WISE Up! Workshop for Adoptees

What Is W.I.S.E. Up?


Most adopted children are frequently asked questions about being adopted, yet few are equipped to respond. WISE Up! is a unique and interactive workshop that provides a simple but powerful way for adopted children (and families) to handle comments and personal questions about their adoption journey. It also teaches children that they have the power to decide if and when they want to share their story. A parent workshop that teaches adults how to practice this program at home will run concurrently with the children’s workshop. WISE Up was developed by the Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.).

Who Should Attend This Workshop?

This workshop offers practical tools for both adoptive parents and adopted children (both internationally and domestically) to guide them in making choices on how to respond to uncomfortable or personal questions about their adoption. Workshops for children will be divided based on grade: 1st-3rd and 4th-6th.Space in each Workshop is limited to 10 children and 20 adults, so we recommend early registration.

Workshop Cost

Registration fee: $100 per family, or $75 for adults attending without children.  Payment for the Workshop is accepted by major credit card at the time of your registration, or by mail to Sunny Ridge within five business days of your registration. Please note: No refunds are given for cancellations. A Workshop credit will be issued which is good for one year from cancelled date.


Date, Time & Location


Saturday, February 25, 2012


Morning session:  
10:00am - 12 Noon
Children Grades 1-3 (Ages 6, 7 & 8)
Afternoon session:
1:30pm - 3:30pm

Children Grades 4-6 (Ages 9, 10 & 11)
Location:
Sunny Ridge Family Center

270 Remington Blvd., Suite C
Bolingbrook, IL 60440
 
Registration
 
To register, click here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2448754290?ref=ebtn or visit http://www.sunnyridge.org/post-adoption/wiseup.php for more information.

Webinar on Foster Care Ministry

 

 

Foster Care Ministry - 25 Little Things That Make a Big Difference

It isn't always easy to know how best to encourage and aid young people in foster care.  Here's your chance to hear honest reflections and advice from those who know intimately the challenges of life in foster care…and what a big difference small acts of love can make.  

Join the Alliance in welcoming several Foster Youth Interns (FYIs) from the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute’s (CCAI).  They'll share from personal experience as alumni of the U.S. foster care system their ideas about how churches and individuals can love, support and provide guidance for foster youth.

 

 

 

Presenters:  Kathleen Strottman, Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute

                    Richard Terrell, Foster Youth Intern, CCAI

                    Mason McFalls, Foster Youth Intern, CCAI

                    Brittany Scott, Foster Youth Intern, CCAI

                       

Date:  Tuesday, January 31, 2012             Time:  1:00 PM Central 

 

Each 60-minute webinar in this series will give local advocates access to the knowledge and experience of top Alliance member churches and organizations nationwide, covering key topics on adoption, foster care and/or global orphan care.  Every webinar will be hosted by a local church orphan ministry and co-presented by one or more national experts on the subject matter.  This pairing will deliver a combination of specialist information and resources alongside a “here’s how it works in a real church” perspective.

 

http://www.christianalliancefororphans.org/ 

 

 

Adoption Articles from "HomeWord Bound" Ministry

I've discovered some great articles from the HomeWord Bound Ministry with Dr. Jim Burns.  Articles include the following topics:

* Chosen Children of Adoption
* Releasing a Child for Adoption
* International Adoptions & Special Needs Kids
* Pitfalls of Adoption
* The Answers Adopted Kids Seek in the Teen Years
* Should We Adopt?
* Do Adopted Kids Have More Problems?
* Helping Your Adopted Child Blend in With Your Family

You will find all the articles when you click on this link:
http://www.homeword.com/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=adoption&rtype=ta&log=1

"If You Were Mine" Adoption Workshop

 
 

Is adoption part of God's plan for your family?

Come join us as we explore what God wants us to do in response to His call to care for orphans. Through this biblical and practical video workshop, we'll learn the processes, challenges, and joys of adoption. Explore the following topics in order to make wise, loving decisions and have healthy expectations about adoption. Sessions Include:

* God's Heart for the Orphan.
* The Christian and the Orphan
* Making Basic Decisions
* Evaluating Agencies, Investigating Funding Options, and Paperwork
* Completing your Home Study and Discovering Your Child
* Welcoming Your Child Home
* Finalizing Your Adoption and Final Thoughts
Date: Saturday, February 18th 9:00.m. - 3:30 p.m. (check-in starts at 8:30 a.m.)

Location: Willow Creek Community Church, 67 E. Algonquin Rd., So. Barrington, IL 60010

Room: B100 - Park in lot B, Enter entrance B (lower level, under the Chapel)

Fee: $10.00 per person for workbook. Payment due on day of workshop.

