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Meet the Need sessions
Meet the Need 2025 offers a variety of breakout and keynote sessions for adoptive families, adoption professionals, and clinicians.
DAY 1 December 4
8am-9am
check in/breakfast
9am-10am
Keynote session
Discovering my identity
isaac etter
Isaac shares his journey as an adoptee who has struggled to find his identity. Isaac touches on the complexities of adoption and strategies for supporting adoptees. He highlights his journey to healing and growth and how adoption professionals and parents can support adopted people as they are growing up. The audience will laugh and learn from Isaac’s story of growing up as a Black boy in a white family, they will be inspired by his family’s journey to understanding how to support him and moved by his journey to find himself as an adoptee. This keynote includes Isaac’s story and videos of his family discussing their experience and feelings while Isaac was growing up. You will walk away with a full picture of the adoption experience as a family.
breakout sessions
10:15am-11:15am
TBRI® With Teenagers
Speaker: Katie Duarte Rinaudo, MS Holistic Child Development, TBRI® Practitioner
Is TBRI just for little kids? Dr. Purvis didn't think so! In this session, we will talk about how to put TBRI Principles into practice with adolescents and their changing brains, bodies, and beliefs. We will discuss teen specific behaviors such as substance use, romantic relationships, social media and cell phone use, and the do's and don'ts of responding in a TBRI way.
The Hidden Cost of Caring: How Trauma Affects Us
Speaker: Nicole Barlow, TBRI® Practitioner, Certified NTDC Trainer, IMPACT certified
Parenting kids with trauma impacts more than your heart—it takes a toll on your body, brain, and hormones. In this session, we’ll break down how secondary trauma and chronic stress affect your health and why you feel so worn out. You’ll learn simple, science-backed self-care strategies to support your nervous system, manage stress, and build the strength to keep showing up with compassion and connection.
Introduction to Transracial Adoption
Speaker: Isaac Etter
Introduction to Transracial Adoption will dive into the history, complexities and hope of transracial adoption. Understanding the history of transracial adoption, the unique challenges transracially adopted children and their parents face will help us think deeper about transracial adoption and how to prepare for being a transracial family.
Finding the Courage to Charge Ahead
Speaker: April Ficklin, MA, TBRI® Practitioner
Every caregiver and professional in the adoption world knows that sometimes the next steps in supporting children or families just seem overwhelming. Therefore, growing courage is.a necessary skill to build when serving vulnerable children. This session will offer encouragement for tough decisions and practical ways to create an environment that helps caregivers and workers advocate, navigate, and initiate change with and on the behalf of children.
Breaking Barriers: A Mother and Daughter’s Journey Toward Trust and Connection
Speaker: Cristiana & Aniyah Amato
Join Cristiana and her daughter Aniyah as they share their powerful journey through the challenges of disrupted attachment and early childhood trauma—offering both the parent and child perspective. This session explores the realities of parenting and healing in the face of adversity, the barriers they encountered, and how they forged a path toward lasting trust and connection. A raw and hope-filled look at what it means to truly fight for family and rebuild relationships with love, faith, and persistence.
Big Diagnoses and What to Do
Speaker: Brittney Clow, MSSA, LISW-CP
Your child has been diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Borderline Personality Disorder, or another "scary" diagnosis! This talk will help you understand the meaning of these diagnoses, how they develop, and what to do about it now.
Trauma Response or Willful Disobedience
Speaker: Tera Melber, MA, TBRI® Practitioner
When a child acts out, is it defiance—or a cry for help? In this powerful session, we’ll unpack the difference between willful disobedience and trauma responses, explore how early experiences shape behavior, and challenge our expectations through the lens of child development. Leave equipped with practical tools and action steps to respond with both grace and clarity.
Reframing Parental Resistance: Understanding Neuroscience of Blocked Care
Speaker: Kristin Rich, LPC-S, TBRI® Practitioner
As providers dedicated to aiding children from challenging backgrounds, we often engage with parents who might conventionally be deemed "resistant" or "burnt out," which can, in turn, elicit frustration within us. Embracing a fresh perspective on how we perceive and meet the needs of these parents can ultimately result in improved outcomes for all parties involved.
