Professional Training: Agency Business Practices

An Agency Challenge: Working With Gay Families

A 2-hour seminar that examines the dilemmas that adoption agencies face when working with gay/lesbian families; provides information and supportive strategies.

Always Wear Clean Underwear: Ethics in Foster Care and Adoption

A 3-hour seminar that examines ethical principles and provides a unique decision-making model to the challenging, real-life situations encountered by adoption workers. Fulfills the continuing education requirement on Ethics.

Effective Stress Management for Busy Parents

This seminar will provide an overview of the symptoms and causes of stress that come with working with traumatized children and families. Participants will learn to apply effective stress management techniques that can be used for themselves and their clients, such as reframing negative thinking, prioritizing multiple demands, and creating a positive family environment. Includes experiential exercises and discussion.

For Attorneys Only ... Navigating the Emotional and Legal Pitfalls of
Adoption

A 2-hour seminar that provides an overview of the legal issues and emotional process of adoption, as well as practical tips to help attorneys successfully manage the legal pitfalls and intense needs of clients involved in adoption.

The History of African American Adoption

A 2-hour presentation that provides an historical overview of the informal adoption traditions of African Americans and how these traditions impact recruitment of African American resource families.

Media Training for Adoption Professionals and Spokespersons

A 2-hour interactive presentation on the basics of media relations: how to speak to the media, make it a “water-cooler” topic, how to integrate sound bites, and more.

Recruitment Strategies for Adopting African American Children

A 2-hour practical grassroots recruitment model utilized by Project “If Not Us” (a federal grant awarded to Adoptions Together) which recruited families to adopt older African American foster children.

Transracial Placements: Preparing and Supporting Families

A 3-hour seminar for professionals working with families who intend to adopt children of another race/ethnic background; provides strategies to help evaluate parent readiness to embrace a new multi-racial family identity and integrate by integrating cultural factors at home, school and in the community.

Trends in Adoption

A 2-hour adoption information seminar on the legal and social work issues involved in voluntary infant relinquishment and adoption practice; includes a documentary with vignettes of birth and adoptive parents sharing their adoption choices and the various open adoption practices today.

Working with Contractual Social Workers: A Model for Successful Agency Practice

A 2-hour seminar that provides successful strategies for recruiting, training, supervising, and integrating contractual social workers into an adoption agency.