The North American Council on Adoptable Children will hold its 38th annual conference in Crystal City, VA on July 25-28, 2012.
This year’s theme, Celebrating Families: Valuable Lessons from Children, Parents and Professionals, begins with a pre-session workshop with Dr. Bruce Perry, noted expert on child trauma. Dr. Perry is a Senior Fellow at the Child Trauma Academy and his research on integrating developmental neuroscience and child development with children who have experienced maltreatment is highly regarded.
In addition to the wonderful sessions and presentations available at the conference, our own work at the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare with our Permanency and Adoption Competency Certificate will be highlighted in a presentation with all the other sites that are implementing the Training on Adoption Competency curriculum developed by the Center for Adoption Support and Education.
Our presentation description:

Building an Adoption Competent Mental Health Workforce: Moving from Development to National Replication
Join the Center for Adoption Support and Education and leaders from replication sites in California, Minnesota and North Carolina to learn about the development, implementation and evaluation of a multi-year national initiative — Training for Adoption Competency. Site representatives will describe their experiences in implementing the training and building community-based, adoption competent clinical services. Lessons learned will be shared to help others implement evidence informed adoption competency training for mental health and child welfare professionals.
Debbie Riley, The Center for Adoption Support and Education, Maryland • Edythe Swidler, Lilliput Children’s Services, California • JaeRan Kim, Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, University of Minnesota • Janine Szymanski, Family NET of Catawba County, North Carolina

For more information about the NACAC Conference and to download the session program, click here or visit the NACAC website.