Helping Children Heal from Sexual Abuse is a Free, virtual Parent Support Group for adoptive, foster, or kinship families raising children who have previously suffered sexual abuses.

WHEN: Scheduled to meet monthly on the third Tuesday at 7 PM

WHERE: Exclusively in the in the AFFCNY.Network

Please join Hudson Valley AGAPE team for an open parent support group via video chat. We will provide educational discussion-based concepts of self-care, advocacy support for your child through their sometimes-difficult behavior, and a safe space to connect with other parents who share similar experiences.

We encourage all foster, adoptive, and guardianship parents to build connections with others who “get it.” During our bi-weekly virtual Hudson Valley Connection Group, we will show a brief training; leaving plenty of time to discuss the topic and open the floor up to anyone looking for resources, advice, or a non-judgmental space to share what’s on their mind.

2026 Schedule: 1st and 3rd Thursday from 7:30-9:00 pm–

May 21; June 4, 18; July 2, 16; August 6, 20; September 3, 17; October 1, 15; November 5, 19; December 3, 17

A Free, Virtual, Parent Support Group for adoptive, foster, or kinship families.

All the single parents (all the single parents) Put your hands UP!

We have a support group just for YOU! The parent who is doing the most rewarding and challenging job in the world!

We know single parenting isn’t for the faint of heart and we face unique issues. We don’t have a partner to “tag out” with when our kid is overwhelming us with their needs or to share the sense of pride when our kid learns to walk, scores a goal or graduates from high school. Our hope is to have a safe place where you can connect with other single parents to share your triumphs and joy, your strategies for staying sane amidst the chaos and also find new ways to recharge and take care of the most important person in your child’s life…YOU!

Scheduled to meet monthly on the second Friday from 7 to 8:30 PM

June 12, 2026; July 10, 2026; August 14, 2026; September 11, 2026; October 9, 2026; November 13, 2026; December 11, 2026

Open to ALL Foster, Kinship and Adoptive Parents Throughout the State!

Dates:

July 23, 2026; August 27, 2026; September 24, 2026; October 22, 2026; November 26, 2026, rescheduled for 3rd Thursday November 19^th; December 24, 2026, rescheduled for 3rd Thursday December 17th

FREE!

This Virtual Support Group for Parents of Teens is for adoptive and foster parents of teenagers looking to make connections and build a network of support with other parents in a similar stage of life.

The virtual group will be held for 6 weeks starting Monday, September 14, 2026, through October 19, 2026, from 6:00 – 7:30 PM EST.

Meeting Dates: 9/14, 9/21, 9/28, 10/5, 10/12, and 10/19

FREE!

Please note: This workshop is for caregivers raising adopted, foster, or kinship children who have been exposed prenatally to alcohol or drugs.

This evidence-based, trauma-informed workshop helps parents recognize the signs and symptoms of prenatal substance exposure and trains them on techniques that work best with kids exposed prenatally to alcohol and drugs. Each 90-minute session is held on Zoom and includes facilitated discussion with other caregivers working with these children. We are able to offer this free workshop through the support of the Jockey Being Family®Foundation.

Workshop Dates (4.5 CE hours for 3 sessions):
All Sessions begin at 7 pm Eastern Time Zone. Seating is limited.

$40 (Live webinar + recording)

Fall Open Enrollment, also called the Annual Election Period, takes place from October 15 to December 7 and is the time of year when people with Medicare can make changes to their coverage options. Knowing how to navigate coverage options will help you or your clients make the most informed decisions during Fall Open Enrollment.

Experts from the Medicare Rights Center will discuss the following topics:

• Changes beneficiaries can make during Fall Open Enrollment
• Strategies for making coverage decisions
• Medicare marketing rules
• Important Medicare reminders

Our International Team is excited to host this webinar and to share information about adopting from South Africa. Spence-Chapin is proud to have the longest history of any US-based agency of facilitating adoption from South Africa and we work with adoptive families living across the entire United States. The South Africa program welcomes adoptive applicants regardless of marital status or sexual orientation. In this webinar we will discuss common medical and developmental needs of children who are currently living in South Africa and waiting for their forever families. We will provide an overview of the adoption process. We look forward to answering any questions you may have about adoption in general and specific questions about adoption from South Africa.

