Community Education Subcommittee
Goals:
- To give clear and accurate information about options as there are several pathways that may be explored by someone initially enquiring about adoption or fostering.
- To provide an easy ‘gateway point’ for initial enquiries/information.
- To provide accurate community information on adoption and fostering, with links to accredited agencies, as there are several changes occurring in this sector regarding the transition of out of home care to non-government agencies.
Social Media and Adoption Subcommittee
The social media phenomenon has taken the world by storm and the adoption and permanent community is no exception.
Goals:
- To produce guidelines which could assist parties to adoption and permanent care with the appropriate use of social media. The proposed guidelines aim to produce awareness and a framework for the use of social media for parties to adoption and permanent care in this new age of social media and in the context of openness in adoption in NSW.
- To deliver guidelines on how social media can be used as a search tool and facilitate positive and on-going contact between families separated as a result of adoption or permanent care.
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National Adoption Awareness Week Subcommittee
The National Adoption Awareness Week Subcommittee was formed in preparation to the 2010 and 2011 National Adoption Awareness Week. Our media release for 2010 and 2011 is available for download in the News and Resources section.
The 2011 National Post Adoption Meeting Steering Group
The idea of developing an annual National Post Adoption Meeting was formed when a group of post adoption professionals from across Australia decided to meet on September 2, 2008 – before the start of the 2008 Adoption Conference in Sydney. Following this meeting South Australia offered to host the first National Post Adoption Meeting in 2009.
Queensland hosted the meeting in 2010, while NSW volunteered to host the 2011 meeting. The post adoption professionals from NSW believed that the NSW Committee on Adoption and Permanent Care should organise the 2011 National Post Adoption Meeting with involvement from all the post adoption providers in NSW. It was also an opportunity to highlight the strong multi-agency collaboration in NSW and within the Committee. The Steering Group consisted of representatives from the NSW Government – Community Services, Anglicare, Barnardos, CatholicCare, PARC, Salvation Army, ISS Australia, NSW Link-Up and two individuals (both adoptees).
Overall the three-day meeting was a huge success, wonderfully thought provoking and stimulating, with over 80 professionals from all over Australia and New Zealand in attendance. The theme of the meeting was ‘Past, Present and Future Post Adoption Practice’. Some highlights of the meeting were Marion Quartly – Monash University presentation on ‘The History of Adoption in Australia Project’, Mary Iwanek – former National Manager of Adoption in NZ presentation on the ‘Spirit of Openness’, the screening of CatholicCare Adoption Services new DVD ‘Honouring Connections’ as well as the numerous firsthand accounts from clients; this included a panel of adoptive and foster parents, adoptees and a foster child; a personal story of a grave side reunion facilitated by NSW Link-Up regarding an Aboriginal man and his deceased grandmother, and lastly a personal story of an intercountry adoptee from Cambodia and her moving and inspiring journey recognising that post adoption support can be lifelong.