Ambiguous Loss
Deena McMahon presenter Handout
This presentation will explore the many complex losses a child in foster care experiences as a result of placement. Aside from the obvious and visible changes a child must manage, there are daily reminders and triggers for the child as a constant reminder that they are not like everyone else. This will be discussed from the child's perspective and will include suggestions and recommendations for professional helpers. While this topic may seem rather obvious, it is essential that helpers who work with youth in care continue to be mindful of the complexities of the child’s experience. It is often the subtle daily reminders that create the most conflict and sadness for a child. This workshop will increase awareness of the child's thoughts and feelings and will also offer practical suggestions about how to address some of these losses.
Beyond Coming Out
Sid Jordan Peterson and Megan Kennedy presenters
Re-teaching Gender & Sexuality (Part 1)
Join us for a dynamic workshop that integrates multi-media components, opportunity for self-reflection, interactive activities, and concrete skill-building. In a safe and creative space, participants will learn more about sexual and gender diversity and gain valuable skills in working with LGBTQ youth. This workshop includes a screening of the award-winning documentary PUT THIS ON THE {MAP}.
Re-teaching Gender & Sexuality (Part 2)
In this next step workshop, participants will examine health and education disparities among LGBTQ youth and identify barriers in service and care. We will discuss how to assess organizational competence and community climate and consider opportunities in policy and practice to improve services and care. This workshop utilizes multi-media learning strategies and participants will receive take away tools for organizational assessment.
Beyond Trauma-Informed Care: An Adoption Competent View
Kevin D. Slack, M.A. presenter
It would be nice to find one issue that summarizes the needs of all our children presently orphaned or adopted out of the system into one sentence or to be able to wrap up the cure for their needs in one day of training. However, anyone who has spent time caring for our children will tell you: It's just not that simple. This training examine current approaches (including trauma-informed care) to helping adopted kids in terms of what works well and what could work better, and review some innovative approaches to improving their lives and the health of their families.
Black Fatherhood Project (Part 1): Context and Conversation
Jordan Thierry and LaVar Young presenters
In order to address the growing disparities for black children (especially boys) in the areas of education, health, exposure to violence, and lifetime likelihood of going to prison, human service organizations are increasingly being called upon to create culturally specific programs for black fathers. This workshop will show segments of the film "The Black Fatherhood Project" to draw attention to the historical backdrop of black fatherhood that contextualizes the services that black families are in need of today. The workshop will conclude with a discussion on how context informs approaches to working with black fathers.
Participants will learn:
- General characteristics of fatherhood in West African traditions, pre-colonization
- Some of the impacts of slavery on the structure of the typical black family
- How Jim Crow law and economic depression in the South encouraged black men to seek work in Northern cities
- The impact of mass incarceration on black men and families today
Discussion questions:
- How do the historical challenges put into context the work we do today with black fathers?
- Which systems have improved, become stagnant, or worsened over time in terms of addressing the needs of black fathers?
- What social, political, and cultural challenges do you experience in trying to work with black fathers and families?
Black Fatherhood Project (Part 2): Strategies for Empowerment
Jordan Thierry and LaVar Young presenters
Creating effective support and empowerment programs for black fathers can be critical, but often challenging. Some social service organizations find that Black men, especially those within low-income communities, can be difficult to find, hard to effectively communicate with, and not easy to retain in their programs. This workshop will show clips from the film "The Black Fatherhood Project" to showcase different perspectives of black fathers on current challenges, and offer a conversation on best practices and innovative strategies being employed
Participants will learn:
- Best practices for recruiting and developing staff for black men/father specific programs
- Black male and father retention strategies
- How to collaborate across agencies to address multiple needs of black fathers including job training, housing, custody, child involvement, health
- Visions of what "empowerment" looks like for a black father
Discussion questions:
- Does your organization provide any culturally specific services for black fathers, mothers, children, or families?
- What are some failures and/or successes you've experienced working with black fathers and families?
- What are some best practices you can share from working with black fathers, or another specific group with cultural specificity needs?
- What ways can your organization better serve black fathers if it doesn't have specific services or programs for them?
Commercial Sexually Exploited Children
Presenters:
Kelly Murphy, FBI
Giselle Rodriguez, Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking
Trina Melchart, Family Finding Coach
Doris McCord, Performance Improvement Specialist
Human Trafficking is a worldwide problem most everyone is aware of. However, there is a darker side to this industry that is occurring right under our noses in the United States. This is a problem that affects young American girls. Some may be tempted to call them "teen prostitutes" but we will discuss the importance of calling them victims. Commercial Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC) are victimized through stripping, prostitution, and other forms of exploitation in the sex industry. In this workshop, we will look at defining the problem, identifying the victims, and come up with some tangible things you and those in your agency can do to help victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation. In addition, we will look at how our foster youth in particular are more vulnerable than others in the community.