Reject to Connect
Speaker: Tina Phillips, LISW-CP/S, MRP
"Reject to Connect" is a transformative training designed to help adoptive caregivers examine and release internalized biases, unrealistic expectations, and fear-based thinking that can create barriers to bonding. Through a trauma-informed lens, participants will explore how to shift from a mindset of control or correction to one of curiosity, connection, and co-regulation. This session empowers caregivers and community providers to step into their roles with authenticity, grace, and the tools to build trust with the children in their care.
breakout sessions
11:30Am-12:30pm
Why Time-Out is Not Good for Foster and Adopted Children and What to do Instead
Speaker: Keith Bailey, PhD
Time out was the parental discipline trend that grew out of Behaviorism in the 1960’s. Now, our brain science and trauma-informed practices explain why it is not helpful and may even create more negative behavior and ongoing problems for foster and adopted children. We will explore alternatives to time-outs... when both children and adults need a break and some redirection.
How Trauma Interrupts Development & What WE Can Do About It!
Speaker: Dr. Elaine Swain, DSW, LMSW &
Dr. MaryJon Barrineau
Safety, both physical and psychological, is core to development in all stages of life. Combining theory and the six principles of trauma informed approaches to lived experiences helps us to create safe spaces to better serve children, families, and ourselves.
Becoming Me-The Journey To Adulthood After Foster Care and Adoption
Speaker: Pam Taylor, BS, TBRI® Practitioner and Trent Taylor, BS, TBRI® Practitioner
This session, led by someone with lived experience, raises awareness about the unique emotional, relational, and practical challenges faced by youth adopted from foster care as they transition into adulthood. Blending personal story, insight, and practical tools, this presentation invites caregivers, churches, and communities to move beyond the adoption day and into long-term, trauma-informed support. Participants will walk away better equipped to offer meaningful guidance, grounded encouragement, and lasting connection — helping young adults not just survive, but thrive.
DSS 101: Things Adoptive Families Should Know
Speaker: Melissa Lowe, BA
To provide adoptive families with a better understanding of DSS and Adoption. This program will allow participants to gain an understanding of the benefits that are afforded to those who adopt through the child welfare system.
When You Can't Change It, Navigate It
Speaker: Carrie Tucker
When you can’t change what your child has endured, or what trauma looks like as it unfolds, we have to navigate it, to the best of our ability. For our children, for our marriages, and for our mental health. This journey will pull you in directions you didn’t expect, but remaining realistic in our expectations and understanding the long lasting effects of trauma, will bring us through hardships, intact and more prepared for a future we may not have envisioned.
Theraplay®: Promoting Felt Safety, Security, and Resilience with Attachment-Based
Speaker: Karen Doyle Buckwalter, LCSW, RPT-S, TBRI® Practitioner
Theraplay is a play-based, structured, attachment-focused therapy designed to help children and families build stronger relationships, emotional regulation, and healthy social and emotional development. It has been used extensively with adopted children and their parents.
When Love Isn't Enough
Speaker: Amber Reynolds, FFA
Many adoptive families go into adoption with enthusiasm, hope, and buckets of love. But what happens when love isn't enough? When trauma rears it's ugly head and the family is woefully underprepared. Children end up living in emergency rooms, hotels, shelters, and residential treatment facilities without a plan of action. Having a strong plan of safety and action is a necessity when walking the journey of adoption.
Improving Placement Stability for Children/Youth Who've Experienced Prenatal Substance Exposure
Speaker: Sarah Moser, BS
Rates of prenatal exposure to alcohol and drugs among children/youth in the child welfare system are significantly higher than in the general population. Research shows that placement disruption rates are high because of the behavioral symptoms of this exposure and parents' lack of knowledge of what works. This presentation will include research, strategies, and what we’ve learned from training over a thousand parents and professionals.
When Self-Care Becomes a Dirty Word: Understanding and Taming the Stress Response of a Caregiver
Speaker: Angie Proctor, PhD, LCDC, TBRI® Practitioner
Are you a caregiver? Do you put others’ needs before your own? You are not alone! What we are learning through neuroscience research is how stress impacts our brains and bodies. This workshop is designed to empower you to discover past wounds and stresses so that you can become emotionally available to others.
lunch break
12:30Pm-1:30pm
Grab lunch and explore the exhibit hall!
breakout sessions
1:45pm-2:45pm
Understanding Trauma-Informed Healing Strategies
Speaker: Rebecca Moore, DSW, LISW-CP/S, TBRI® Practitioner
This presentation explores the 6 R’s of the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics and their application in supporting foster and adopted children who have experienced early trauma. It provides a trauma-informed framework for caregivers and professionals to promote emotional regulation, trust, and healing through rhythmic, relational, relevant, repetitive, rewarding, and respectful interactions. By integrating these principles into daily routines and therapeutic approaches, we can create a stable, nurturing environment that fosters resilience and healthy development.
