2017 National Adoption Month
How to Prepare and Support Families to Adopt Teens
For the third consecutive year, National Adoption Month is highlighting the urgency and importance of identifying permanent families for thousands of teenagers in foster care. This year, we are focused on preparing and supporting families to adopt teens. This webinar will focus on providing information to support child welfare professionals in effectively preparing prospective and current adoptive parents to meet the needs of the teens they adopt. Webinar participants will hear suggestions and tips from youth/young adults who were adopted as older youth and from a parent who adopted teens. The webinar will highlight information and key considerations in preparing parents to adopt teens, such as normalizing teenage behavior, recognizing and honoring that teens have other strong relationships that they’ll want to maintain after being adopted, and building parents’ knowledge about adolescent brain development and the effects of trauma.
Presenters:
June Dorn, National Adoption Specialist, Children’s Bureau
Kelly Canter, Adoption Program Manager, Child Welfare Information Gateway
Kathy Ledesma, National Project Director, AdoptUSKids
Keontae Crenshaw, Founder, 18, student
Diamond Jogler, 16, student
Staci Dennis, adoptive parent
Webinar Recording:
