New Jersey Adoption Resource Clearing House

Join us for a special evening of Broadway performances celebrating family and community.

All proceeds from the event go to support the work of Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children who, for more than 115 years, has helped grow families of all shapes and sizes through adoption, and provided them with lifelong support and connection to community.

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.**

FREE!

Learn how to advocate for adoption assistance programs in your state or province.

In these tight financial times, legislators sometimes seek to cut adoption assistance programs, so advocates MUST be ready to respond.

Even if your adoption assistance program is not under threat, proactive advocacy can help maintain and even enhance these important benefits for children adopted from foster care.

PLEASE NOTE: This session covers how to advocate for the system. If you are interested in advocating for adoption assistance specifically for your family, you will want to access the Adoption Assistance Benefits and Eligibility webinar.)

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

Fee: $75.00

Adoptive parents and their children aged 6-11 years old are invited to join us for an afternoon of creativity, introspection, and structured exploration of their adoption story. Through this community-building event, adoptive parents and their children will also have the unique opportunity to meet other families and create new friendships. Parents will be asked to bring special items that represent their child’s story and where they were born including photos (copies are fine). All other creative materials will be provided by Spence-Chapin.

This event takes place at the Spence-Chapin Manhattan office. Snacks and refreshments will be served.

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.

Join Pact’s Executive Director and fellow adoptive parent, Beth Hall, to find community and talk about transracial adoption, race and identity issues that may be coming up for you or members of your family. The focus for these calls is transracial adoption.

These free calls are open only to current members of Pact. If you have not purchased a Pact membership (or your membership is not current) you can join at pactadopt.org.

The registration fee is $90 and includes all three sessions.

April 2, 16, and 30 @ 7 PM CST/8 PM EST on Zoom

Online Seminar for Partners of Adoptees

Relationships can be deeply meaningful and, at times, complex. Together in this is a three-part interactive seminar created specifically for partners of adoptees who want to better understand, support, and grow alongside the person they love.

In intentionally small group sessions, we will explore real topics that show up in adoptee relationships, including adoption loss and identity, emotional triggers, holding space during hard moments, communication tools, travel and birth country connections, parenting decisions, and ways to affirm your partner’s story in everyday life.

Conversations are grounded in both professional experience and lived perspective, with respect and care for adoptee voices and stories.

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.**

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

The Meet the Model series from the Post-Adoption Center introduces the core components of the Post-Permanency Model, designed to guide states, tribal nations and territories in delivering coordinated services to adoptive and guardianship families. The model is outlined in detail in the Post-Adoption Center’s Program Manual, which services as the blueprint for building comprehensive, community centered and accessible post-permanency services. We break down the 253-page manual into smaller pieces.

This session focuses on the Counseling Component.

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.

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.

This class will offer an overview on what the BP fund is, how it serves our community and ways that families can donate. We are hoping to include some stories from birthparents who can share how their lives were positively impacted by the AFTH Birthparent Support Fund. Additionally, we are hoping to offer an overview of ways that AFTH can provide on-going support for birthparents, post-placement.

FREE!

Are you considering growing your family through adoption? Please join us in-person to learn about how Spence-Chapin can support you in your adoption journey! You will be hearing from experts in Spence-Chapin’s international and domestic adoption programs about:

• International Adoption in South Africa, Colombia, Costa Rica, Jamaica and the Eastern Caribbean
• Domestic Adoption in New York and New Jersey
• Home Study Services

Families interested in applying to one of Spence-Chapin’s International Adoption Programs or Domestic Adoption Program can obtain a program application by attending this event!

Free, monthly virtual support calls provide a safe space for BIPOC adoptive, foster and kinship parents of BIPOC teens and young adults.

Join Raquel Vivanco, Director of the Adoptive Parents of Color Collaborative (APCC) and fellow adoptive parent, to find community and talk about parenting adopted and foster teens and young adults of color, including challenges, and helpful strategies. We will discuss how relationships shift as our young ones grow in their journey and how we can support ourselves and our loved ones.

This call is for people of color who are parenting adopted/foster teens and young adults of color.  Please be respectful of their space.

Teen Voices of Adoption (V.O.A.) is a virtual community where adopted teens ages 13–17 from around the world can connect, meet peers, and have real conversations about the topics that matter most to them.

Hosted by Rebecca Fiore, transracial adoptee born in Paraguay, and Adoptee Advocate. V.O.A. welcomes adopted people of all backgrounds to experience community amongst other adoptees.

Do you live in Arizona and are considering adopting an infant? Learn about Spence-Chapin’s Domestic Adoption Program for Arizona families! This free 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 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. Please register for a webinar event that corresponds with the state where you live by visiting our Events Calendar.

If you are unable to register for this webinar, please contact us to learn about other upcoming event opportunities or discuss additional pathways to grow your family through domestic infant adoption.

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.

Fee: $30.00