** We have chosen the Go to Webinar Platform to respect that during the exploration phase, some families are not yet ready to share their hopes to adopt with others and in Go to Webinar, your names and faces will not be visible to other participants. But we are always happy to support families in building an adoption community! If you do feel ready to connect with other pre-adoptive or adoptive parents, please let us know and we can facilitate introductions for those who wish to be connected to other families.**

The Urgency of Now – Ending Isolation by Creating Effective Community Ecosystems

Free, monthly  virtual support calls provide a safe space for BIPOC adoptive, foster and kinship parents of BIPOC teens and young adults.

Join Raquel Vivanco, Director of the Adoptive Parents of Color Collaborative (APCC) and fellow adoptive parent, to find community and talk about parenting adopted and foster teens and young adults of color, including challenges, and helpful strategies. We will discuss how relationships shift as our young ones grow in their journey and how we can support ourselves and our loved ones.

This call is for people of color who are parenting adopted/foster teens and young adults of color.  Please be respectful of their space.

A conversation with the author of Achieving a Good Death: A Practical Guide to the End of Life

Chris Palmer shares three big surprises since publishing his groundbreaking book on end-of-life planning, three crucial things he’s learned, and three mistakes he wishes he could correct.

You have more choices about how you die than you realize. But you can’t make good decisions if you don’t know your options—or if you’ve never talked about what matters most. Most people would rather risk a bad death than have an uncomfortable conversation.

Solutions That Sustain: Cultivating Community, Advancing Practice

Our annual conferences bring together professionals from child welfare law and intersecting fields and further NACC’s mission by exchanging ideas, information, and collective efforts.  The theme of this year’s conference is Solutions That Sustain: Cultivating Community, Advancing Practice.

This year’s theme invites child welfare professionals to move beyond identifying problems and toward uplifting and co-creating systems and practices that work. Sustainable practice equips professionals to serve effectively and resiliently amid ongoing challenges, while sustainable community builds collaboration, mentorship, and shared purpose.

The conference will explore how to cultivate communities of practice that empower clients and colleagues, bridge gaps across disciplines and jurisdictions, and inspire compassionate, lasting solutions for children and families. 

This live webinar has been approved for 2 Cultural Competence Continuing Education hours.

Registration Fees:

FFTA Members: Free
Non-members: $75

Kinship caregiving is more than just a placement; it is the process of “stepping into a family system” with deep history, love, and complexity. This webinar explores the lived reality of kinship, what it can look like and feel like when family members are asked to wear “new hats” while navigating existing relationships. We will move beyond a focus on “problems” to uncover the hidden grief and ambiguous loss that often drive family conflict and behavioral outbursts.

Participants will learn to shift their lens from judgment to curiosity, asking “What has this family experienced?” instead of “What is wrong?”  Join us for an interactive exploration where you will engage with real-world kinship scenarios and live polls/chats to uncover “what it feels like” to navigate the hidden grief beneath shifting family roles.  By naming the unspoken grief and celebrating the inherent strengths, we don’tjust stabilize placements; we strengthen the entire family tree for the journey ahead.

Registration Fees:

FFTA Members: Free
Non-members: $75

This live webinar has been approved for 2 Cultural Competence Continuing Education hours.

Online registration is available until: 10/14/2026

Kinship caregiving is more than just a placement; it is the process of “stepping into a family system” with deep history, love, and complexity. This webinar explores the lived reality of kinship, what it can look like and feel like when family members are asked to wear “new hats” while navigating existing relationships. We will move beyond a focus on “problems” to uncover the hidden grief and ambiguous loss that often drive family conflict and behavioral outbursts.

Registration Information will be released at a later date.

Continuing Education Credits will be offered for this event.

Fee: Family $100.00

AFTH wants families to make informed decisions when completing their profile keys. Dr. Erin Meyer is an internal medicine and pediatric hospitalist who works in the neonatal intensive care unit. She is also an adoptive mom and can speak from both professional and personal angles. She will be discussing the effects of drug and alcohol use on the newborn during pregnancy, as well as withdrawal symptoms and short- and long-term effects of exposure.