About the Conference
Recently, two of AFTH’s finest headed down to New Orleans for the From Helping to Healing conference.
“This conference is a joint initiative of American Academy of Adoption Attorneys/American Academy of Reproductive Technology Attorneys (AAAA/AAARTA) and National Council For Adoption (NCFA).” –fromhelpingtohealing.org
The conference explored many different topics, all focused on the greatest ways to help our world’s children.
The conference website also stated, “From Helping to Healing is a child centered conference that will explore research and best practices related to adoption from foster care, domestic infant adoption, intercountry adoption, advocacy, and the overlap between children of adoption and assisted reproductive technology (“ART”).”
In addition to AFTH staffers Ashley Kodet and Susan Myers, over 400 professionals attended the conference. All went to see how they could help children in the unique ways of their particular professions while networking with their peers.
“Our joint conference is designed to bring together social workers, attorneys, agency and program leadership, government workers, and other helping professionals in adoption academia, child welfare, health care, ART, and anyone with a passion for ensuring bright futures for children. We hope to bring together our diversely talented audiences to exchange expertise and experience working towards our common goals of building better families for children.” –fromhelpingtohealing.org
Conference Sessions
Many of the attending professionals also gave presentations at the conference. These would dive deeper into specific topics in the world of adoption and foster care. AFTH’s session entitled “Clients, Consumers, or Customers?” discussed issues about working with prospective adoptive parents and their different attitudes towards the adoption process.
Kodet shared, “Our presentation was well received and garnered a lot of feedback from social workers and attorneys. We also got a shout-out in the next morning’s keynote address by Dawn Davenport of Creating a Family.”
Sessions from other presenters ranged on a wide variety of topics. Kodet explained, “we also attended several presentations and talks throughout the weekend on topics including the birth parent rollercoaster, transracial adoption, post-adoption support, supporting waiting families, ethics, and ICWA.”
While Kodet and Myers both have vast knowledge and experience in the field, they were happy to learn new ideas from other professionals.
“One of the best sessions I attended was about supporting waiting families. It was very helpful to hear new strategies and thoughts from other social workers in the field.” -Kodet.
Conference Fun
Most of the conference focused on learning and meeting other professionals. However, there was also time for fun too!
Kodet shared “we also had the opportunity to explore the city some each evening. One of the conference-sponsored events was a parade through the French quarter complete with a band! It was a fun opportunity to take part in one of the city’s fun traditions with the other conference attendees! We also made sure to get café au lait and beignets from Café du Monde. Also lots of Cajun seafood to fully experience the city’s culture!”
AFTH is glad to have Kodet and Myers back. We can’t wait for the 2017 conference!