Meals: Breakfast snacks & Lunch will be provided.

For more information contact: Dina @ vcministry127@gmail.com.

To register, please send an e-mail providing the following information to vcministry127@gmail.com.

* First and last name(s)

* E-mail address

* Phone number

* Any dietary concerns for lunch

Free Downloads of Adoption Music

Below is a message from singer and adoption advocate Becky Wright.

In case you weren't aware, this Sunday Jan. 22nd is "Sanctity of Human Life Sunday". Churches across the country will be remembering that life is a gift from God, begins at conception, and that the Lord has a plan for EACH life from before the foundations of the world.

I'm giving away two FREE songs to help you focus on this special day.  Go to my music website HERE and click on the "REDEEM" tab at the top right.

Put in the code "life" to download the song "Act of Life" (quotations not needed- only the word life).  Save the song to your computer, if you'd like, or just listen.

To download the second song, return HERE  and click on the "Redeem" tab again. Put in the code "future" to download the song "I Gave You Away".

I pray that these songs will save lives, raise awareness, and help heal and encourage birth parents who've made the sacrificial and loving choice of adoption for their baby when they could not raise them... choosing LIFE over death.  Becky

Psalm 139:13
For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

Sunny Ridge Parenting Class

 

Risks and Realities of Parenting
Why Do Children Do What They Do?
Saturday, February 11, 2012

9:00am - 12:00pm
Sunny Ridge Family Center, Bolingbrook

 

Sunny Ridge Family Center presents

DR. DAN GRIFFITH, PhD

Clinical Pediatric Psychologist

 

Are you parenting or preparing to parent a child who may have been prenatally exposed to alcohol, tobacco or other drugs? While parenting certainly has its many rewards, there are also risks and realities which every parent needs to be of aware of. Come hear from Dr. Dan Griffith, Ph.D., a clinical pediatric psychologist, who will provide insights on the risks and realities of parenting with these challenges - and help us better understand why children do what they do. Topics to be covered:

Parenting A Child At Risk

• Developmental tasks for children
• The effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD)
• The long-term risks and realities the exposure may present

Managing Sensory and Regulatory Difficulties In Children

• Why do children do what they do?
• The role of sensory processing in determining behavior
• A model for understanding behavior through sensory processing and sensory/regulatory concepts
• Promoting successful parenting through helping children to know what they are supposed to do and to be able to do it

 

$20 Workshop Registration fee, ($40 for 3 CEU's for LSW/LCSW's)
 

Dan Griffith is a licensed clinical psychologist and has years of experience in research and clinical practice with high risk infants/children and their families. Dr. Griffith has expertise in psychological/developmental/educational assessment and intervention with children, parent child relations and parental effectiveness training, research design and implementation, and program evaluation. He has worked with a number of high risk populations including: domestic and international adoptees, premature and/or low birth weight infants, infants/children prenatally exposed to alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATOD), children with sensory/regulatory problems including ADHD and autism, and children with learning disabilities.

 

Register Here: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2733715617?ref=ebtn

"Safe Families for Children" National Conference

 

 

Save the Date - May 2nd in Orange County, California!

 

Safe Families for Children is pleased to announce the first Safe Families For Children (SFFC) national conference hosted by your national partners and Mariners Church. The conference will include seminars for all alliance members, host families, ministry teams, pastors, partners and implementers. We will also have a night of worship and celebration Wednesday evening.

This conference was strategically planned on May 2 due to the close location and timing of the Christian Alliance for Orphans Summit - May 3 (http://www.summitviii.org). Please plan to join us as the story of God's call for biblical hospitality includes opening our homes through safe families to foster care to adoption for families who exist in a continuum of brokenness.

We will keep you posted as the details are announced. 

Safe Families Mom's Coffee

Join other Safe Families Host Moms for a time of community!

Tuesday, January 24th

9:30-11am

at the home of Jennifer McAndrews, 1570 Lake Shore Drive S., Barrington

847-381-3295

Please RSVP via email to Tammy at tbauer@safe-families.org

or

Sheila at Sheila@applegates.com

Wess Stafford at Willow Creek Community Church

Please join us at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington on Jan. 21 or 22 as Wess Stafford, President of Compassion International, shares some powerful stories about how just one minute can change a child's life.

The stories he'll be sharing are from his newest book, Just a Minute, which demonstrates that one moment can last forever in the heart of a child.You will be inspired by the impact you can make in the life of a sponsored child and other children in your life.

I truly hope you'll join us. I know that you will leave inspired, encouraged and challenged.

