2022 Conference Presentations

Presenter – Gaelin Elmore

Workshop Description

Belonging is directly connected to positive health, career and educational success, and the development of relationships. Foster care, by nature, removes immediate avenues for youth to experience belonging, so it leaves an even more difficult and uphill battle to develop lasting connection. This workshop is geared to help you understand belonging, how it is aligned with DEI, and how to create it for the youth you encounter.

1.0 Hour Certificate

Presenter – John DeGarmo

Founder and Director, The Foster Care Institute

Dr. John is a TEDx speaker and an international expert in foster care and parenting. Dr. John and his family have been a foster family for over 60 children who have come through their home. He is a consultant to legal firms and foster care agencies, as well as a speaker and trainer on many topics about the foster care system. He is the author of several foster care books, including The Little Book of Foster Care Wisdom: 365 Days of Inspiration and Encouragement for Foster Care Families, and writes for several publications. Dr. John has appeared on Good Morning America, COURT TV, CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX, PBS, Good Housekeeping, and more.

Workshop Description

This session focuses on what Positive Parenting is and how it can be used to best help with acts of misbehavior by children. During this presentation, participants will come to understand what Positive Parenting is, and how it can be used to help children with behavior problems.

1.0 Hour Certificate

Presenter – Daniel Hall

I grew up in foster care from ages 2 – 5, and was beaten, verbally abused and told I was nothing but a piece of ****! Up until about 15 years ago, I didn’t give a **** about anything. By societies standards I should be rotting in prison. My life was transformed by the Halls, my wife Tina, and my 7 amazing children. Our first placement of two little girls, I was terrified “”HOLY ****, I have to parent this?

Now my wife and I are award winning foster/adoptive parents, I’ve co-trained over 400 inbound foster/adoptive families, and lastly, because the Hall’s showed up in my life, I’m currently developing tech that doesn’t exist in the world. They were the catalyst to the man I would become.

 

COVID prompted me to start reflecting on my life to write my epitaph “”Here lies a man that learned to reciprocate kindness by failing often”” – Size does Matter!

Workshop Description

By societies standards I should be rotting in prison. My story is one of going from severe struggle as a youth to being an inspiring, resilient dad, software engineer and mentor to foster/adoptive parents. I want to help other’s understand how those small victories made such a HUGE impact in my journey.

.25 Hour Certificate

Presenter – Teresa Crawley

Co-Presenter – Haley Crawley, Teresa’s 18 year old adoptive daughter

I have fostered over 10 years, adopted 3 children and had approximately 40 to 50 children over the past 10 years. I have 2 grown children and 5 grandchildren. Children are children, birth or not. Raising/taking care of children is a gift not anything taught. The love of children is a must.

Workshop Description

Becoming a foster parent is one of the most rewarding events you will ever come to know. You will have good times and bad times. You will laugh, cry, become discouraged, disappointed and sad-sometimes all at once or with just one child. You will encounter many personalities, strengths and weaknesses. You will be challenged day in and day out. You will learn your child wants and needs. The foster system is a revolving door, you become attached and then you lose your child. The most important thing you will come away with is you have helped a child in need and hopefully teach them to be a strong person and to know nothing is their fault.

.75 Hour Certificate

Presenter – Faye Hall

Co-Presenter – Jeff Merkert, B.S.

Jeff and I have created and facilitated two specialized in-home treatment programs designed for foster and adoptive families. We have years of training in early trauma, child development, and attachment. We have presented in numerous conferences since 2002 and trained professionals and parents in early trauma. A longer version of a similar training was presented at the PA state conference 2019.

Workshop Description

Daily resource parents share their hearts with the children in their care. Often, these children have histories filled with sad and scary events which they bring to us to help resolve. This requires extraordinary skills to manage our emotions while helping the children with their’s. Learn the four basic emotions, how the body responds to emotions, 6 steps to effectively manage emotions, and reflect on a list of self-care ideas. As we practice new skills, we become a model for the children. Regulating emotions allows us to enjoy life more fully.

.75 Hour Certificate

Presenter – Melissa Packwood

This presentation is geared to parents and professionals. It begins with an overview of the PDA Autism profile. Then, time is taken to give examples of everyday situations which must be approached differently when children have extreme anxiety or PDA. Time permitting, topics such as school refusal, safety issues, and basic compliance concerns will be addressed. 

Workshop Description

Are you a parent or professional who takes care of children who have Autism? Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is an Autism profile which is characterized by heightened anxiety or panic which causes extreme demand avoidance. Mainstream behavior management techniques are not generally helpful for those with PDA. During this presentation, you will learn strategies to assist with preventing meltdowns and aid in de-escalation of big emotions. You will also learn ways to prevent miscommunications, how to foster a diverse and inclusive environment, and how to encourage participation in self-advocacy.

1.0 Hour Certificate

Presenter – Roze Sharp

Over my eight years of fostering, I have met and worked with dozens of biological parents. Our two adopted sons and one pre-adoptive placement come with their own sets, and those sets with their own challenges. The drug dealer, the addict, the manipulator, the abuser, the racist, the neglectful, the ignorant, the violent, and on-and-on-and IT. DOESN’T. MATTER. We collaborate with them all, because if we can’t give the children in our care the honest statement, while looking in their eyes at the age of understanding, to say “We worked together.”, then we are putting sides in place for them. How unfair is it for us, on top of everything else they deal with, to make them pick? So, no, I am not scared of Bios. I embrace them, chat with them, text with them, have coffee with them, vacation with them, am joyful with their joys and sorrowful with their woes, and I advocate for them fiercely, because the one thing they did not have before their child(ren) was removed, was ME!

Workshop Description

“Hey Bio Parents! I’m not scared of you!” is the basis of promoting parent partnership. So often and too easy foster parents villainize or fear biological parents based on an inconclusive narrative received at placement. We de-humanize them based on our own perceptions of what a “good” parent should look like. Not only is this usually able to be overcome, but it MUST be overcome to promote a partnership with these biological parents. This partnership leads to an unbreakable strength being instilled in the child in care. Working together as partners through the process and showing that united front for the children is how we strengthen families. That strength builds relationships, and those relationships transcend reunification and termination.

.75 Hour Certificate