2021: What Lies Beneath

May 20, 21, 22 & 23, 2021 online in the AFFCNY.Network

For over three decades, the Coalition’s annual statewide conference has provided an opportunity for foster/kinship care/adoptive parents to be inspired, network and learn about the latest in the field.

Aimed at parents and professionals alike, the conference brings leaders in the child welfare field to New York and offers a variety of topical workshops designed to deepen the knowledge of attendees, help to form connections with other parents and professionals and give attendees tools they can bring home and share in their community. Nationally-known plenary speakers and workshop presenters share their knowledge and expertise to help participants gain perspective, increase skills, and learn to appreciate the positives.

Now, with a virtual program, the Coalition has recorded the ENTIRE CONFERENCE!

This year, for our 2021 ONLINE conference, we will be exploring below the visible tip of the proverbial icebergs. Join us as we explore deeply under the surface to the foundations and root causes of all aspects of child welfare, adoption, foster and kinship care.

Our 2021 Conference Theme: What Lies Beneath

Everything – a bird, a tree, even a simple stone, and certainly a human being – is ultimately unknowable. This is because it has unfathomable depth. All we can perceive, experience, think about, is the surface layer of reality, less than the tip of an iceberg. Underneath the surface appearance, everything is . . . connected.

Eckhart Tolle

We will be looking beneath our children’s surface behaviors to find the root cause.
We will be going past the acknowledgment of our children’s trauma and discover methods, treatments and modalities address the root causes of behavior and to begin to heal our children.
We will look into our children’s minds and bodies to understand the root causes of their behaviors, feelings, and thoughts.
We will be brave and self-aware as we look deep into our own pasts and childhoods, to understand our own traumas and triggers so we can break the chains of intergenerational traumas.
We will expand our knowledge of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) and trauma responsive practices for schools, the court systems, etc. in order to reduce the harm of toxic stress on our children.
We will examine the use of language and labels, through a history of changes, to understand the power of words and the impact on our children.
We will mindfully deconstruct different aspects of child welfare with a new heightened lens seeing institutional racism and outing it from our practices.
We will seek to understand the foundations of current practices, whether it be legislation, policy, or perceived cultural norms. We will ask how the history of child welfare in American shapes the current reality so we can plan for a better future.

Join us as we go on the journey of discovery and explore below the surface.

The Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition of New York extends our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to our most generous