Saturday, January 21st @ 5:30 p.m.

Sunday, January 22nd @ 9:00 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.

Willow Creek Community Church

67 E. Algonquin Road, South Barrington, IL 60010

Tony & Lauren Dungy Speak Out about Adoption and Caring for the Fatherless

Please take a moment to watch this challenging video from Tony Dungy (NFL coach of the 2007 Superbowl champions, the Indianapolis Colts) and his wife Lauren.  They are adoptive parents, adoption advocates and faithful Christ followers.  After viewing the video, I encourage you to find at least one person that you can forward it to.

http://www.christianalliancefororphans.org/2011/12/28/tony-and-lauren-dungey-on-giving-families-to-americas-orphans/

Adoptive Parent Workshop

 

 

Speech & Language Strategies for
Children Adopted from China
 

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

7:00pm - 8:00pm

 

Sunny Ridge Family Center presents

SHINFAN STEPHANIE CHANG, MS, CCC-SLP/L

Bilingual Speech-Language Pathologist
 

Attend a seminar  with guest presenter Shinfan Stephanie Chang, MS, CCC-SLP/L. Shinfan Stephanie Chang is a licensed Speech-Language Pathologist and Early Intervention Specialist, as well as a Mandarin Chinese Interpreter for the Illinois Early Intervention program. She will be present on speech and language strategies for children adopted from China and will be covering the following topics in her presentation:

• Communication issues for internationally adopted children
• Learning about signs of speech-language delays
• Strategies to help your child communicate while they are transitioning into their new home
• When to ask for a speech-language evaluation for your child
• What is involved in a speech-language evaluation

Workshop cost is $20 per person. Adults only; no childcare provided. 

 

$20 Workshop Registration fee

 

Click here to register:

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/2503355604?ref=ebtn

 

For more information go to http://www.sunnyridge.org/

D.C.F.S. Foster Care Training at Willow Creek

 

 

Are you interested in investing in the life of a child by becoming licensed to be a DCFS foster parent?

The DCFS Pre-Service training program Foster/Adopt PRIDE will be offered at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL. The sessions will start on May 3rd and will run nine consecutive Thursday evenings from 6:30p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

The 27 hours of training is based on a co-trainer model of a foster parent and agency social work staff member. If you are interested in registering for this class, you must have an agency refer you for the training.

Joyce Moffit, a member of our leadership team, foster care recruiter for Youth Services Bureau of Illinois Valley (YSB) and a DCFS master trainer, will be one of the trainers for this session. Foster families who have successfully completed this training program will be well prepared to meet the needs of the foster children in their care.

For more information, please call Joyce Moffit at YSB  #847-468-0454. Additional training opportunities can be viewed at the DCFS web site, http://www.state.il.us/DCFS/library/com_communications_train.shtml

 

 

Safe Families for Children Webinar

Recognizing the extraordinary and irreplaceable value of each person and family who volunteers as part of the Safe Families For Children (SFFC) movement,  SFFC is offering this webinar as a support to Safe Family hosts. 
 
Dr. Monte Pries - SFFC Family Coach Supervisor, Santa Ana, will present a series of webinars for the next several months on the 2nd Tuesday of each month. 

January 10th, 7:00 - 8:30 p.m. Central Time: "Safe Families for Children and the Birthing of Joy"
They will look at the surprises, discomforts, and great benefits of the host family's commitment to Safe Families for Children. Dr. Monte will continue to speak about the crucial role in volunteering within the context of Safe Families for Children.

Click below to register:

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/480100896

Adoptive, Foster & Safe Families Monthly Pot-Luck

We're looking forward to connecting with everyone again for a time of community and learning.  Here are the details for this months pot-luck gathering.

Date: Sunday, January 15th

Time: 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.
Location: Willow Creek Community Church/So. Barrington
Room: F150 (in the 2yr old Promiseland rooms)

This months topic: We will have a guest speaker from the Clearbrook Center talk about sensory issues.  If you have welcomed, or plan to welcome a foster or adoptive child into your home, there is a good chance that you will need to address sensory issues in your child.  Please come for a wonderful opportunity to learn more about these issues with others who are traveling the same journey.   D.C.F.S. training hours will be applied for those of you who are licenced foster care families.

Pot-Luck:  The leadership team will provide a taco bar and beverages for dinner.  Please bring a dessert to share.

Child Care: Child care is provided if you r.s.v.p. with the number of children and their ages.

R.S.V.P.'s are not required (unless you're bringing children), but are helpful for planning.  R.S.V.P. to vcministry127@gmail.com.