Post Adoption Track

This interactive workshop introduces Play Together Stay Together, a vital component of Adopt America Network’s Ongoing Adoption and Kinship Support Program. Designed to strengthen family connections through intentional play, this program helps adoptive, kinship, and resource families build trust, foster attachment, and develop meaningful relationships.  Participants will gain an overview of how play is used as a powerful therapeutic and relational tool and explore the benefits of shared activities for both children and caregivers. Participants will also be introduced to how this program offers a community of other resources for adoptive and resource families, creating pathways for support, connection, and collaboration beyond the session.  Ideal for professionals looking for creative ways to reinforce family unity and cultivate lasting ties to better ensure permanency for youth in resource or adoptive families.      

Kinship Track

This training explores effective permanency practices that prioritize kinship care within child welfare systems. Participants will learn how to implement a kin-first culture, apply diligent recruitment strategies, and leverage successful state-level initiatives to improve outcomes for children placed with relatives. Through interactive discussions and real-world examples, the session will equip professionals with tools to enhance relational and legal permanency for youth in care.

Complex Needs Track

According to Platt and Gephart (2022), children with disabilities in foster care spent an average of 915 days in foster care compared to 514 days for children without a disability. Once placed, children with disabilities in foster care had a mean of 4.0 disruptions while the mean is 2.37 disruptions among those without a disability. It is clear that these numbers need to change and this workshop will explore common barriers to permanency for children with disabilities, offer actionable strategies for recruitment and family preparation, highlight how cross-agency teams can collaborate more effectively.      This will be an interactive session with the opportunity to learn from the lived experiences of families and youth.   

Kinship Track

This session will introduce professionals to Paths for Families Family Finding program, the only initiative of its kind in the state, built on a powerful public-private partnership that redefines how we engage, reconnect, and advocate for youth in foster care.  Participants will gain insight into the program’s history, its measurable success, and the collaborative model that bridges child welfare agencies with community-based services. At the heart of this work is a strengths-based approach that prioritizes maintaining and repairing important relationships, even in the face of complex histories and challenging behaviors.  Through real-world examples and interactive discussion, attendees will explore:  •How the program engages relatives and helps them see beyond a child’s behaviors to their underlying needs and strengths   •Strategies for rebuilding trust between families and the child welfare system   •The role of advocacy and case coordination in supporting sustainable reconnections   •The Family Finding process, including tools for identifying and involving extended family and kin networks   •An overview of pre and post permanency supports in achieving and maintaining permanency.

Kinship Track

While the Adoption and Guardianship Preparation Training (AGPT) equips caregivers with tools to navigate grief, attachment, identity and openness, kinship families often face these challenges in deeply personal ways. This panel will explore how AGPT principles can be tailored to meet the needs of kinship families. This interactive presentation will discuss the challenges and successes Oregon Department of Human Services (ODHS) has experienced in preparing families for permanency and how customizing the AGPT curriculum bridges the gap in training and supporting kinship caregivers. 

Kinship Track

This session highlights the unique partnership between a permanency recruiter and investigator as they bring together two very different professional lenses to strengthen permanency outcomes for children and youth. While it is not new to use investigative approaches in family search, Louie offers a distinctive blend of former law enforcement expertise and deep empathy -- skills that both uncover hidden connections and build trust with relatives and fictive kin. Paired with Shannon's extensive background in family engagement, the two demonstrate how complementary perspectives create a "special sauce" that goes beyond traditional recruitment.     Through their collaborative process, participants will learn how investigative strategies can enhance kinship and birth family engagement, particularly in navigating complex family dynamics. The presentation illustrates how professionals with different skill sets can learn from one another, step forward at the right moments, and ultimately maximize opportunities to connect children and youth with safe, lasting family relationships. 

Students/Early Career Professional Track

In this workshop participants will be immersed in the 40 year journey of a social worker who navigated the landscape of multiple systems starting as a young inexperienced social worker and moving to being a leader in one of the largest child welfare systems in the country. The presentation will include examples of the challenges of living our social work values and some strategies for ensuring we hold to our vision of helping and not harming.

Complex Needs Track

Young people who age out of the foster care system without a safe, stable, emotionally secure parenting relationship face an array of challenges that significantly affect all areas of their lives as they continue to emerge into young adulthood. In Massachusetts, young people can sustain a connection with the state Department of Children and Families (DCF) between the ages of 18-22, and at times through age 23. However, there is no real expectation that young people involved with DCF during this time will achieve or are expected to achieve legal permanency. There are indeed young adults who want to be adopted and can be adopted! even if the current practice norms and policy in our state are barriers.     The Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) and Plummer Youth Promise have partnered together to create an innovative solution that aims to assist transitional aged young adults in achieving permanency. This presentation will provide an overview of both agencies; the genesis of the collaboration; the role that each agency maintains; and the specifics of the actual permanency practice and procedures delivered to young adults who express an interest in Permanency Through Adoption. Youth and Family Voice/actual program participants will be incorporated into this presentation through assisting with the design of the presentation in addition to contributing to the delivery of the presentation. 

Complex Needs Track  

For families and youth navigating the foster care system, access to consistent, holistic, and community-centered support can be life-changing. This session will explore how the Treehouse Foundation leverages cross-actor collaboration with public agencies, nonprofit partners, educational consultants, and arts organizations to create wrap-around supports that enhance stability, belonging, and opportunity for youth and families.  Through partnerships with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, Treehouse provides a supportive environment for youth in foster care and their families. Collaborations with arts organizations have expanded creative, intergenerational programming that strengthens community bonds and nurtures identity. Partnerships with educational consultants ensure families receive no-cost, expert guidance for children with IEPs or school challenges, helping parents navigate complex education systems. In addition, alliances with Cradles to Crayons ensure that children’s basic needs—from clothing to school supplies—are met, while partnerships with Tickets for Kids provide enrichment opportunities that foster joy, connection, and new possibilities.