WORKSHOPS

Our workshops aren’t your typical lecture or presentation. These sessions are engaging, providing opportunities to role-play hard conversations, practice new skills, and build an action plan for how to apply your knowledge in real-life situations. Come engage important adoption and foster care topics in an encouraging yet challenging space designed for those ready to go deeper in their learning.

Essentials for the Adoption Journey

For: Prospective and Current Adoptive/Foster Parents

In this workshop we‘ll touch on the basics of adoption loss and grief, discuss essential relational qualities for adoptive and transracial adoptive parenting, define and discuss the role of vulnerability in your parenting journey, and identify your strengths and weaknesses as parents. Moving beyond fears of discomfort, tension, or conflict to bravely embrace challenging conversations on complex topics is essential to building and maintaining a healthy and connected relationship with your child. In this workshop you’ll have opportunities to self-reflect, assess your strengths and weaknesses, and gain essential insights into developing and maintaining a meaningful relationship with your child. This workshop is a great foundational session to set the stage for navigating adoption with openness and humility. It can also serve as a meaningful personal and couple-based “check-in“ for those who are in the later stages of adoption.

Anti-racist parenting 101: Building racial literacy

To effectively raise a Black or brown child in the U.S. it's important to gain racial literacy or the necessary vocabulary and historical knowledge needed to understand and discuss race, ethnicity, racism, etc. This workshop will cover the values and actions of an anti-racist lifestyle, define and apply key terms and address potential fears regarding anti-racist parenting. This workshop is meant to act as a launchpad for further learning or as a refresher for those who have already engaged in anti-racist training. This workshop will give you the chance to engage in guided self-reflection, practice skills of humility and vulnerability, answer tough questions about your own attitudes about race and identity, and develop an action-plan for further education.

The Elephant in the room: Having conversations about race

How do you talk about skin color, race, and racism with your child? How should you answer when a friend or family member says something racist? How should you answer problematic questions from someone at the store? It’s important to gain a level of confidence and comfort in talking about race to properly advocate for and protect your child as well as model appropriate responses for when they’re old enough to speak for themselves. In this workshop we will identify and practice responding to instances of interpersonal or structural racism and practice having conversations about race with people in your community. This is an interactive, practice-oriented workshop where you’ll gain strategies for addressing challenging topics with your community. This workshop will provide practical tools for maintaining relationships while advocating for your child’s needs.

Moving from Racial Mirrors to Relationships: Cultivating a Positive Racial Identity

For: Current Adoptive/Foster Parents

Many white hopeful adoptive parents misunderstand “racial mirrors” to simply mean representation. Black and brown children need more than visual reflections of their race and ethnicity. They need dynamic, intimate relationships. In this workshop we will discuss what makes a positive racial identity for transracial adoptees  of color and what you can do to help foster an environment within and beyond your home that affirms their racial identity. In this workshop, we’ll discuss what racial identity is, the challenges posed to developing a positive racial identity for transracial adoptees and the importance of building genuine and meaningful relationships with your child’s racial/ethnic community.