As someone who has attended adoption conferences for over 27 years, I firmly believe local and national adoption conferences are the best places for education on relinquishment and adoption issues. Below are some of the reasons I consider adoption conference keynotes and workshops to be one of the best places to learn about the complexity of relinquishment and adoption issues.

 

• Adoption trainers who present at conferences are usually extremely knowledgeable and passionate about their commitment to relinquishment and adoption education. As a conference adoption workshop presenter myself, I know the motivation for doing an adoption program is not because of the financial rewards – it takes countless hours to put together a good adoption program and you usually just get a discount on your conference fee. Thus, many adoption workshop presenters are at the adoption conference for their own benefit not just to do a workshop.
• Adoption conferences are also one of the best ways to get the most up-to-date information in the field. This is certainly true for adoption search and reunion which has changed dramatically with direct-to-consumer DNA testing kits, the Internet, and social media. Some of the best adoption search and reunion books while valuable on the adoption triad reunion experience, are so old there is nothing in the books about the DNA test kits and the Internet drastically speeding up the time relatives find one another and its impact.
• Authors often present at adoption conferences giving conference attendees the ability to learn of the latest relinquishment and adoption books being released while learning about the adoption books’ subject matter before spending money on the book. Books that I learned about at adoption conferences that are standouts are Beneath the Mask (Debbie Riley), Lived Empowered: Rewrite Your Brain’s Implicit Memory (Julie Lopez), and Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster  Child (Jayne Schooler).
• The adoption keynote speakers and adoption workshop presenters are often adoption triad members and, thus they are the real deal of how relinquishment and adoption impact adoption triad members. Too often adoption is presented through the rose-colored glasses of the adoption businesses. I am grateful to have met the wonderful adoption triad members, my greatest teachers, over the years to learn about relinquishment and adoption issues.
• The lifelong journey of being an adoptee, birth parent, or adoptive parent is easier to navigate when the adoption triad member understands their experience from an educational-clinical perspective. The bonding that happens between adoption triad members at national adoption conferences can be life-changing, but it is often the education on the clinical aspects that often give adoption triad members the tools to move forward.

So as not to play favorites with which adoption conference is listed first, I have listed the conferences in alphabetical order. By visiting each of the web pages you can see which of the adoption conferences have a high attendance of adoption triad members, are research-orientated, have programs for adopted youth while the conference is going on, or are child welfare focused. Some conferences offer continuing education credits for mental health professionals which is much needed as there is a shortage of adoption-competent mental health professionals. Additionally, some of the conferences offer scholarships for adoption triad members.

Visit the conference website to learn if the conference is virtual, in-person, or hybrid.

Adoption Knowledge Affiliates, Texas

Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition New York

Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture

California Adoption Conference

Celcia Center

Concerned United Birth Parents, open to all adoption triad members and professionals, rotates locations

Families Rising (formerly North American Council on Adoptable Children) rotates locations across the US and Canada

Korean Adoptee and Adoptive Family Network

National Association of Adoptees and Parents

Rudd Adoption Conference, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst location

Conferences that focus on how to adopt and the business of adoption have been purposely left off of this list.

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