Crossing Bridges and Fostering Change: Working with Parents (Foster, Bio, Kin and Adoptive Parents) More Effectively in Child Welfare
Juli Alvarado presenter
Healing happens in relationship. If there is no relationship, nothing else matters.
However, in child welfare the most important relationships for the healing of 'our' children are often the relationships to which we pay the least attention. In this workshop we will explore the benefits of working closely with foster and bio parents. If we are truly working at returning children to safe and stable families we must increase the effort toward healing of those family systems. Exploring the benefits of relationship between foster and biological parents; taking the anxiety out of working with parents and having fun all at the same time will be the focus of this workshop!
The Disappointed Parent: Addressing Parental Grief as a Normative Crisis
Deena McMahon presenter Handout
Parent grief and disappointment is often the unidentified reason parents of foster and adopted children seek professional services. Parents report being disappointed in their experiences, in their children, in their families, in the system and in themselves. The prolonged and intense emotional impact on these families ranges from anger, sadness, depression, and even relinquishment of the child. Families describe being unprepared. Parenting a child with mental health problems is not unique to children in the foster care system. Parents and helpers become exhausted making excuses or trying to 'fix' the child who has problematic behaviors.
This grief and sadness is typically not addressed openly and parents too often feel such a prevailing sense of failure and shame that they do not speak of the experience with professional helpers. The child becomes the focal point for change while the larger issues remain unaddressed. This workshop will openly examine this process head on and offer ways to affirm and hear this from parents. Suggestions and resources are given that can be helpful to families. The concept of grief and disappointment as a normative family crisis for parents will be presented. This includes relationship repair suggestions, starting with relationship to self and extending this to partner, family, child and community.
Family…Matters!
Jessica Harlan, Abby Blackwell, Jennifer Townsend, Lindy Youndt, Misty Hubbard, and Trina Melchert presenters
Using a Family Finding Model, developed by Kevin Campbell (founder of the Center for Family Finding and Youth Connectedness), Hillsborough Kids’ Family Connections Team works collaboratively with six Case Management Organizations to identify family connections for children in Licensed Out of Home Care. The primary goal of this practice is to honor every child’s right to lifelong connections by first locating, then working with, and empowering individuals in order to make decisions for these children.
This workshop will not only provide a brief overview of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, it will also provide information regarding tools and techniques within each of the Six Steps of the Family Finding practice.
Family Success: Achieving Outcomes by Promoting Accountability
Bret Stockton presenter
This presentation will focus on the approach that Youth Villages takes to working with high-risk youth and their families as well as the specific strategies and interventions commonly used in the intensive in-home program, Intercept, to achieve long-term, successful outcomes for families. Youth Villages will share outcome data on over 20,000 families served with intensive in-home services and discuss how the Intercept program is able to reach long-term success rates of over 80% of families up to two years post-discharge from the program (meaning the youth is still in the home). Specifically, Youth Villages will discuss how the Intercept Program increases family accountability and permanency for youth by thoroughly assessing and addressing the families' strengths and needs related to the family unit, the school(s), peers, the individual child, and the community. Youth Villages currently provides intensive in-home services to over 1,600 families in 11 states and the District of Columbia (including Florida), and has been providing these services since 1994. Youth Villages will discuss how the program is funded across these various states and how the Intercept Program can be tailored to meet the local needs while still ensuring adherence to the Intercept model and replication consistent outcomes across locations.
From Chaos to Calm: REAL Strategies for Difficult Behaviors in Attachment Challenged Children
Juli Alvarado presenter
"I’m Losing IT!!" From defiance, lying, stealing and fighting to depression, self-harming, anxious and run away behaviors, parenting and treating traumatized children with attachment challenges often leaves us feeling scared, frustrated, hopeless and even helpless at times. Join fellow foster parents, therapists, consultants and trainers for this cutting edge, educational, motivational and inspirational workshop that will provide you with the necessary tools to transition your home or office from Chaos to Calm, TODAY!
