New Worlds of Adoption Conference: "Contact Between Adoptive and Birth Families: What Works?"

Growing numbers of adoptions involve some form of contact between the child's adoptive family and birth relatives. This has become especially common in domestic infant adoptions, but it is also a key consideration in adoptions from the public child welfare system, and increasingly in international adoptions. This year's "New Worlds of Adoption" conference will highlight research-based practice and policy relating to contact between a child's birth and adoptive families. 

PRESENTERS INCLUDE:

• Marla Allisan
• Susan Ayers-Lopez
• Amanda Baden
• Mary Beek
• Judy Cockerton
• Janie Cravens
• Rachel Farr
• Janice Goldwater
• Harold Grotevant
• Christopher Langelier
• Ruth McRoy
• Jenae Neiderhiser
• Elsbeth Neil
• Susan Ogden
• Adam Pertman
• Susan Livingston Smith
• Emma Ward
• Gretchen Miller Wrobel

TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED:

• Contact issues in domestic infant, child welfare, and intercountry adoptions
• Clinical practice issues and mediation relating to contact
• Legal aspects of communication agreements between adoptive and birth parents
• Research perspectives and findings relating to contact
• The role of social media in searching and contact
• First-hand accounts of young adults, adoptive parents, and birth parents involved in contact

SPONSORS: Rudd Adoption Research Program, Center for Research on Families, Department of Psychology, Psychological Services Center, College of Natural Sciences and College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, Massachusetts Department of Children and Families and the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work.