News from CFFC

Spring Has Sprung! And with it we have new hope for our upcoming fiscal year!
Help us to make Change Happen!

Our international ACTION training was a huge success! Though we lost money on it,
it was well worth the effort to have such meaningful presentations and such an avid group of attendees.

"I liked the diversity of information and topics." - ACTION Attendee

"Great resources!!!" - ACTION Attendee

"The film [Adopted] was so powerful... I sobbed and felt raw. That and the adoptee panel was excellent." - ACTION Attendee

Our FACT training on Attachment and Trauma in March was sold out...there was a wait list! We had a wonderful array of professionals and parents.

"The entire training helped reinforce and confirm the severity and depth of what our family is going through. The film helped bring out some emotions that were internalized."
- March FaCT Attendee

"I am happy that CFFC exists and trains therapists. There is too much here for anyone to address alone." - March FaCT Attendee

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On the Economy...
We are hoping that the stimulus package results in reinstating-if not adding more to-our Post Adoption contract with the state. CFFC lost half of its state funding for our post adoption services in the cuts to the Senate Ways and Means Budget Line Item 4800-0038 last November. With this budget cut, CFFC lost $93,750 from its FY09 budget.

As it is, CFFC has already spent the allotted Post Adoption money from the state for this fiscal year, as of January. That means that every training that we do, and every DCF client that we see, is pro bono work. Our staff continues to be completely committed to the families we serve. We cannot continue this way indefinitely, and we ask that you make it possible for us to help these families in need. The demand for our services, especially by DCF, is higher than ever. In order to be able to provide families with the help they need, we need the support from our government officials and we need constituents to call them on our behalf.

Without aid-and at least reinstated level funding-we will be unable to continue working with these families pro bono. In these harsh economic times, very few of these families can afford to pay out of pocket rates, so their only hope is reinstated government funding.

Although CFFC is a small organization rooted in the local community, our reach is quite substantial. Many agencies throughout the country and across the world have sought our expertise and support in order to replicate our unique models and receive technical assistance and training.

CFFC serves approximately 1,500 families per year and is a national and international leader in the fields of pre- and post-adoption services, special needs adoption, and a wide range of children and family issues. CFFC provides clinical treatment, consultation, training, education, and advocacy for individuals and families touched by adoption, foster care, kinship, guardianship, and complex families.

CFFC also trains and consults with professionals, including state agencies, social workers, and attorneys. We train approximately 5,000 people nationally, internationally, and locally.

In order to continue providing the services to children and families in need, and to continue training other professionals about the issues in adoption and foster care, we need assistance from the government.

Our services are unique and needed in the Commonwealth. We hope to continue serving families touched by adoption and foster care the best that we can. However in order to do this, we need and your help.

There are so many ways that you can help us.
�   You can send us a check.
�   You can introduce us to potential funders and friends of CFFC.
�   You can volunteer your time
�   You can help with our events and trainings
�   You can donate some of the items that we are in need of (see list of needed items below)
�   You can locate inexpensive (preferably FREE) space for us to use for trainings and groups.

Spring has finally arrived! And Spring Cleaning is well underway at CFFC. We have been reorganizing rooms and cleaning up a bit!

In the midst we made a list of things we need:
-      Seven (7) newer Apple Computers - we have a group of old eMacs and they are very slow and some are having more serious problems than others. There are iMacs on sale in the vincinty of $1,000 each. Any Mac connections?
-    Flash Drives (USB2.0 4gb). We need a few of these to transport powerpoints and other training materials
-    Software such as: Dictate...Mac speech software/ Toast 9 software
-    2 HP Laser Jet M4345's
-    Projector IN15 Mobile

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On our work here at CFFC...
I usually try to have our newsletter give you more insight into the children and families that we care about, but at this time of year and with the economy, we need to be sure that we can continue to do all that we do for these children and families.

Our current focus is on:
�   helping to develop a training for International Adoption families and professionals around Post Adoption needs.

�   working to develop more education around transracial/transcultural adoptions and around class issues in adoption.

�   working with professionals and families about Gentle Transitions when moving kids within the child welfare system.

�   doing more trainings for judges and attorneys who are integral in the process of getting kids to permanency.

�   developing another Post Graduate Course and talking to a few schools about this project here in Massachusetts, much like the Hunter Graduate School of Social Work Course that Professor Gary Mallon and I created and teach in NY and the one Gary has replicated at LSU in Louisiana.

�   Dr. Valerie O'Brien of UCD School of Applied Social Sciences in Dublin, Ireland and Dr. Joyce Maguire Pavao, CEO and Founder of Center For Family Connections in Cambridge, MA and Lecturer in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School are collaborating on a project regarding Irish infants and children who were adopted in the United States.

If you have any research on Ireland as a sending country to especially US- but also Canada, Australia etc., please give us some references so that we cover all of our bases.
If you are a person or related to a person who was adopted in the US from Ireland, please let us know how to reach you so that we can include you in the study and learn from you about your experiences.
If you are on the Irish side and had a family member adopted to US, please be in touch as well as we are eager to hear from all parties.

You can send all information to Dr. Pavao via: Larisak@kinnect.org

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Final Thoughts...
In addition to all this, I've finished a chapter for a book on International adoptions, another for a Pediatric text book, and have done three articles this year as well.

My other books will have to wait for the summer and will take a back seat to any grant proposals that we need in order to continue our amazing work.

CFFC is small but Mighty!!

Happy Spring and -put a spring in our step by figuring out how you can help!

Don't forget to join the CFFC team on Facebook Click Here. Stay on top of CFFC updates and network with other supporters of our organization!

Sincerely,

Joyce