This Sunday is Mother’s Day. For members of the adoption and foster care community, it can be complicated. What’s often not understood is that adoption begins with loss. The loss of one’s birthmother, often the most powerful of all losses. It can trigger questions like: Why did my birthmother leave me? What does she look like? Am I like her? Did she love me? Can I love two moms?
In recognition of this loss, I invited members of our C.A.S.E. family to write about their experiences with Mother’s Day and the meaning it has as an adoptee. As you read their powerful reflections, I invite you to reflect upon all the moms and mother figures in your own life.
May is also National Foster Care Month and Mental Health Month. You’ll definitely want to attend our latest Strengthening Your Family Webinar “Navigating Life in Foster Care: A Panel of Young Adults with Lived Experience”. We curated a panel of policy advocates, authors, and change-makers to discuss best practices in Foster Care. You’ll engage with our panelists as they share their experiences in the foster care system and the tools necessary for supporting foster youth and families. The first 600 registrations are free thanks to Jockey Being Family.
C.A.S.E.’s Adoptee Author Series features award winning author, journalist, and adoption expert, Mark Hagland. Mark will discuss his new book “Extraordinary Journey, the Lifelong Path of the Transracial Adoptee”. I hope you’ll join in this powerful dialogue.
Finally, I’m pleased to announce that we’re opening a new C.A.S.E. office in Washington, D.C. this month. There’s been a growing demand from families and we’re excited to meet this need. Conveniently located on R Street in Dupont Circle, we can’t wait to open our doors to new families.
2022 Healthcare Initiative Foundation Capacity Building Grant
| A Message from C.A.S.E. Co-Founder and CEO Debbie B. Riley, LCMFT |
| C.A.S.E. is honored to be a Healthcare Initiative Foundation (HIF) grant, recipient. Our innovative project will improve the accessibility of high-quality, adoption competent mental health services for the foster, adoption, and kinship community. In collaboration with HIF and the University of Maryland School of Social Work, we will train and retain a diverse workforce to equitably provide these much-needed services in Montgomery County, Maryland. I believe this pilot with two Master of Social Work interns will grow and help address the significant challenges we are facing in our mental health workforce and expand social workers’ interest and expertise in serving this population. We are deeply grateful for this opportunity and value HIF’s commitment to sustainable service delivery and a culturally competent workforce. |
Strengthening Your Family Webinar
| Navigating Life in Foster Care: A Panel of Young Adults with Lived Experience Thursday, May 19, 2022 | 1:00–2:30pm EST |
| Join us for National Foster Care Month for an impactful panel discussion about best practices in Foster Care with policy advocates, authors, and change-makers Tony Parsons, Hailey D’Elia, and Amnoni Myers. Participants will hear from our panelists as they reflect on their experiences in the foster care system and the tools they deem necessary for supporting foster youth and families. |
The FIRST 600 registrations are FREE thanks to Jockey Being Family. Use coupon code FOSTER at checkout. After the 600 free registration slots fill, registration is still available for $15.00.
NTI Transfer of Learning Tuesdays
| Applying Key NTI Concepts and Tools for Mental Health Professionals: Promoting Security in Adoption and Guardianship Tuesday, May 24, 2022 | 2:00–3:30pm EST (FREE) |
| The National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative (NTI) provides an understanding of the impact of abuse and neglect, separation, and multiple moves on attachment, as well as knowledge and skills to support healing from loss and grief, the importance of accurate diagnosis, tools for assessment, and common goals for reparative work in clinical practice. Experts from across the country will share therapeutic strategies and evidence-informed modalities embedded in NTI that have been helpful to them in their work with families to support grieving children, help to mitigate losses, and to rebuild and strengthen attachments. |
C.A.S.E. Adoptee Author Series
| Author Mark Hagland A Virtual Book Reading and Conversation Tuesday, May 24, 2022 | 7:00–8:30pm EST |
| Join us Tuesday, May 24th, for award-winning author, journalist, and expert in adoption, Mark Hagland, as he discusses his new book “Extraordinary Journey, the Lifelong Path of the Transracial Adoptee.” Mark was born in South Korea in 1960 and adopted in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he was raised by white parents of Norwegian and German descent. He obtained his master’s degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. He has worked as a professional journalist for 39 years and is the editor-in-chief of Health Care Innovation. Mark has been actively involved in ongoing dialogues in the transracial adoption world, for over 21 years. He has written numerous articles on transracial adoption, appeared in publications including TIME, and has been a contributing author to several anthologies by adult transracial adoptees, including “Outsiders Within,” “Parenting As Adoptees,” and “The Unknown Culture Club.” He is the creator and moderator of “Transracial Adoption Perspectives,” a Facebook Group with over 7,000 members. |
The C.A.S.E. Blog
| Mother’s Day Can Be Messy |
| No matter where you are this Mother’s Day…whether it be celebrating, mourning, or being stuck somewhere in between, know that Mother’s Day CAN be messy. But where there are messes, there is room for clean up. In this blog, Rachel Shifaraw provides an adoptee’s perspective on the complexities of loving and losing multiple moms while celebrating Mother’s Day. Continue Reading> |
| Written by Rachel Shifaraw, Adult Adoptee, C.A.S.E. Emerging Leader and Contributor to Beneath the Mask: For Teen Adoptees: Teen and Young Adults Share Their Stories |
| Loving Multiple Moms: Adoptee Perspectives on Mother’s Day |
| In this Special Double Article Blog, Tony Hynes and Tony Parsons share their perspectives on Mother’s Day and celebrating more than one mother. |
| Adoption and Mother’s Day: An Adoptee’s PerspectiveWritten by Tony Hynes, MA, C.A.S.E. Training Specialist and author of The Son with Two Moms, Interracial adoptee with LGBTQ identifying adoptive parents, Ph.D. student at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, studying social connectedness among adult interracial adoptees Continue Reading> |
| An Open Letter to All Mothers for Mother’s DayWritten by Tony Parsons, C.A.S.E. Emerging Leader |
Help Families Heal from Loss
Children and families already struggling with loss, separation, and trauma, have been hit hard by the pandemic. You can help adoptive, foster, and kinship families get the mental healthcare they need to thrive. Don’t wait, make a donation today!
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