Anthony will share his experience in the foster care system as an anchor for why he searches for the root cause. Part lecture and part call to action to members of the NAA community, Anthony will offer a rationale for why we must build partnerships across silos to truly improve outcomes within systems where we work.

As a person who has dedicated his professional career to improving outcomes for marginalized communities and as someone with personal experience in public systems like foster care, public housing, safety net programs, and juvenile justice, Anthony brings lived expertise to these issues and explains why we must all take the leap to expand our sphere of influence– as he did, to truly change and improve systems for children, youth and families.

Complex Needs Track

Too often, permanency preparation with youth begins only once a family has been identified, which may not fully address the unique needs of youth who have experienced significant trauma. Trauma can profoundly affect a youth’s ability to trust and form stable attachments, and years spent in out-of-home care can leave youth “out of practice” in developing healthy interpersonal relationships. Our approach emphasizes the importance of starting permanency preparation early and involving supportive adults who can play a vital role in helping the youth relearn social and emotional skills, such as how to build and maintain relationships, communicate effectively, and navigate family and community dynamics. By focusing on individualized strategies that align with each youth’s cognitive, developmental, and emotional needs, we can tailor the process to build trust, resilience, and ultimately, readiness for permanency. This approach is not just about finding a family for the youth, but about empowering them to enter a stable and loving environment, fully prepared to thrive. Engaging supportive adults throughout this process further strengthens the foundation for long-term success and well-being.    Learning Objectives  • Understand the Importance of Early Permanency Preparation:  Learners will be able to explain why permanency preparation should begin earlier in the youth’s journey, particularly for those who have experienced trauma, and the benefits of early engagement in building readiness for permanency.  • Identify Key Strategies for Tailoring Permanency Preparation:  Learners will gain the ability to identify and implement individualized permanency preparation techniques that address the cognitive, emotional, and developmental needs of youth.  • Incorporate Trauma-Informed Practices in Permanency Preparation:  Learners will learn how to apply trauma-informed strategies that promote healing and stability, ensuring that the youth feels safe and supported throughout the permanency process.  • Engage Supportive Adults in the Permanency Process:  Learners will recognize the critical role that supportive adults—such as biological family members, foster parents, mentors, and community figures—can play in preparing youth for permanency, and how to effectively involve them in the process to reinforce stability and trust.  

Post Adoption Track 

This workshop will provide an overview of an adoption disruption and dissolution study conducted by Wilder Research Foundation and the MN Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF). This study included surveys and interviews with adoption professionals, families as well as youth. Also, the study included a demographic analysis of adoption disruptions in Minnesota. We have concluded data collection and are currently working on data analysis as well as findings review. Our presentation will provide a background of the research study, a literature review summary, participant demographic information, and methodology. In addition, the presentation will provide an overview of preliminary findings and preliminary insights. Finally, the presentation will provide an overview of successes and challenges for the project thus far as well a discussion of potential areas of focus for recommendations. 

Kinship Track

Kinnect to Family (KTF) program was developed nearly 20 years ago and brought to Ohio where it was implemented by several counties in 2017. The program initiative, process, and values will be discussed. KTF program effectiveness and placement numbers will be highlighted. This workshop will include the Kinnect to Family Specialist along with a relative who accepted placement through the KTF program. The relative will discuss her story of the successful placement and the difference KTF made on her life.     KTF is an urgent, diligent family search and engagement program to identify and connect youth with kin, both biological and chosen-who can provide permanency and support. Through innovative tools and best practices, KTF helps ensure that youth remain connected to the people who know and love them.

Complex Needs Track

Youth with complex needs generally experience an increased number of placement changes – with a direct correlation with an increased length of stay in care. During the placement search process, prospective families receive relevant information about the youth, which often is limited to a list of diagnoses and behaviors. Youth often have little to no voice in the process.

NWAE’s “In my own words,” project aims to give youth a chance to give context their “file”. Youth are empowered to create a video narrative project that allows them to share their hopes and goals for the future, their interests, and dive into some of the things they might be struggling with or working on. This approach ensures youth voice is central in any placement discussions about them.

This interactive session will review the In My Own Words project and its theory, and will discuss actionable goals to elevate youth voice in a way that leads to placement stability and permanency.

Post Adoption Track

In this interactive session presenters from the National Center for Adoption Competent Mental Health Services and NTI Training will explore strategies for recruiting, preparing, and retaining a child welfare-competent and culturally responsive workforce sharing examples from state and tribal work. Participants will learn how technical assistance can help systems and tribes implement effective models of cross-system collaboration, develop local champions, and sustain trauma-informed and child welfare-competent services for children and families with complex needs.

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.

Lead by former Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families who is now leading Child Well-Being efforts at the Doris Duke Foundation, this interactive keynote invites the audience to consider how to identify one's personal mission and how to not stray from it during changing times. Elevating the tenets of implementation science, Ms. Hill-Lilly will communicate how child welfare leaders should employ specific strategies to address barriers, engage stakeholders, and measure outcomes like feasibility, adoption, and sustainability. Using witty stories, compelling lived experience narratives from her own life's journey, Ms. Hill-Lilly will help attendees adapt to change and continue to transform systems on behalf of the children, youth and families we all serve.  

Students/Early Career Professional Track  

This interactive training strengthens the capacity of child welfare professionals to uplift and partner with youth in foster care by centering their voices, honoring their legal rights, and cultivating healing‑centered practices. Participants will examine ways to amplify youth voice, support young people in understanding and exercising their rights, and co‑create opportunities for youth to bring fresh vision and momentum to long‑standing systems. The session highlights how NAA intentionally integrates protégés—young adults with lived experience in foster care who are entering the workforce—into the Ujima Collective. This innovative model offers a forward‑thinking blueprint for succession planning and sustainable systems‑change leadership. Through real‑world scenarios, collaborative design activities, and youth‑centered healing approaches, professionals will gain practical methods for elevating young people as true partners in shaping their lives and transforming the systems designed to support them.

Kinship Track  

Lutheran Social Services of WI and Upper MI has provided adoption and foster care services for over 50 years.   As a provider in over 55 counties a need was identified around initial and ongoing support of Kinship and Like - Kin families.   The team did research, surveyed partners and heard from families to create a service that is specific for Kinship and Like-kin families.  Hear about the process, evaluation and development LSS of WI and Upper MI went through to assure resources for families were available.  Some data from Wisconsin will be shared.  If available a family will join the presentation to share their experiences.   Tools related to kinship screening will be available.    A key component in this shift of service provision is understanding the Child welfare Transformational Change Wisconsin has been undergoing to assure families are the focus.   How the agency supported the staff in this shift of thinking will also be touched upon.