The 2011 Tapestry Adoption & Foster Care Conference was a huge success, thanks in large part to the Tapestry conference team and dozens of other volunteers who helped make it possible.  We were privileged to serve over 800 adults and nearly 200 children at this year’s conference, with over 20 breakout sessions and an encouraging general session presentation by Jayne Schooler.

Watch this short video (created by Tapestry) that opened this year’s conference:

Click here to order audio CDs of the sessions from the 2011 Tapestry Conference (as well as past Tapestry conferences).  To pre-order DVDs of certain sessions, download and complete this order form and submit, along with payment, to Tapestry according to the instructions.  DVDs will be shipped by late December 2011.

Below are links to the slides and handouts from many of the conference sessions.  Be sure to check back in the coming weeks as we add more!

General Session

Keys to Success for Healthy Adoptive & Foster Families – What do parents need to know and understand about themselves and their children as they travel the adoption or foster care journey?  How can parents evaluate whether they are successful?  During this year’s general session, Jayne Schooler will highlight four keys to successful adoptive and foster parenting that are within reach for every family.  (Jayne Schooler)

• Slides for “Keys to Success for Healthy Adoptive & Foster Families”
• Principles of Telling

Breakout Sessions

What Did You Expect?: Examining Your Expectations to Meet the Needs of Your Child – When someone enters a new experience, they bring with them a whole set of expectations. This is true for adoptive and foster parents as well. But children in adoptive and foster families also bring with them an “invisible suitcase” full of needs and challenges. This session will look at the role of parental expectations in meeting the needs and challenges of adopted and foster children. The session will also provide parents with strategies to manage both more effectively.  (Jayne Schooler)

• Slides for “What Did You Expect?”
• Expectations Meet Beliefs

Adoption: Myths and Realities – People often encounter many different myths as they explore adoption and begin the process. This session will deal openly and honestly with many of the common myths – issues such as wait times, attachment, friends and family, birth parents, finances and much more. This session is designed specifically for those who are trying to decide which adoption path to travel as well as those who still have tough, unanswered questions and concerns.  (Anthony & Kristin Violi)

• Slides for “Adoption: Myths & Realities”

What’s Missing?: Helping Single Adoptive and Foster Parents Provide Everything That’s Needed – Single parents can find it challenging to provide their children with everything that’s needed, and this challenge is often increased when adoption or foster care is involved. This session, led by two experienced adoptive and foster single parents, will focus on some of the challenges encountered by single adoptive and foster parents and will provide practical insights and advice to help singles better meet their children’s needs.  (Kathryn Veazey & Jill Silvey)

• Slides for “What’s Missing”
• A Forest of Family Trees
• Books on Single Adoption

Fueled Up or Burned Out – Providing the nurture, care and guidance for children who come from difficult and traumatic backgrounds can be a challenging task for foster parents. Providing the environment and opportunities for healing can be even more difficult. In this session, Travis Jones will guide foster parents in identifying ways to refresh, recharge and refuel so that they can burn brighter and stronger, and not burn out. (Al Blankenship)

• Slides for “Fueled Up or Burned Out”
• Tips for Staying Healthy and Focused

Practical Realities of Connecting While Correcting – Adoptive and foster parents realize that connection is essential to help their children develop trust, heal, and grow. But they know that correction (i.e., discipline) is also important. This session will focus on practical insights and strategies for parents who want to better understand the “how and why” of connecting and correcting. Using a variety of everyday situations for parents of children of all ages, this session will illustrate the principles and strategies developed and taught by Dr. Karyn Purvis, co-author of The Connected Child.  (Michael & Amy Monroe)

• Slides for “Practical Realities of Connecting While Correcting”

Understanding the Connection Between Sensory Processing and Difficult Behaviors – Often the sensory processing systems of adopted and foster children are impacted by their histories. As a result, parents must be particularly educated and insightful about the role that sensory processing plays in their child’s life and behaviors. This session will explore the connection that can exist between sensory processing deficits and difficult behaviors, and how parents can more effectively identify, understand and respond to their child’s sensory-driven behaviors.  (Kristin Mathis & Shelley Fletcher)

