New Jersey Adoption Resource Clearing House

Join us as we discuss attachment-based, trauma-informed, connected parenting strategies that are designed to meet the complex needs of vulnerable children. We will be using “The Connected Child” by Purvis & Cross to guide our discussions.

The Connected Child has helped countless adoptive and foster parents better connect with their children as they seek to love and care for them.

Register to Join the Coalition for Trust Based Parenting in the AFFCNY.Network!

Join us every Tuesday from 7 to 8:30 PM from June 8th to August 24th, 2021.

A special invitation for adoptive and kinship families parenting children ages 10-16!
Internationally recognized, Tuning in to Teens, is a parenting program designed to help parents improve relationships and connect with their teens. Because teenage years can be tough, TINT is designed to help parents:
– understand how your teen thinks and feels
– learn ways to manage your teens emotions and your own
– respond to your teen in ways that will help them talk more to you
– create a calmer home environment and lower conflict

6 two-hour weekly sessions held over Zoom.
Tentative dates: Tuesdays from 7/13/2021 to 8/17/2021
7:30pm to 9:30pm
Groups forming now and flexibility in planning.
Contact Cindy Lapidus with interest and questions: clapidus@njarch.org

$36 per person non-member. Special price Pact members receive 25% discount.

The opposite of being racist is to be antiracist.

Talking about race is never easy, but you can get more comfortable with practice. Remember, silence speaks volumes. White people in particular have to push beyond self-examination into action. This requires that we interrogate our own privilege and think seriously about what it means to be not just an ally, but to stand in solidarity with the mission of antiracist movements. In this webinar, we’ll discuss steps you can take that will better prepare you to have these difficult conversations—and to have them frequently. It’s what our children need and what the state of our society demands.

PST Time, CA

Start: July 28, 2021 11:00 AM
End: July 28, 2021 12:30 PM

$36 per person non-member. Special pricing Pact members receive 25% discount.

Adoption starts with placement or removal, and first/birth families are left navigating it for the rest of their lives, often with very little support. This workshop for first/birth families, led by therapists specializing in open adoption and first/birth family issues, will offer compassionate support and concrete guidance. There is no one guide to open adoption for first/birth families, and open adoption is complicated. It solved many of the problems of closed adoption, but created new problems as well as opportunities. In this workshop, we will address self-care and healing for first/birth families as we navigate all the variations, from recent search and reunion to long-term open adoptions. We will also discuss some guideposts to assess whether you are on the right track in keeping your child/ren centered while also acknowledging the importance of your own needs, even if they can’t or won’t be met. This workshop is for first/birth family members.

PST Time, CA

Start: Aug 4, 2021 11:00 AM
End: Aug 4, 2021 12:30 PM

Internationally recognized, the Crimes Against Children Conference is the premier conference of its kind, providing practical and interactive instruction to those fighting crimes against children and helping children heal. There were more than 6,900 professionals from around the world in attendance in 2020!

The conference is presented annually by the Dallas Children’s Advocacy Center. The conference is conducted to provide training to those employed by government or nonprofit agencies in the fields of law enforcement, child protective services, social work, children’s advocacy, therapy, and medicine who work directly with child victims of crime.

$36 per person non-member. Special pricing Pact member receive 25% discount.

Children study much more than reading and math in school; there, they learn how the world operates beyond their own home. If they are lucky, they’re taught to search for commonality and to appreciate differences in their classmates and then in the people of the wider community. One of the ways kids are taught about the world and people around them is through assignments that focus on family. When these assignments are broadened purposefully to be inclusive and respectful of many diverse family models, children growing up in “non-standard” families can relax and learn. Too often, however, these assignments are not sensitively designed.This webinar will focus on strategies for navigating school and supporting children who join their families through adoption. We will reflect on some of the challenges that families experience in navigating schools and work to develop action plans. We will also  explore positive examples of what’s possible in schools.

PST Time, CA

Start: Aug 25, 2021 11:00 AM
End: Aug 25, 2021 12:30 PM

$45 per person non-member. Special pricing Pact members receive 25% discount.

CEU Workshop – As the landscape of private adoption providers continues to be heavily dominated by for-profit facilitators, attorneys and do-it-yourself online matching services, solid ethics in voluntary infant placement and adoption become all the more critical. This workshop will raise questions about current practices in voluntary placements, especially as they impact interactions with expectant parents and pre-adoptive parents. We’ll identify specific questions that pre-adoptive and expectant parents considering domestic infant placements can ask to determine practices that are ethical, non-coercive and child-centered and encourage adoption professionals to hold themselves to high ethical standards.

PST Time, CA

Start: Sept 8, 2021 11:00 AM
End: Sept 8, 2021 1:00 PM

For over 30 years, the Conference has been the premier gathering for adoption professionals to get expert training and continuing education. This year will be no different. Choose from sessions in the Clinical Practice or Leadership and Management Track, featuring a lineup of inspiring, experienced speakers and topics of critical importance for the field of adoption.

