New Jersey Adoption Resource Clearing House

Register Now and Join Us in the AFFCNY Network!

Are you a Parent Playing in the Extreme Behavior Games? Us too!

We have been listening!

Many, many parents (you aren’t alone!) have expressed their struggles with teens and pre-teens who are participating in risky and dangerous behaviors. Youth with traumatic histories can have extreme behaviors. As parents we are thrust into survival mode trying our best to manage and protect our child, other children in our home, and ourselves.

Virtual Interactive Workshops Scheduled for:

June 13, June 27, July 11, July 25

Extreme Parenting Program’s 4 session series will be offered in both Winter and Summer of 2022.  This program is, specifically, for parents of children ages 10 and up who were adopted. The Extreme Parenting Program will be open to families in all 4 contracts; parents need to have completed the Reframing Parenting Series prior to participation in Extreme Parenting.

FREE!

Parenting a child with a history that includes loss and trauma requires parents to have a bigger parenting toolbox. This parenting webinar and group will focus on ways to add effective tools to support children from hard places. Come learn and share with others as we build our toolbox and let others borrow as needed.

The Strategies for Parenting a Child with a History of Loss and Trauma Series will be held via Zoom on Tuesdays (June 14th, June 21st, June 28th, July 12th, July 19th, August 2nd) from 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm EST. The series will lead off with a webinar and then subsequent parent support group meetings.

This event is free thanks to funding from the Jockey Being Family Foundation!

FREE!

Space will be provided for participants to explore and share experiences around international adoption, foster care, transracial/interracial adoption, search and reunion, birth/first family and other topics of interest to the group. Space is limited.

This is a free event open to adults of color who were adopted or are former foster youth.

• The first 600 registrations are FREE each month thanks to Jockey Being Family and Jockey International.
• Sign up for our monthly e-newsletter and be one of the first to receive our next free code!
• 30 days of extended access is included in your registration.
• Certificates of Attendance and Continuing Education Credits are available.

Did you know? Around 90% of caretakers with family members who have special needs/disabilities admit retirement planning is not their main priority. Rather caring for their loved ones with special needs is their number one focus. In fact, 70% of caregivers, and those with guardianship, who are trying to save are extremely concerned about providing their loved one proper supports (The American College of Financial Services)

There are often so many worries through-out life, especially to support our family members. It is important to prepare for the future, while the future is still unfolding.

Opeeka is proud to host this session where attendees will learn how to plan for each important stage of life. This includes:

• Protecting government benefit eligibility

• Understanding simple but important parts of your will

• Funding special needs trusts and ABLE accounts

• Writing a letter of intent

Gain peace of mind for the difficult question of “What will happen when I’m gone?” by knowing step-by-step how to provide quality of life and a lifetime of care.

Join more than 700 child welfare professionals at the only international conference on family focused treatment services. The primary objective of the Conference is to equip professionals with the skills and knowledge they need to deliver high quality family focused treatment services and interventions to children and families that are served both inside and outside of the formal child welfare system.

The 2022 North American Council on Adoptable Children virtual conference covers a wide variety of foster care and adoption topics—to meet the diverse needs and levels of experience of adoptive and foster parents, child welfare professionals, and people who were adopted or in foster care. The conference features 37 sessions that can be attended live, by recording, or both.

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.

Free!

Monthly virtual support calls will 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 is a free event.  This programming is for adoptive parents of color. Please be respectful of their space.

Participants will have the opportunity to explore topics such as experiences understanding loss and connection, birth/first families and connection, how to talk about difficult conversations, schools and adoption, and other topics of interest to the group.

REGISTRATION CLOSES at 11:59 pm July 25th

Independent of whether you participated in The Kempe Center’s 2021 international virtual conference, A Call to Action to Change Child Welfare, we are inviting you to join us for any topics in this monthly series that pique your interest and curiosity. In this virtual space, we will continue to learn together and discuss ideas that can support the transformation of child welfare systems to a system that promotes child and family well-being rooted in community, economic and social justice.

Free!

Group members 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.  This group is not for adoptive parents.

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.

Licensed families and waiting youth are invited to join us for a fun day of interactive activities at Diakon’s Wilderness Center in Boiling Springs, PA! This matching event is best for waiting youth age 12 and up and families open to this age group. Please note that we are unable to extend this invitation to any children other than our waiting youth.

We plan to promote connections between youth and families by creating opportunities for natural interaction with guided activities. There will be opportunities to try both the low and high ropes courses. This event will occur rain or shine! We will be focusing on the youth and families present and will not have agency display tables. Due to the nature of the event, we are unable to extend registration to biological or adopted children.

Many of us may be familiar with the acronym, “LGBTQ+”, but which communities are represented by the “+”? This webinar will explore some of the diverse identities that are included in the “+” like the spectrums of asexuality, two-spirit identities within Indigenous cultures, and the intersex community.

The Economic Mobility and Well-Being conference brings together three affinity groups of the American Public Human Services Association (APHSA) – American Association of SNAP Directors (AASD), National Association for Program Information and Performance Measurement (NAPIPM), and National Association of TANF Administrators (NASTA).

“Bridging Theory to Practice: Learning & Unlearning to Drive Effective Advocacy”

The annual conference is an opportunity for us to bring together professionals from child welfare and other intersecting fields and further the goals in NACC’s strategic plan through the exchange of ideas, information, and collective efforts. Most conference attendees are attorneys (representing children, parents, and agencies) and judges who work in child welfare court systems.

Free!

This supportive group for first/birth parents will take place as a Zoom call.

Group members 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.  This group is not for adoptive parents.

FREE!

Space will be provided for participants to explore and share experiences around international adoption, foster care, transracial/interracial adoption, search and reunion, birth/first family and other topics of interest to the group. Space is limited.

This is a free event open to adults of color who were adopted or are former foster youth.

Given the continued emergence of an interconnected society, an ever-evolving pandemic, calls for racial and social justice along with heightened polarization across many fronts, building organizational capacity for advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion is more critical than ever. The need for leaders across sectors, and especially within the social sector, to understand and engage the current environment is essential in building an equitable society for all.

During this three-part virtual workshop presented by Social Current, participants will explore their relationships with equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in a safe environment and make progress on developing an EDI action plan for their organizations.

Given the continued emergence of an interconnected society, an ever-evolving pandemic, calls for racial and social justice along with heightened polarization across many fronts, building organizational capacity for advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion is more critical than ever. The need for leaders across sectors, and especially within the social sector, to understand and engage the current environment is essential in building an equitable society for all.

During this three-part virtual workshop presented by Social Current, participants will explore their relationships with equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in a safe environment and make progress on developing an EDI action plan for their organizations.