• Handout for “Understanding the Connection Between Sensory Processing and Difficult Behaviors”

Learning to Parent Again – Parenting adopted and foster children in many ways requires a unique understanding, perspective, and approach. It often requires parents to “un-learn” much of what they already know and how they have previously parented. In this session, Paula St. John will help parents better understand some of the unique differences and challenges that come with parenting “children from hard places,” and will focus on helping parents “put down” their existing mindset and approach in order to “pick up” an approach that will yield greater healing, growth, and connection.  (Paula St. John)

• Slides for “Learning to Parent Again”

Loving Well in the Face of Loss: Preparing Foster Families for When a Child Leaves – Being a foster parent is filled with many joys, but it can also involve loss and heartache – especially when a placement leaves. When foster placements return home or move to another home it impacts everyone, including the foster child, foster parents, and other children in the home.  This session will explore how foster parents can ‘love well’ even in the face of this loss, and how they can discover purpose and joy during this time.  The session will focus on practical strategies to help prepare and support everyone that is impacted when a foster child leaves, and to recognize how God is at work.  (Travis Jones)

• Slides for “Loving Well in the Face of Loss”
• Handout for “Loving Well in the Face of Loss”

The Practical Gospel: Re-Discovering Our Call to the Adoption or Foster Care Journey – Is the Gospel at odds with becoming prepared and equipped for the adoption or foster care journey? Does learning and seeking help in any way diminish the role of the Gospel? This session will offer an insightful look at what it means to travel the adoption and foster care journey in light of and motivated by the Gospel. This session will focus on how the Gospel is made real, practical and “fully alive” as we follow God on this journey.  (Greg & Tracey Fields)

• Outline for “The Practical Gospel”

From the Valley to the Mountain Top: Finding Hope and Help in Crisis – Many families find themselves in the “valley of crisis” as a result of their adopted or foster child’s behaviors.  In this session, veteran adoptive parents Alan and Debbie Jones, will share from their experience how parents can best prepare for the challenge of difficult behaviors. By focusing on practical tools and strategies for parents (with an emphasis on “older” kids), this session will point parents toward the hope and help needed to begin the climb out of the valley and move toward a more joyful and successful future. (Alan & Debbie Jones)

• Slides for “From the Valley to the Mountain Top”

Opening Up About Open Adoption – As a result of more and more open adoptions and a growing body of research studying its impact, parents today know more than ever before about open adoption. In this session, Cathy Sones will talk honestly about open adoption – what it is, what it is not, how it is changing and what we are learning about the impact of open adoption for everyone involved.  (Cathy Sones)

• Slides for ”Opening Up About Open Adoption”
• Benefits of Open Adoption
• Identity and Openness
• Openness and Development
• Open Adoption Bibliogrpahy 

Moving from Checklists to Reality – New foster and adoptive parents often overlook or dismiss critical information about the foster and adoption experience. In this session, Ira and Valerie Kirkley use their own experience as foster and adoptive parents to highlight important details that parents and parents-to-be cannot afford to overlook or disregard – and they will also focus on some aspects of being a foster or adoptive family for which no level of planning can prepare you.  (Ira & Valerie Kirkley)

• Slides for “Moving from Checklists to Reality”

Lunch Sessions 

Whatcha Reading? A Survey of Helpful Adoption and Foster Care Books for Adults and Children  (Amy Monroe) 

• Tapestry Reading List

Making Sense of the Cost of Adoption  (Michael Monroe)

• Adoption Costs & Financial Assistance Resources

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Also Found In: 2011 Tapestry Conference, Challenges & Issues, Getting Started, Motivations & Expectations, Resources for Families, Talking About Adoption, Tapestry Blog