Please choose carefully when registering for Pact events.
Pact is not in a position to refund workshop or event registration fees.

February 3 - 5, 2012 Oakland/Berkeley Area 9:30 am - 4:30 pm	Honing Your Skills with Holly van Gulden Advanced training for professionals working with adopted fostered kids Please join Holly van Gulden for three days advanced training. Holly's work is centered on the building blocks, or the core psychological experiences and capacities that are necessary to develop a stable and resilient sense of self. These capacities, called "Object Relations, Self-Permanence and Constancy," are fundamental to how individuals perceive themselves and those around them, and are directly related to one's capacity to receive, hold and offer to others: safety, comfort, warmth, value and joy. 15 Hours of CEU's from the Board of Behavioral Sciences included.
February 4, 2012 Oakland, CA 1:00-4:00 pm	CANCELLED Adoptees Speak Out - Learning from the experience of those who have come before Parents of Color and their Parenting Partners are invited to hear adult adoptees of color discuss what worked and what didn't and get advice from them about understanding adoptees feelings. This is a great opportunity to ask questions of those who have lived the experience and explore the lifelong issues that are part of the experience. Featured Speakers: Adult Adoptees of Color.
February 11, 2012 Oakland, CA 9:00am - 4:00pm	True Colors is a day-long workshop for transracial, international and interracial families that focuses on the issues inherent to parenting children across racial lines. You will hear from adults who were raised in transracial adoptive families about their experiences. We will present concrete suggestions for connecting your child to his or her racial heritage and information about how positive racial identity develops. We will focus on white privilege and how white parents sometimes bring blinders to some of the racial realities that their children will deal with as a fact of life as a person of color. Real life scenarios will be explored in an interactive approach to problem solving and understanding the obvious and sometimes not so obvious divides and boundaries that multiracial families must negotiate.
February 11, 2012 Oakland, CA 6:00pm - 9:30pm	Pact Tween/Teen Club Discussion Group Tweens & Teens only! Meet other kids of color who were adopted or fostered. Here's a chance to have a good time with other kids who are like you. Event location will be emailed once registered.
March 10, 2010 Oakland, CA 8:30am - 4:30pm	Adoption: Weaving the Stories Together A collaborative conference by Pact, Adoption Connection & On Your feet Foundation. Learn how the adults in adopted children's lives can best embrace and support each child's story and validate all triad members loving contributions to the child. Join us for a rare opportunity to learn to recognize a child's changing emotional and cognitive understanding of adoption over time.
March 17, 2012 Oakland, CA 6:00pm - 9:30pm	Pact Tween/Teen Club Discussion Group Tweens & Teens only! Meet other kids of color who were adopted or fostered. Here's a chance to have a good time with other kids who are like you. Event location will be emailed once registered.
April 7, 2012 Oakland, CA 1:00-4:00 pm	AdopTalk - Talking with children about their life story Parents of Color and their Parenting Partners will spend time practicing responses to various questions from their children about adoption and birth parents while the children will work together to explore their own adoption stories. The day will end with a presentation where parents will hear from their children about their feelings and questions about adoption. Featured Speaker: Beth Hall
April 14, 2012 Oakland, CA Time TBA	Pact Tween/Teen Club Outing Tweens & Teens only! Meet other kids of color who were adopted or fostered. Here's a chance to have a good time with other kids who are like you. Event location will be emailed once registered.
April 21, 2012 Oakland, CA 9:00am - 12:30pm	Baby Care for Adopted Infants: Part 1 The Care And Feeding Of Your New Baby Is a baby care class designed especially for pre-adoptive parents! You will learn the fundamentals of baby care and won't have to sit through topics that don't necessarily apply to your family (such as post-partum care or healing after the birth). Other topics include how to hold your baby, bathing, feeding (including adoptive breast feeding), clothing, sleeping patterns for the newborn vs. the older infant, health care and safety issues. This class is appropriate for parents-to-be of children up to 2-years-old when they come home. Featured speaker: Molly Brannigan, Infant Care Instructor.
April 28, 2012 Oakland, CA 9:00am - 12:30pm	Baby Care for Adopted Infants: Part 2 Promoting Attachment, Preparing Yourself and Supporting Your Baby through the Transition into Your Family (Separate Tracks for International/Domestic/FosterCare Placements) The class will teach you the basics of methods of baby care that promote attachment beginning with understanding what it is (and isn't) with the understanding that attachment can be taught. Learn how to read your new baby's cues and understand how where your child has come from impacts who they are with you, whether the placement is direct from the hospital or an orphanage or the foster care system. Ask the doctor feature, allows pre-adoptive parents to ask all the questions they have but may have been afraid to ask. Featured Speakers: Beth Hall, Director of Pact and Dr. Laurel Schultz, Pediatrician and adoptive mother.