How to Overcome Blocked Care: Experiential Group for Caregivers
Speaker: Kristin Rich, LPC-S, TBRI® Practitioner
Crash Course in Overcoming Blocked Care: "I know I'm in blocked care...now what? Engage in an Experiential Group for Caregivers and develop practical tools for overcoming Blocked Care.
From Their Side of the Story: Adoptive Dads Share the Journey
Speaker: Adoptive Dad Panel
Adoptive fathers play a vital role in the healing and growth of their children, yet their voices are often quieter in adoption spaces. In this honest and engaging panel, adoptive dads will reflect on what it means to parent children with hard histories. They’ll share stories of building trust, facing challenges, showing up when it’s hard, and growing alongside their kids. With a blend of insight, humility, and even a little humor, this session offers a rare look into the lived experience of adoptive fatherhood—and invites us all to listen, learn, and appreciate the journey from their perspective.
Understanding the Needs of Adopted Children with Incarcerated Biological Parents
Speaker: Miyesha Bates, MA, PMP, GCDF
This session will explore the unique emotional, psychological, and social needs of children with incarcerated parents, highlighting the essential role caregivers play in supporting their well-being. Participants will learn strategies for providing stability, emotional support, and maintaining connections between children and their incarcerated parents, ultimately helping to foster resilience and healthy development. Practical insights and resources will be shared to empower caregivers and professionals in navigating these complex challenges.
TBRI® In the Day to Day
Speaker: Katie Duarte Rinaudo, MS, TBRI® Practitioner
Have you ever wanted to ask the KPICD to help you TBRI a specific tricky case? Here's your chance! Bring your tough cases and together, we will work through the TBRI Problem Solving Sheet to see if we can identify the need behind the behavior and give you some strategies to try out to meet the need.
Why Time-Out is Not Good for Foster and Adopted Children and What to do Instead
Speaker: Keith Bailey. PhD
Time out was the parental discipline trend that grew out of Behaviorism in the 1960’s. Now, our brain science and trauma-informed practices explain why it is not helpful and may even create more negative behavior and ongoing problems for foster and adopted children. We will explore alternatives to time-outs... when both children and adults need a break and some redirection.
Seen, Heard, Valued: Building a Strong Bond With Your Child
Speaker: Isaac Etter
Adoption and foster care are complex and beautiful. Adoptees & fostees, parents, and birth parents all share a uniquely complex experience. All involved in being a home for children need the tools and care needed to thrive together. Isaac Etter, will share insights from his experience as an adoptee, adoptive and foster parent trainer, and adoptive and foster parent resource creator. Isaac will share his own struggles to connect with his family, share interview clips from his adoptive parents to hear their insights, and provide practical steps parents can walk away with to make their child feel seen, heard, and valued.
Turning Pain Into Purpose - The Power of Reframing Trauma
Speaker: Pam Taylor, BS, TBRI® Practitioner and Trent Taylor, BS, TBRI® Practitioner
This is a heartfelt session led by a former foster youth, offering a unique perspective on the impact of trauma and the healing power of reframing. Participants will learn practical tools to help foster and adopted children view their painful experiences as sources of strength rather than shame. This session empowers caregivers to become agents of hope, resilience, and transformation in the lives of the children they support.
Protective Factors and Family Assessments
Speaker: Laura Crawford, LMSW
When working with families it is easy to see the crisis but sometimes hard to identify why. Join me through a clinical lens to see what we are looking for when asserting family dysfunction and strengths.
3pm-4pm
Keynote session
Parenting While Slouching: How Changing My Posture Built Trust in My Home
April Ficklin, MA, TBRI® Practitioner
Adoptive parenting takes a novel and intentional approach to caregiving that often doesn't come natural to parents and definitely doesn't always resemble what we consider traditional parenting. In order to build trust and encourage changed behavior, I have implemented new parenting tools that disarm my children, embolden them to make better decisions, and, quite honestly, help me yell a lot less. This session will offer both an overview of tenets of trust-based parenting and real practical, small ways parents or caseworkers can adjust their approaches to children and teens that will make big impacts.
