The North American Council for Adoptable Children (NACAC) is holding their 33rd annual conference next week, July 26-28 in Tampa, Florida. In a bold (or foolish) move, Nancy (from Reactive Attachment Disorder blog) and I decided it was important for the Attachment & Trauma Network (ATN) to exhibit at this highly-attended conference. The boldness is because ATN’s own conference begins August 1, leaving us little time to return from this conference and kick off our own.

Yet, NACAC is an important player in the adoption world, especially for those adopting or working with children in foster care. NACAC’s mission statement is:

NACAC promotes and supports permanent families for children and youth in the U.S. and Canada who have been in care—especially those in foster care and those with special needs.

NACAC enacts this mission through supporting local parenting groups all across the US and Canada, and by providing special support group training and guidance, including a guide for starting and leading a local parent support group.

NACAC also works for adoption advocacy by researching public policy, issuing policy statements and supporting the local parent groups’ advocacy efforts.

I’ve never been to their annual conference before, but it’s a biggie. There will be 100 workshop sessions, and several hundred adoptive parents, adoption professionals and social workers.

I am looking forward to getting away from home for a bit, and collecting my thoughts before we launch into our own frenzied conference. I always enjoy meeting other adoptive parents, telling them about ATN, and learning a bit about their journey. One thing is for sure, if you’ve adopted a child, you have a story to tell.

So, if you’re going to be in Tampa next week, make sure you stop by the ATN booth and say “hi”. I’d love to meet you.