Breakout Session 1 | Friday, 10:45 - 11:45 am
Called, Not Perfect: Separating Who You Are and What You Carry as a Foster or Adoptive Mom | Nicole Kalil
Parenting from hard places often tangles identity with performance. This session helps foster and adoptive moms prune shame, comparison, and unrealistic expectations so they can separate who they are in Christ from what they carry. Less striving creates space for deeper, lasting fruit.
"Why is This so Hard?" Understanding How Early Trauma Rewires Parenting | Stacey Cales (Mak)
Foster and adoptive parents often feel overwhelmed despite doing everything “right.” This session explores how early trauma impacts not only children, but the parenting experience itself. Using an attachment-centered lens, participants will gain insight into why strategies fail, why parenting feels personal, and how to respond with greater regulation, confidence, and compassion.
Supporting Your Biological Kids in Foster & Adoptive Families | Rebecca Harvin
When families grow through foster care or adoption, sibling relationships can be both beautiful and complicated. This session explores how to nurture healthy connections between biological kids and their new siblings—through honesty, empathy, and intentional support. We’ll talk about common challenges, practical tools for connection, and how to help your kids navigate big emotions and shifting roles. Walk away with strategies to build strong sibling bonds rooted in love, grace, and resilience.
The Long Road, Lit with Hope: Parenting Opioid-Exposed Children | Lenette Serlo & Jeanine Nordin
Children with prenatal opioid exposure often face challenges that emerge years after birth. This workshop equips foster and adoptive parents to understand the long-term impacts on brain development, learning, behavior, and regulation. Grounded in research and lived experience, participants will gain practical insight, renewed compassion, and tools to parent with confidence and hope.
Calling All Dads | Eric Fridge, Kyle Raney
This session is designed specifically for foster and adoptive fathers - We see you! You’ll have the opportunity to connect with other fathers who understand your unique journey and gain insights on building strong, nurturing relationships with your children. Whether you’re new to foster care or adoption or have been on this path for years, this session offers a valuable space to learn, connect, and grow.
Lunch & Learn | Friday, 12:00 - 12:45 pm
Replanted Groups | Jenn Hook
We invite you to grab your lunch and then come and learn more about Replanted Groups - how they are structured, why they are needed, and how you can start one!
Breakout Session 2 | Friday, 1:00 - 2:00 pm
Understanding the Basics of IEPs & 504 Plans | Brandie Neal
This session breaks down the basics of IEPs (Individualized Education Programs) and 504 Plans, helping parents, educators, and support staff understand how these plans differ, how eligibility is determined, and what rights and protections each provides. Participants will explore the referral and evaluation process, key components of an IEP, and common accommodations under a 504 Plan. You’ll also gain practical tools for collaborating with schools and advocating for the support your child needs to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally.
Blocked Care: Why You Feel Shut Down and What to Do Next | Angela Knapp
This workshop will explore topics of adjustment, grief, and blocked care as they relate to adoption and foster parenting. Participants will learn to recognize these effects in their own lives and how to support themselves and their spouses so they can be more present, engaged, and connected parents for the children in their home.
Help Me, I'm Drowning: Finding Hope as a Single Foster/Adoptive Mom | Sundy Goodnight
Are you drowning in the life of foster care, adoption, and single parenting? You are not alone. Help Me, I'm Drowning will equip you to stay encouraged amidst the chaos and find practical ways to enjoy your "mom" life.
Rooted in Love: Fostering Connection for a Stronger Marriage | Eric & Jenny Fridge
A thriving family starts with a strong, Christ-centered marriage, but adoption/foster's unique challenges can create distance between spouses. In this session, you'll learn to fight the erosion threatening your family's stability. Through biblical wisdom, real-life stories, and practical tools, you'll navigate challenges and build a home where love flourishes. Leave encouraged, equipped, and ready to thrive.
When Nothing Works: Troubleshooting Challenging Behaviors Through an Attachment Lens | Stacey Cales (Mak)
When traditional strategies fail, foster and adoptive parents are often left feeling stuck and discouraged. This session reframes challenging behaviors as signals of unmet attachment needs rather than defiance. Caregivers will learn how to identify what drives behavior, choose responses that promote regulation, and interrupt power struggles while strengthening connection.
Breakout Session 3 | Friday, 2:15 - 3:15 pm
Neurodivergence & Sensory Needs: Practical Tools for Everyday Parenting | Brandie Neal
Parenting kids with neurodivergence and sensory needs can feel overwhelming, especially when traditional strategies don’t seem to work. Big reactions, sensitivities, and constant adjustments can leave caregivers unsure of what their child truly needs. This session will help you understand how neurodivergent brains process the world and how sensory needs shape behavior, regulation, and connection. You’ll gain practical tools to support transitions, reduce overwhelm, and create rhythms that help your child feel safe and understood, so you can parent with greater confidence and connection in everyday moments.
Recovering Rescuer: How Letting Go of Control Creates Freedom | Rebecca Harvin
This session is an encouragement for moms (and dads) who overfunction in their relationships. We'll explore healthy relational boundaries, being faithful in the process, and abandoning the results to God.
No Family Walks Alone: A TBRI® Approach for the Church | Marc Dickerson
Families in foster care, adoption, kinship care—and families walking through hard seasons—often need more support than they know how to ask for. This session invites the church into a deeper understanding of how trauma impacts both children and caregivers, and how we can respond with compassion, not just good intentions. Using the principles of Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI®), we’ll explore what it looks like for the church to care for ALL families in a way that is safe, practical, and truly helpful. Whether you’re a church leader or someone passionate about strengthening your church’s response, you’ll leave with a clearer vision and tangible ways to build, influence, and grow a home team so no family has to carry this alone.
