Adoption STAR’s yearly training opportunity focused on LGBTQ competency for child welfare professionals.
Every spring, Adoption STAR hosts an annual staff dinner and training for staff from all 3 states we have physical offices in – Florida, New York and Ohio. It always proves to be a wonderful experience to have the agency staff, typically scattered far and wide, all together under one roof. It’s also an obvious opportunity to share stories, experiences, successes, and challenges – and to do so in an environment that promotes creative thinking and open-mindedness.
Adoption STAR takes the concept of professional development very seriously. This annual event promotes the commitment to continuing education that’s at the very heart of our agency’s mission and vision (as evidenced by the yearly training logs all agency employees are required to submit as proof of professional development year in, year out).
As many of you know, Adoption STAR has earned the seal of approval through the Human Rights Campaign’s “All Children, All Families” program, an initiative that promotes excellence in child welfare-related service delivery to the LGBT community. We had the pleasure of bringing in Karey Scheyd, the National Training Manager for the “All Children, All Families” initiative, for an evening of training on Wednesday, May 4th and again for a full day of training on Wednesday, May 5th. Although Adoption STAR is an identified “Leader Agency” as per the “All Children, All Families” initiative, we are committed to ensuring the most culturally competent services possible when it comes to providing adoption services to LGBT individuals and couples. A big “THANK YOU” to Karey for sharing her insight and expertise with us.
Here’s a partial list of the topics shared in the trainings from earlier this month:
- Distinguishing between sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression.
- Developing even greater comfort and competency in assessing LGBT prospective adoptive parents utilizing criteria that are warranted, appropriate, and grounded in a solid understanding of the realities and experiences affecting LGBT families.
- Learning how to help children manage any questions or challenges that arise from being a part of an LGBT family.
More pictures from the Adoption STAR Annual Staff Training and Dinner 2016 :