Conference 2010 Provisional Programme, Registration and Accommodation Forms 
ICANZ Adoption Conference 2010: Footprints on the Journey
When: Queen's Birthday Weekend Friday 4 June 6:30 pm to Sunday 6 June 5 pm, 2010
Where: Waipuna Hotel and Conference Centre, 58 Waipuna Road, Mount Wellington, Auckland.
Our 2010 Conference will be our biggest and best ever with something for everyone - adoptive parents, internationally adopted young people and professionals working to assist our families and their children.
A special invitation goes out to our adoptees. While Saturday will have something for everyone, this day will have a full programme for you, including presentations by an internationally adopted young adult, opportunities to meet others like you and panel discussions. If you would like to be part of a panel with Jenica and Voichita and others, or contribute in some other way for example with your story or poetry, please contact Jenny Gow.
Keynote Workshops and Presentations
Jayne Schooler, based in the USA, is a well known adoption speaker, author and trainer. Jayne’s passion for over 25 years has been the training and education of adoption and foster care professionals and families. She has been a featured presenter at numerous state and national conferences, and is an award-winning recipient for her work as a child welfare trainer.
Jayne and her husband were foster parents in Ohio for eight years before adopting their foster child Ray, at the age of 16. They also have a daughter Kristy. The couple has recently spent many months in Kyrgyzstan working with orphanages, and training local social workers in child development and attachment.
Jayne has written many well known books including The Whole Life Adoption Book, Searching for a Past, Telling the truth to Your Foster or Adopted Child and Journeys after Adoption.
Jayne's workshops and presentations include:
Factors of Success for Healthy Adoptive Families: This workshop describes factors of success for healthy adoptive families – taking a look at communication dynamics within the adoptive family and outside the family.
What’s Inside an Adopted Teen? Navigating the teen years can be a challenge and when the layer of adoption is placed on top of that, it can create more issues. This workshop will examine key issues faced by adopted teens and offer parents strategies to move through these years with understanding.
Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child: What to tell and when to tell it.
Working with Kids in Orphanages: Jayne and her husband David will describe their recent experiences of working in orphanages in Kyrgyzstan, including descriptions of orphanage life and how children are disadvantaged in institutional care
The Power of Unmet Expectations: (for new parents) This workshop presents ten common expectations offered experienced by prospective or new adoptive parents and suggests ways to readjust those expectations.
Jayne will also be holding a seminar entitled Ask It Right: Assessing, Preparing and Supporting Adoptive and Foster Parents for the Journey Ahead. This will be held on Thusday, June 3 in Auckland and is for professionals working with children. More info here.
Matt Purcell was adopted from South Korea and grew up in Australia.
He is a talented musician signed with a major record label.
Matt has spoken and performed for thousands. His life story of being adopted, along with his musical ability, bring to life many issues for his audiences, touching and connecting with everyone.
Matt will bring to us the voice of the intercountry and trans-racially adopted young adult with powerful and heartfelt messages for adopted young people as well as their adoptive parents.
Debbie Jeffrey has a Masters degree in Social Health, a Graduate Diploma in Counseling, and is a registered Mental Health Nurse. She has trained with well known USA based Dr. Dan Hughes, whose Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy model is widely recognized for its effectiveness with attachment disordered and other traumatized children. Debbie is currently based in Sydney, Australia.
Debbie’s interest in attachment and trauma stems from her professional experience as a mental health nurse and counselor as well as from her personal experience as an adoptive parent and member of the adoption community. Debbie’s counseling practice is based on the view that children with attachment difficulties, children who’ve been abused or traumatized, can only heal when they have a caring, empathic relationship - in other words, a secure attachment. Debbie's presentation's include:
Sad, Bad or Just Plain Scared? How new research into attachment and trauma helps us to understand the experience of adopted kids.
Bad, Sad or Just Plain Scared? Parenting strategies... parents as healers.
Our Other Speakers Include:
David Shearer MP David will open our conference on Saturday morning. Now the Labour MP for Mount Albert in Auckland, he has spent many years working for the United Nations in various roles in hotspots such as Liberia, Rwanda, Afghanistan and Lebanon. David and his wife are also the parents of two Russian born children who have shared many of the couples’ experiences around the world.
Nicola Atwool is a Principal Advisor in the Office of the Children's Commissioner. Prior to taking up this position at the beginning of 2006 she was a Senior Lecturer in social work at the University of Otago. Previous to that, Nicola was employed in a variety of roles by what is now Child, Youth and Family for nearly twenty years. She has professional qualifications in social work and child psychotherapy and her presentation will cover the different patterns of attachment and their implications for later development. Strategies to assist children to rework their internal models so that secure attachment can be achieved will also be explored.
Dr Jagannath Pati, Deputy Director Indian Central Adoptions Resource Agency (CARA) Dr Pati’s presentation will focus on recent initiatives in India’s adoption system.
Keryn O’Neill (MA Psych) of Brainwave Trust Keryn combines her academic and professional background with her own current experiences of parenting young children to assist others to understand children’s needs. Keryn will discuss how neglect, trauma, poor nutrition and lack of learning opportunities affect the developing child and how positive changes enhance development.
Christine Rogan of Alcohol Healthwatch Christine Rogan is a Health Promotion Advisor with Alcohol Healthwatch, a non-government public health organisation funded by the Ministry of Health. Part of her work is to ensure adequate and appropriate care for families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder. Christine coordinates FANNZ, the Fetal Alcohol Network NZ, a link for families and the workforce. Her presentation is titled "Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and Adoption: What's Love Got to do With It?"
Parvathi Raghunathan and Daniel Haddock of New Zealand Ministry of Education ESOL, Migrant, Refugee & International Education Parvathi and Daniel will discuss schooling and language Issues in the context of our internationally adopted children. Their presentation will outline the programmes and services provided to assist parents who have adopted children from language backgrounds other than English and those with special needs.
Dr Rhoda Scherman, Psychologist of AUT Based on her research and her various perspectives as a psychologist and an adoptee, Rhoda will present on the subjects of; Child Development and Adoption – How kids aged 6 to 8 understand adoption and the implications for parenting. And; Openness in Intercountry Adoption - outcomes of recent New Zealand research.
We are holding a social event for adoptees on Saturday afternoon and a dinner for everyone on Saturday night.
For more details of the conference content, see our Provisional Programme and Speaker Information.
APIAF are co-hosts of our 2010 Footprints on the Journey Conference