Please join us for our monthly educational meeting: Monday, Sept. 20, 2010 - 7pm.
"Ten Conversations You Have to Have with Friends and Family" presented by Janie Cravens, LCSW.

Ms. Cravens will delineate the most common misconceptions in our culture with regards to birthparents, adoptive parents and adoptees. Ms. Cravens will suggest “preemptive strike” conversations triad members may want to have with people close to them, as well as teach some responses to questions and comments that come from the general public.

Janie Cravens has more than 25 years experience in adoption, infertility and birth parent concerns. She is a pioneer of open adoption who resides in Austin where she owns a consulting company, Adoption Development Resources.

Upcoming Meetings:

October 18, 2010: "Filling your Adoptive Family’s Backpack: For Back to School and Beyond" presented by Becky Harding and Deanne Brown. Becky and Deanne are former teachers and adoptive mothers who now stay home with their daughters who were adopted from China. Their presentation will include: finding a good school match for your family, how to create a strong communication system with your child's teacher, what specific tools a parent can teach their child when handling adoption and race questions or situations, and suggestions about how parents can be advocates in their school and community.

All meetings are held at the Westover Hills Church, 8332 Mesa, Austin, TX on the third Monday of each month. Meetings begin at 7:00 p.m., followed by discussion groups for birth families, adopted people, and adoptive/prospective adoptive parents. If you have a topic that you would like to see presented at a future meeting, please let us know.

Search assistance meetings for family members disconnected by adoption are by now by appointment only. Search assistance is free to AKA members and there is a $10 fee for non-members. Search assistance meetings are held at Westover Hills Church, 8332 Mesa Drive.

Adoption Knowledge Affiliates
PO Box 4082 Austin, TX 78765
512.442.8AKA
Email: aka@adoptionknowledge.org