Description
This workshop is for Massachusetts pre-adoptive families licensed by DCF or a contracted agency who are matched with a child/children of color or already parenting transracially.
In this presentation, lived and professional experiences combine as a transracial adoptee and child welfare professional guide attendees through the formation of racial and cultural identity. This presentation goes beyond talking about the importance of honoring race and cultural differences and provides practical tools for parents as they help their families embrace complexities and prepare for challenges.
In this 2-hour training, families will have the opportunity to learn and discuss about the following topics:
1. Real stories of early exposure to racial and cultural identity cues within the context of first families.
2. The formation, challenges, and losses of racial and cultural identity from foster care through transracial adoption.
3. The impact of identity formation on young adulthood.
4. Opportunities for transracial adoptive families to embrace the formation of positive racial and cultural identities for their children.
5. Strategies for parents to incorporate multiculturalism into their families
The facilitators of the training are Nathan Ross & Kim Stevens from the North American Council on Adoptable Children NACAC.
Nathan Ross is a project specialist at the North American Council on Adoptable Children. Nathan entered foster care at the age of ten, and he was adopted as a teenager. Upon discovering that his resource-filled foster care experience was unique, he decided to center his career around increasing outcomes for future generations of children. Today, he uses his knowledge as a transracial adoptee and child welfare professional to train caregivers, foster care and adoption workers, and system administrators across North America. Additionally, Nathan works with agencies and states to develop programs and policies that genuinely engage youth by placing them at the center of decision-making and recognizing their inherent strengths.
Kim is a program manager at North American Council on Adoptable Children, where she works on a number of projects that support foster, adoptive, guardianship, and kinship children and families. Her duties include legislative and family advocacy, policy analysis and recommendations, curriculum development, training and capacity building, technical assistance for support and advocacy organizations, and youth empowerment activities. She also contributes to Fostering Families Today and Adoptive Families magazines, as well as NACAC’s quarterly Adoptalk newsletter on a regular basis. Kim serves on the board of directors for Family Builders Network and is a member of Voice for Adoption. She and her husband, Buddy have six children, four of whom were adopted as older children from the public foster care system.
The training cost is covered by the Massachusetts Court Improvement Program and is free of charge to Massachusetts pre-adoptive and adoptive families through DCF or a contracted agency. Registrations will be on a first-come-first-served basis.
