

• 8:00 pm – 9:00 pm Eastern Time
•  5:00 pm – 6:00 pm AZ Time

Join us for an informative session learning about adoption & foster care options in Pennsylvania.

The information session can help you decide 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.

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

FREE!

Post-permanency services are often concentrated in urban areas, leaving rural families with limited access to care. Geographic isolation, limited provider availability, and distinct cultural norms can make these communities harder to engage, especially when using traditional service delivery models. Join us as we examine barriers to program development and delivery and highlight creative strategies for building community-responsive post-permanency supports that reflect the unique realities of rural families.

Sin Costo (FREE Webinar)

En muchas comunidades latinas evitamos hablar sobre la adopción por temor a confundir o dañar a nuestros hijos e hijas adoptivos. Posiblemente tengamos ciertas actitudes hacia los padres y las madres biológicos y las personas adoptadas que se basan más en mitos que en la realidad. En este seminario web, disiparemos algunos de los conceptos erróneos sobre la adopción y el acogimiento familiar, y aprenderemos cómo centrarnos verdaderamente en las necesidades de los niños adoptados. Hablaremos de la importancia del lenguaje y las conversaciones sobre la adopción, tanto con nuestros hijos como en nuestra comunidad. Exploraremos el valor de mantener relaciones abiertas con las familias biológicas, así como las diferentes etapas de desarrollo de los niños y jóvenes adoptados. Este seminario web se impartirá en español y es adecuado para padres adoptivos, familias de acogimiento, sus parientes y comunidad y los profesionales que los apoyan, tanto como trabajadores sociales como maestros de escuela.

Join Pact’s Executive Director and fellow adoptive parent, Beth Hall, to find community and talk about parenting adopted and foster teens and young adults of color, including challenges, helpful strategies and how to support yourself and your loved ones.

This call is free and open to current Pact members only. If you have not purchased a Pact membership (or your membership is not current) you can join at pactadopt.org.

Cost: FREE

This webinar explores how key aspects of identity—including race, ethnicity, native language, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability—and racism shape the experiences of expectant/birth families, adoptees, and pre/post adoptive families. Participants will learn practical strategies for recognizing and fostering awareness and humility in their own actions and decisions, and their agency’s or organization’s adoption practices that reduce bias. Through case examples and guided reflection, attendees will gain practical tools to support diverse individuals and implement inclusive, anti-racist, and responsive approaches throughout the adoption process.

This FREE live webinar is sponsored by the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption.

These free support groups provide safe space where LGBTQ+ adoptive and foster parents of children of color can find community and talk about their parenting joys and challenges, intersections with our own queer identities and helpful strategies.

Please join Hudson Valley AGAPE team for an open parent support group via video chat. We will provide educational discussion-based concepts of self-care, advocacy support for your child through their sometimes-difficult behavior, and a safe space to connect with other parents who share similar experiences.

We encourage all foster, adoptive, and guardianship parents to build connections with others who “get it.” During our bi-weekly virtual Hudson Valley Connection Group, we will show a brief training; leaving plenty of time to discuss the topic and open the floor up to anyone looking for resources, advice, or a non-judgmental space to share what’s on their mind.

2026 Schedule: 1st and 3rd Thursday from 7:30-9:00 pm–

May 21; June 4, 18; July 2, 16; August 6, 20; September 3, 17; October 1, 15; November 5, 19; December 3, 17

Join us to learn about our new Costa Rica Adoption Program. Our Costa Rica Adoption Program is open to singles, married couples, and welcomes gay and lesbian parents. In this webinar, we will detail the pathways to adopt from Costa Rica. We will share information about the system of child protection in Costa Rica. We will discuss common medical and special needs of children who are awaiting adoption in Costa Rica. We will speak about eligibility factors for prospective adoptive parents in Costa Rica. 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.*

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.

There is no cost to attend.

Free monthly virtual support calls provide a safe space for adoptive parents of color to connect and share their experiences.

This is a group intended to meet the needs of people of color who have built their families through domestic adoption, kinship adoption, international adoption, foster care, same race and transracial/interracial adoption.

This programming is for adoptive parents of color.  Please be respectful of their space.

In this free support call first/birth parents will be able to connect, listen and share their experiences of adoption, both private and through the child welfare system. Space will also be provided for participants to explore and share experiences around open adoptions, closed adoptions, recent reunions, same-race adoption, transracial adoption, termination of parental rights, and other topics as decided by the group.
Please remember that this group is for birth/first parents who are related by birth to a child placed in adoption or foster care.