From Tech Issues to Tough Behaviors: Practical Tools for Building Trust in Teens | Stephen & Joy Zedler
A common misconception about TBRI is that it’s only for young children, but these principles are just as effective for teens and young adults. In this session, TBRI Practitioners and Mentors Stephen and Joy Zedler will explore how the principles of Connecting, Empowering, and Correcting can help build trust, felt safety, and connection with ages 13 to 30. Participants will also learn how to respond to both digital challenges and tough behaviors with practical, relationship-based tools that strengthen connection rather than create more conflict.
Let’s Talk About It: A Birth Parent AMA Panel | Janelle Basham, Jessie Mattos
Most adoptive parents have questions about birth parents but worry about saying the wrong thing. We understand that many parents want to build healthy relationships and support their children well, even when the path feels uncertain. This panel is designed to alleviate that pressure and invite honest dialogue. In this candid “Ask Me Anything” conversation, birth mothers Janelle Basham and Jessie Mattos invite adoptive parents to bring their questions, concerns, and curiosity to the table. They will share their experiences and offer insight into placement, grief, ongoing relationships, and what meaningful support can look like from their perspective. This session is a space to grow in empathy, understanding, and compassion as we honor all sides of the adoption triad. Expect honesty, insight, and practical guidance you can carry into your relationships long after the session ends.
Breakout Session 4 | Saturday, 8:00 - 8:50 am
When Traditional Parenting Isn't Enough: A Trauma-Sensitive Approach | Ted Stackpole
This workshop equips caregivers to understand trauma-sensitive parenting and how it differs from traditional approaches. Participants will learn how trauma impacts behavior and development, recognize trauma responses, create safe environments, manage their own stress, collaborate with professionals, and gain practical encouragement for navigating the overwhelm common to foster parenting.
The Special Needs Parenting Journey | Bryan Barrineau
This breakout is designed to encourage foster and adoptive parents raising children with special needs. We will explore practical ways to disciple children with diverse learning, behavioral, and developmental needs while anchoring our homes in the gospel. Parents will leave strengthened, equipped, and reminded that their faithfulness matters, keep running the race.
Parenting from a Distance: Staying Connected When Your Child Can't Be at Home | Anna Bernacki
Parenting a child with severe mental illness who cannot safely live at home is one of the most isolating journeys a family can face. This workshop offers honest insight, practical tools, and compassionate support for parents navigating residential treatment, helping families maintain connection, advocate well, and care for both the child in treatment and the family still at home.
Helping Kids Process Grief and Their Story: What Helps, What Hurts | Tamara Bolthouse
Adults often respond to childhood grief with the best intentions, but sometimes our instincts, like minimizing, comparing, distracting, or rushing the process, can make it harder for kids to heal. While healing takes time, time alone isn’t always enough. This workshop explores common responses to grief, addresses myths around how children process loss, and equips caregivers with practical language and realistic expectations. You’ll leave with tools to support your child’s story in ways that create space for healthy healing, connection, and growth.
Where is God in This? Faith After Loss and Disruption | Douglas Kowieski
Foster care and adoption often involve repeated loss, disruption, and unanswered questions that can deeply challenge faith. This workshop creates space for honest spiritual wrestling while affirming God’s nearness in suffering. Participants are invited to encounter God’s presence, not through easy answers, but through truth, compassion, and hope.
Breakout Session 5 | Saturday, 10:45-11:45 am
Fewer Heroes, More Helpers - Building a Support Team for Adoptive/Foster Families | Eric & Jenny Fridge
Too many adoptive and foster families carry the weight of caring for children from hard places alone. This interactive session explores how to shift families from isolated struggle into thriving community support, your home team. You'll discover best practices for building wrap-around networks: peer support groups, church teams, volunteers, and professionals. Walk away learning how to recruit, train, and coordinate helpers who truly lift the load and nurture healing for everyone involved.
Rebuilding Trust: A Mother and Daughter's Journey Back to Connection | Nicole Kalil
Attendees will experience a vulnerable, two-way conversation between a mother and daughter navigating what it looks like to rebuild trust after seasons of pain and silence. Through shared reflection from both sides, participants will leave with greater understanding and hope for relationships that are still in process.
Beyond Self-Care to Soul-Care | Stephen & Joy Zedler
Children gain the capacity for relational health and self-regulation from the capacity of their caregivers for the same, making it imperative for caregivers to prioritize mental and emotional health. In this presentation, adoptive parents and TBRI Mentors Joy and Stephen Zedler give practical tools for cultivating peace and joy in and around us.
Brave Conversations About Race - A Panel | Adrienne Runnebaum, Shaq Hardy, Kyle Raney
A courageous space for foster, adoptive, and kinship families to explore race, identity, and cultural humility. This session invites honest dialogue, deep reflection, and practical tools for navigating transracial families. Leave encouraged and better equipped to raise children who feel seen, celebrated, and deeply known—rooted in the kind of belonging every home team is meant to provide.
Beyond the Crisis: Seeing the Mom Behind the Story | Krysten Cline
The story of foster care is often told through the lens of children in need, but behind every child at risk is a mother in crisis whose story is often unseen or misunderstood. “Beyond the Crisis” explores these stories and what draws families into child welfare systems, equipping participants with tools to engage mothers in crisis with redemptive, relationship-centered support.
Lunch & Learn | Saturday, 12:00 - 12:45 pm
More Than Hair: Nurturing Identity Through Textured Hair Care | Aarianne Israel
We invite you to grab your lunch and then join an engaging, hands-on learning experience designed to equip foster and adoptive parents with the skills and cultural understanding needed to care for African-American and biracial children’s hair with confidence and respect. This interactive session explores gentle detangling, simple routines, and how everyday hair care can affirm identity, build trust, and strengthen emotional connection.