Giving a Fish a Bath: The Untold Story of the Adolescent Mind
Frank Kros presenter
Ever think the adolescent mind was impossible to understand? Recent discoveries in neuroscience offer exciting insights into how the brains of our teens really work and the special "brain-based" challenges facing adolescents as they mature. This workshop reveals why teens are especially vulnerable to drug use, high-risk peer influences and depression as well as the proactive measures adults can take to minimize a teen’s exposure to these dangers. This seminar also addresses the often mystifying role of hormones on adolescent development and focuses on the key roles that stress and sleep have on teen learning processes. In addition, the workshop offers strategies compatible with the many strengths and opportunities available during this miraculous developmental period, including helping teens to develop positive character traits. If you've ever thought that the adolescent mind could not be understood, this workshop will arm you with the latest insights and information on knowing and empowering the teenage brain.
Learning Objectives
- To introduce participants to the rapidly emerging research on how the adolescent brain is built and how it works. Participants will identify how the adolescent brain is significantly different than the adult brain and the child brain.
- To acquaint participants with the practical application of this research to behavioral and emotional interventions provided to teens by caretakers and educators, with specific focus on helping adolescents avoid high risk activities such as drug use, alcohol abuse and sexual activity. Participants will learn and practice six specific techniques for helping teens avoid high risk behavior.
- To expose participants to the growing body of resources on brain-compatible counseling, guidance, mentoring and parenting techniques including books, newsletters, websites, conferences and workshops. Participants will be able to locate brain-based resources in their community and via the web.
- To share with caretakers and educators tools to help their teens overcome adversity, depression, anxiety and stress and to expose participants to the scientific research on happiness and how they can nurture the childhood roots of adult happiness in their foster homes, group homes and schools. Participants will be able to articulate the five most important parenting/relationship characteristics that are predictive of happiness and identify specific practices for nurturing these characteristics.
"Rule of Thumb", a One-Act Play about Domestic Violence
Karla Hartley and Keith E. McHenry presenters
"Rule of Thumb" depicts the spectrum of domestic violence and its devastating effects at home and in the workplace. Two women with vastly different backgrounds gather the strength and courage to change their lives. Produced and published by Plays for Living.
Plays for Living
Founded in 1942, Plays for Living (PFL), is a not-for-profit organization, that uses interactive drama and theater techniques to help people at all levels of society explore and confront sensitive contemporary issues. PFL’s live dramas and facilitated dialogues allow people to ask and discuss developmental questions about the challenging life situations that impact them. Our mission is to use drama as a tool for positive social change.
Since its founding, PFL has brought together theater professionals and experts on various social issues to develop and produce its original plays about critical family, community and work-related issues. Today’s body of work includes plays about diversity and conflict in the workplace, sexual harassment, corporate ethics, domestic violence, date rape, the 9/11 tragedy, military veterans and their families, discrimination and violence in schools, gender and sexual preferences, safety for older adults, caring for aging relatives, conflict resolution and more.
At the heart of the organization is a repertoire of original plays, scenarios and workshops that are written and performed by professional playwrights and actors. Minimally set and propped, the plays are written to be performed virtually anywhere. Schools and universities, corporations, professional associations, civic and community-based organizations, hospitals and government agencies use the PFL programs as valuable aids in communication, training and education.
SIT STILL AND BE QUIET – PARENTING THE CHILD WITH ADHD
Deena McMahon presenter Handout
This workshop will explore the many challenges faced by children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. An overview of how the brain manages sensory input and how the child experiences his/her world will be a starting point. Discussion will include examples of interventions, strategies, and ways to reframe a child's choices and behaviors to facilitate skill-building and prevent family conflict. How adults ask a child to achieve something they can't is at the heart of the issue. How to support success is the goal.
Transforming the Culture of Conflict: A Brain-Compatible Model for Solving Problems in Modern Organizations
Frank Kros presenter
Conflict in the workplace has historically been managed by the twin pillars of authority and the legally informed "discipline process." However, these pillars have often fallen short of what human serving professionals need in times of conflict and crisis: the very best thinking and creative collaboration among and between employees. In addition, authoritative approaches often lead to the creation of a "culture of blame." This workshop offers a new model of conflict resolution focusing on ownership, collaboration, and strengthening employee relationships. This four-part, progressive problem solving model combines the best of brain research with 30 years of human service experience to produce an efficient, effective conflict resolution model proven effective in a multi-service children's organization. Learn a new paradigm for solving difficult, personal and seemingly intractable problems among and between your employees and usher in a new era of creative, cutting-edge solutions to age-old conflicts.
The purpose of this workshop is to share with attendees a new model of problem solving when conflicts arise between individuals or groups in a human service organization. Specifically intended to eradicate a culture of negativity and blame, this model is based on our understanding of how adult brains function in the workplace and respond to stress. After successful implementation at The Children's Guild over the past five years, the goal of this workshop is to share the model with attendees in a way that it can be practically implemented in his/her own work environment.