DECREE
AMERICAN ADOPTION CONGRESS
Summer 2015 - Vol. 32 / No. 5 ~ AAC Established 1978 American Adoption Congress
IN THIS ISSUE: 2015 AAC Board Pg 2 Think Green
Pg 3
Conference Review Pg 4 2015 Awards
Pg 5
Scholarship Winner Pg 6 Open Positions
Pg 6
Legislative News Pg 7 Contributors
Pg 8
Misc. Photos
Pg 8 Pg 9
Logo Contest
Pg 11
We want to hear from you! Please submit your articles, stories or poems to aaccommunicationschair.com for consideration in an upcoming issue of the Decree.
37th Annual International Conference Call for Proposals June 27 – August 15 for AAC’s Annual Conference:
Trailblazing Change: Moving Mountains Together in Adoption #AACUnite March 30 - April 2, 2016 Denver, Colorado
American Adoption Congress is currently accepting proposals. In keeping within the spirit of our upcoming conference title and theme Trailblazing Change: Moving Mountains Together in Adoption, we are extremely interested in workshops that you believe speak to trailblazing changes and ways in which we have moved mountains together in adoption. Please keep in mind the conference theme when preparing your submissions and consider teaming up with others who could speak alongside you on how you have ‘moved mountains together in adoption’. Also, when considering the below noted list of topic areas, think about how your workshop or session can be designed to speak of earlier experiences within adoption vs. more recent practices. Have we made trailblazing changes? If not, we are interested and will consider proposals that give voice to the ongoing needs. We are fully aware that many voices have not been heard and change is needed. AAC is committed to providing a conference experience that reflects the broad and diverse array of experiences and issues that impact members of the adoption community. We are encouraging a wide variety of submissions. The following is just a sample of topics for you to consider: International adoption, the older and younger generations speak Foster care adoption LGBTQ support & advocacy in the adoption (as parents & as foster alumni, teens & adults) Open Adoption Recent or newer birth/first parents and older birth/first parents panel discussion Transracial Adoption, the older and the younger generations speak Men in Adoption (as birth/first parents; as adoptees; as adoptive parents; and as foster parents) Mental health education, support and treatment in the adoption community Race relations in adoption Adoptees, birth/first parents and adoptive parents in collaboration Legal/Legislative Challenges and successes in the Adoption Community History of adoption practices in the US and abroad Rehoming, any change? Assisted reproductive technology Genealogy and DNA testing and Interpretation Ethics (in all of this!) Internet and adoption Search and Reunion (ethics) Identity Issues in Adoption Suicide, Professionals speaking to inventions used to address this issue in adoption Other
Please consider submitting a proposal by clicking this link: http://ow.ly/OUmGS or by visiting the AAC website at www.americanadoptioncongress.org. Please direct any questions or concerns to AAC’s conference chair, Cynthia McGuigan, aacconferencechair@gmail.com. On behalf of the Conference Committee thank you for your submission. Cynthia McGuigan Conference Chair
Susan O’Connor Co-Conference Chair
The American Adoption Congress is comprised of individuals, families and organizations committed to adoption reform. We represent those Pageconnections 1 whose lives are touched by adoption or other loss of family continuity. We promote honesty, openness and respect for family in adoption, foster care and assisted reproduction. We provide education for our members and professional communities about the lifelong process of adoption. Weadvocate legislation that will grant every individual access to information about his or her family and heritage.