4pm-4:15pm
Closing
DAY 2 December 5
8am-9am
check in/breakfast
breakout sessions
9am-10am
Secure Enough: Understanding Attachment Wounds in Adoption & Foster Care
Speaker: Christian Jackson, LPC/S
This session explores how early attachment disruptions—particularly those involving absent, inconsistent, or emotionally unavailable caregivers—shape the identity and emotional regulation of adoptees and children in foster care. Using the GRACE MethodTM and insights from trauma-focused therapy, participants will learn how to support individuals struggling with attachment-related behaviors in practical, empowering ways. This session integrates clinical knowledge with lived experience to bridge the gap between theory and healing.
Protective Factors and Family Assessments
Speaker: Laura Crawford, LMSW
When working with families it is easy to see the crisis, but sometimes hard to identify why. Join me through a clinical lens to see what we are looking for when asserting family dysfunction and strengths.
Trauma in Infancy and Early Childhood: Why Early Experience Matters
Speaker: Rebecca Moore, DSW, LISW-CP/S, TBRI® Practitioner
This presentation explores the profound impact of early experiences on brain development, emphasizing how infant mental health principles and the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics can help mitigate the effects of early trauma. It highlights the importance of secure relationships, co-regulation, and developmentally appropriate interventions in fostering resilience in infants and young children. By applying trauma-informed approaches such as the 6 R’s of NMT, caregivers and professionals can create healing environments that support emotional regulation and long-term well-being.
Trust-Based, Attachment-Focused Adoptive Parenting
Speaker: Hillary Ableser, M.Ed in Trauma-Informed Education
Hilary is an international adoptive parent, speaking on trauma-informed parenting, and its complexities in a family with both biological and adopted children. Focusing on how the Trust-Based Relational Intervention model can be implemented during complicated trauma-responses from adoptees, Hilary will provide tangible, implementable tools, tips, and tricks for managing ever-evolving trauma behaviors in vulnerable "children from hard places".
Staying Close While Apart: Supporting Connection During Out-of-Home Treatment
Speaker: Amie Cooper, BS, TBRI® Practitioner
When a child requires residential or out-of-home therapeutic care, families often face feelings of grief, guilt, and disconnection. But healing doesn’t stop at the door of a treatment facility—and neither does attachment. This session explores how families and professionals can nurture connection even while separated, with a focus on attachment theory, rupture and repair, and preparing for reunification. Through practical strategies, real-life stories, and a trauma-informed lens, we’ll explore how to maintain emotional presence, rebuild trust, and stay attuned to the child’s needs during and after treatment. Designed for both caregivers and professionals, this session offers hope and tools for keeping the relationship at the center of the journey.
TBRI® Tools For Implementation
Speaker: Katie Duarte Rinaudo, MS, TBRI® Practitioner
In this session, we will look through the resources the KPICD has published to help us go beyond trauma-informed knowledge to TBRI Transformation.
Strengths Based Encouragement for Caregivers and Children as a Relational Intervention
Speaker: Kelly Pfieffer, Certified Positive Discipline Lead Trainer
Children often see themselves through the lens of their caregivers. Experience strengths focused parenting "glasses" to wear as you support children to see themselves in a new way using a growth mindset and identifying their strengths.
breakout sessions
10:15am-11:15am
Reject To Connect
Speaker: Tina Phillips, LISW-CP/S, MRP
"Reject to Connect" is a transformative training designed to help adoptive caregivers examine and release internalized biases, unrealistic expectations, and fear-based thinking that can create barriers to bonding. Through a trauma-informed lens, participants will explore how to shift from a mindset of control or correction to one of curiosity, connection, and co-regulation. This session empowers caregivers and community providers to step into their roles with authenticity, grace, and the tools to build trust with the children in their care.
TBRI® and the Single Parent
Speaker: Elisabeth Stenner, BA, TBRI® Practitioner & Heather Patterson
We’ll discuss TBRI in the context of the single parent and someone who wants to support the single parent. What does TBRI look like for a solo parent, the advice we received (both good and bad) before TBRI and how connection, empowering and correcting principles impacted how we parent our kiddos.
Cultivating Relationships with Boundaries and Compassion
Speaker: Leah Outten, BS & Raquel McCloud
A birthmother led workshop to help you cultivate an intentional relationship with your child’s biological parents, set healthy boundaries, or hold space in their absence.