From the convenience of your home or office, you can earn up to 12 CE credits* through an affordable, engaging virtual conference experience. Equip yourself and your team, for improved practice and effective leadership.

$36 per person non-member. Special price Pact members receive 25% discount.

Words and rituals are important methods of human communication through which we tell our stories and underscore our values. Words not only convey facts; they also evoke feelings. When outsiders to the experience of adoption use words that seem to place meaning or be biased regarding adoption, those who have first-hand experience can take offense or feel uncertain as to whether that outsider is an ally to them. How adoptive parents, first/birth parents, and other important adults talk with children about adoption, can have a big impact and demonstrate the underlying narrative that children will internalize about themselves and their identity.

PST Time, CA

Start: Sept 22, 2021 11:00 AM
End: Sept 22, 2021 12:30 PM

$36 per person non-member. Special price Pact members receive 25% discount.

A practical, developmentally grounded discussion for parents of color about talking to children of color about race in the context of the white Supremacy that permeates their world and ours. Parents will explore how to introduce and expand conversations in a manner reflective of their child’s developmental stage and be presented examples of how other families, educators and scholars think about strategies for balancing race-based pride with discussing the realities of oppression.

PST Time, CA

Start: Oct 6, 2021 11:00 PM
End: Oct 6, 2021 12:30 PM

$36 per person non-member. Special price Pact members receive 25% discount.

Considering transracial adoption begins with asking oneself the question: What is your motivation. Is it focused on what your child would need or your own desire or need to become a parent? Transracially adopting parents (parents adopting across racial lines) are better prepared to be successful if they are educated in advance about race, racism and how these issues will play out in the context of a family in which children and parents do not share the same racial identity. Even when they know race matters, many families, especially white adults, have questions about whether or not to be colorblind in a “postracial” context in order to avoid the pain and possible damage of racism. Preparing others for a racialized life begins with honesty about your own navigation of your personal racial landscape.

PST Time, CA

Start: Oct 20, 2021 11:00 AM
End: Oct 20, 2021 12:30 PM

This 2-day conference features noted national and Michigan experts who will address a range of topics in the field of child abuse prevention, assessment, and treatment. In addition to the keynote presentations and plenary session, attendees will have a choice of over 30 workshops focusing on recent advances and best practices in the areas of prevention, medical issues, child advocacy, and law enforcement.

The Families Learning Conference is for passionate people looking for innovative family learning strategies and practices to build stronger communities. Attending will provide exposure to a network of peers and funders, industry knowledge, and new teaching methods to take a more holistic approach to family engagement. Attendees are educators spanning preschool to adult learning, staff of community-based organizations and coalitions, librarians, parent leaders, funders, and researchers.

This programming is for adults only. At-Door registration will increase to $150 per day.

Each day will feature a keynote speaker followed by 2 afternoon sessions of 6 workshops per session, for a total of 12 workshops per day. Participants will choose 2 workshops per day.

Oakland, CA

Start: Nov 5, 2021 8:30 AM
End: Nov 6, 2021 5:00 PM

This unforgettable and inspiring conference features today’s most pressing issues in the anti-trafficking field. Presentations and workshops focus on skill-building, survivor experiences, cross-discipline collaboration, task force development, case studies and lessons learned. The JuST Conference continues to stand by the motto that each person has a role to play in preventing and ending commercial sexual exploitation, and that a collaborative community response is critical.

$36 per person non-member. Special price Pact members receive 25% discount.

Whether a child joins a family through domestic infant adoption, the child welfare system or international adoption, that event happens within the context of a larger system. Given that adoptive families are formed when children are separated or removed from their first/birth families, all who are touched by adoption must reflect on the ethical dilemmas inherent in it in order to help youth process their experience.

PST Time, CA

Start: Nov 17, 2021 11:00 AM
End: Nov 17, 2021 12:30 PM

$36 per person non-member. Special pricing Pact member receive 25% discount.

Are you planning a transracial adoption (either domestic or international), or are you already parenting across racial lines? In order to successfully meet your child’s needs, you must be prepared to think about and learn about race, white privilege, white fragility, racism and how to honestly interrogate your own whiteness. Hear directly from transracial adoptees and a transracial adoptive parent about the challenges and experience of transracial adoption. This webinar will not support a “color-blind” but rather a “color-affirming” approach. This webinar is designed for white transracial adoptive parents as well as professionals working with these families.

PST Time, CA

Start: Dec 1, 2021 11:00 AM
End: Dec 1, 2021 12:30 PM

$36 per person non-member. Special price Pact members receive 25% discount.

Open adoption was created as an alternative to the challenges of closed adoption. Advocates of open adoption often talk about a relationship between birth and adoptive families as a choice to be made for the sake of the adopted child. But not discussed is how to navigate relationships that are often not yet established and yet involve emotional power dynamics. Like arranged marriages, open adoption sets up relationships where the adults don’t really know one another; families have the love of their child as motivation, but need tools to make it work.

PST Time, CA

Start: Dec 15, 2021 11:00 AM
End: Dec 15, 2021 12:30 PM