May 5, 2012 Oakland, CA 9:00 am - 12:30 pm	AdopTalk: Part 1 Developmental Milestones for Children in Understanding Adoption - Promoting Conversations With Your Adopted Children Addressing the unique questions and issues inherent to the experience of being adopted, we will discuss the developmental stages that children go through and how each stage changes their understanding and questions about being adopted. Focusing on behavior as the language of children and research-based tips for understanding a child's point of view and feelings about adoption, practical guidance will be provided for how to create a plan for sharing information and managing the unknowns. Featured Speaker: Beth Hall, Director of Pact.
May 17, 2012 Oakland, CA 6:30pm - 8:30pm	Pact's Family of Color Adoption Orientation Join Malaika Parker, Pact's Family of color Specialist, for a FREE orientation to learn about the adoption process through Pact. We will answer many questions about different kinds of adoption with specific focus on the need for parents for children of color and the specifics of the experience of adopting an infant through Pact.
May 19, 2012 Oakland, CA 9:00 am - 12:30 pm	AdopTalk: Part 2 Adoption Stories: Helping Youth Understand and Explain Their Adoption The experience of being adopted can create a complicated mix of emotions for a child. Add to that the common experience of being asked to "tell their story", children and youth are left to figure out their own narrative, fill in the gaps and find the boundaries for what part of their story is theirs alone and what they share with their families and the world. We will address the narrative burden that is part of every adoptees journey, offering suggestions for what is required for adopted children and youth to feel in control of their own story as well as practical tools that can be used by and for children in various age groups as well as how to help your kids handle questions about adoption from others outside of your family. Featured Speaker: Beth Hall, Director of Pact.
May 19, 2012 Oakland, CA Time TBA	Pact Tween/Teen Club Outing Tweens & Teens only! Meet other kids of color who were adopted or fostered. Here's a chance to have a good time with other kids who are like you. Event location will be emailed once registered.
June 2, 2012 Oakland, CA 1:00-4:00 pm	Juneteenth Celebration - Embracing our struggles, teaching our children to be proud Featured Speakers: African American Historian and Children's Juneteenth - Related Programming Join Malaika Parker and other Pact staff in celebrating Juneteenth. Juneteenth is celebrated in the African American community as the true day that slavery was ended in America. As an adoptive community we will celebrate and remember our history. This event will be hosted by Pact's adoptive families of color group and will be open to the entire Pact community. Programming will be available for both adult and youth.
June 9, 2012 Oakland, CA 6:00pm - 9:30pm	Pact Tween/Teen Club Discussion Group Tweens & Teens only! Meet other kids of color who were adopted or fostered. Here's a chance to have a good time with other kids who are like you. Event location will be emailed once registered.
July 1-5 2012 Tahoe City, CA	Pact Family Camp brings together families with adopted children of color to share their experiences, learn from experts and each other, and enjoy each other's company. Many families have told us that their time at Camp had a profound effect, offering them a community they can't find anyplace else. We are excited to be joined by adult adoptees of color who are renowned adoption professionals, researchers and authors. Parents will hear from speakers and have conversations about parenting, adoption and race that will help them be the best that they can be for their children. Kids will find other kids who are like them in very significant ways. For many kids, Pact Family Camp is one place where they really feel they belong.
August, 2012 Time and Location TBA	Pact Tween/Teen Club Outing Special Event! Meet other kids of color who were adopted or fostered. Here's a chance to have a good time with other kids who are like you. Event location and details will be emailed once registered.
September 16, 2012 Oakland, CA 6:30pm - 8:30pm	Pact's Family of Color Adoption Orientation Join Malaika Parker, Pact's Family of color Specialist, for a FREE orientation to learn about the adoption process through Pact. We will answer many questions about different kinds of adoption with specific focus on the need for parents for children of color and the specifics of the experience of adopting an infant through Pact.
October 6, 2012 Oakland, CA 1:00-4:00 pm	Lifetime Journeys - Birth parent stories Parents of Color and their Parenting Partners will focus on the relationships between children, their birth parents and their adoptive parents, whether they are in an open adoption or a closed adoption, this workshop will help parents address children's questions about their birth parents -- both the questions they ask and those they hold inside. This will be a safe place to discuss fears and hopes regarding our children's birth parents and their relationship (or lack thereof) to them and us. Featured Speakers: Birth Parents Who Placed their Children for Adoption
December 1, 2012 Location TBA 1:00-4:00 pm	Exploring Ceremonies & Holidays - How they intersect with adoption Parents of Color and their Parenting Partners are invited to enjoy a holiday gathering and book fair that will include extended family members who would like to attend. We will offer a selection of books for children and enjoy some rituals and ceremonies that can be incorporated into our holiday, birthday and family life as a way of commemorating our children's exploration of their adoption experience.