Understanding and Supporting Transracial Adoptees
Speaker: Isaac Etter
The Understanding and Supporting Transracial Adoptees webinar covers the fundamentals needed to be a great transracial adoptive parent. This presentation will cover Isaac Etter's transracial adoption experience, understanding bias, racial identity development for adoptees, and Isaac's practical guide to transracial adoption. The audience will laugh and learn from Isaac's story of growing up as a Black boy in a white family, they will get a deeper understanding of bias and how to address bias in themselves, how to support their child's racial identity development, and a practical guide of what to do and conversations to have in every age group.
Our Attachment Blueprint: How a Parent's Own History Impacts Their Parenting
Speaker: Karen Doyle Buckwalter, LCSW, RPT-S, TBRI® Practitioner
From the beginning, a significant aspect of the Trust-Based Relational Intervention Model has been understanding Caregiver Adult Attachment patterns as assessed by the Adult Attachment Interview. This workshop will give an overview of Adult Attachment Classifications, how they impact parenting, and the intergenerational transmission of these patterns.
The Invisible Backpack: What I Wish My Foster and Adoptive Families Knew
Speaker: Pam Taylor, BS, TBRI® Practitioner and Trent Taylor, BS, TBRI® Practitioner
This session offers a heartfelt, firsthand perspective on what it is like to grow up in foster care and walk through the adoption journey. Through lived experience and trauma expertise participants will gain insight into the unseen emotional "backpack" children carry - filled with grief, fear, and silent questions. Caregivers will walk away with practical tools, deeper empathy and renewed hope for building lasting, healing connections with the children in their care.
Childhood Trauma and its Impact On Relationships
Speaker: Amaris Gibson, LPC-A, IMH-E® Infant Mental Health Specialist
Studies suggest that around 1 in 4 children in the U.S. will experience at least one traumatic event by the age of 16. This can include various forms of trauma, such as abuse, neglect, domestic violence, or the loss of a loved one. This workshop is designed for the parent supporting a young child who has experienced trauma. Participants will understand how trauma interferes with child brain development and can impact the parent-child relationship. Caregivers will leave knowing how safe, secure and consistent caregiving can mitigate the impacts of trauma and strengthen relationships. This workshop is specifically designed for caregivers of children ages 0-8.
INTERACTIVE GROUP SESSIONS
9am-11:15am
Reclaiming Play: A Trauma-Informed Approach to Learning Through Joy
Speaker: Ann-Maura Hinton, MS Ed, TBRI® Practitioner, Ed. Therapist
Bruce D. Perry, states “…Your history of relational health — your connectedness to family, community, and culture — is more predictive of your mental health than your history of adversity.” This workshop explores the neurodevelopmental impacts of interrupted attachment and poor relational health in the early years and how professionals can contribute in mitigating these challenges by building a child and family’s therapeutic web, a relational framework that emphasizes the creation of a network of interconnected supports that surround and uplift children and their families as they navigate the journey toward recovery and well-being. Blending theory with practical application, participants will leave with a tangible plan to connect clients with the primary, community and professional supports they need to heal and grow.
Accelerated Resolution Therapy and Attachment Healing
Speaker: Brittney Clow, MSSA, LISW-CP
We often consider healing attachment wounds to be long-term, painful, and intensive work - and to a degree, it is. However, somatic therapies like Accelerated Resolution Therapy can help the adoptee and adoptive family to heal from trauma and stay regulated as they meet their goals.
11:30am-12:30pm
closing Keynote session
When Self-Care Becomes a Dirty Word: Rewiring the Stress Response for Sustainable Service
Angie Proctor, PhD, LCDC, TBRI® Practitioner
In high-demand roles—whether caregiving or professional—self-care often becomes a guilty afterthought. This inspiring closing keynote goes beyond the buzzwords to explore the neuroscience of stress, trauma, and emotional resilience. Learn how the practice of self-compassion can rewire the brain’s stress response, improve emotional regulation, and promote sustainable engagement with the people you serve. Through powerful storytelling, practical tools, and a call to reflection, this session invites you to reclaim your capacity to care—for yourself and others—without burning out. Note:This session builds on themes introduced in the earlier breakout, but offers a deeper and broader lens ideal for both personal and professional transformation. Don’t miss this closing opportunity to reset and refuel.