New Jersey Adoption Resource Clearing House

These 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.

This call is 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.

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 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.

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  call is free to current members of Pact. If you do not have a current Pact membership please join or renew at pactadopt.org.

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

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.

Considering adopting? Want to learn about adoption programs at Spence-Chapin?

Join Spence-Chapin staff to learn about the current landscape of international and domestic adoption and the needs of children waiting for adoptive families. We’ll discuss the scope of all Spence-Chapin adoption programs including international adoption (South Africa, Colombia, Jamaica and the Eastern Caribbean), and domestic adoption, as well as Spence-Chapins’ adoption services.

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

In this 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.

Price: $75.00

Adoptive parents and their children aged 7-10 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 and masks will be required throughout the event.

FREE!

Teen Voices of Adoption (V.O.A.) is a virtual space for adopted teens 13-17 world-wide to join in conversation, meet peers and talk about the topics that are important 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 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.

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.

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. **

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. **

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.

A collective of people adopted from China working together to organize the first closed* conference for our community.

Chinese adoptee collective presents “CONTEXT,” the first closed* conference for people adopted from China

• Who: Adults (18 yo+) who identify as people adopted from China
• When: June 27-29, 2025
• Where: In-person at Asian arts initiative, 1219 Vine St, Chinatown, Philadelphia, PA 19107
• How: 100% grassroots volunteer and community organized. Learn more about our virtual fundraiser to help offset conference costs here.
• Cost: pay what you can/no one turned away for lack of funds (pwyc/notaflof), our registration form will have a sliding scale for attendees**

We invite you to share your insights and experience. Whether you’ve worked in the adoption field for decades or you’d like to share constructive applications from your lived experience story for adoption professionals, we want to hear from you! We are seeking speakers who will elevate diverse perspectives and address emerging topics and recent research. Most conference attendees are adoption professionals including social workers and clinicians, executive directors, agency staff, and attorneys.

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.

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.

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.