The 18th annual statewide conference titled Adoption 2007: Making Dreams Come True will be held May 10-12, 2007 at the Marriott Hotel in Albany, New York. They have planned an exciting lineup of nationally known speakers and workshops that will provide up to date information on the most important issues in adoption today.

You can learn more about the conference by visiting the website http://www.nysccc.org/. The conference brochure is available in a PDF file format, there is a description of the workshops available, and you can register on line at this site.

Registration is required by April 20th for the lowest fees and to receive the conference room rate you must book your reservations at the Marriott by April 20th.

There are a ton of workshops being offered. A few of the topics are Transracial Adoption: Guidelines for Parents and Practice, A New Sibling’s Effect on the Family, Parenting the Hurt Child, Childhood Depression, Love Locked Inside: My Parents Are in Prison, Hispanic Family Recruitment in the 21st Century: A Latino Perspective, and Searching for Birth Relatives: Lessons Learned. This is just a portion of the workshops. There are plenty more too choose from. You can view a list of the workshop descriptions at the website mentioned above.

The New York State Citizens Coalition for Children was incorporated in 1975. The NYCCC is an organization of concerned citizens and volunteer adoptive and foster parent groups in every region of New York State. They are guided by a belief in the right of every child to a permanent, loving family. The goals of the Coalition are to:

Improve services available to children at risk of or in out of home care
Increase citizen involvement in local service planning and delivery
Require greater public accountability of the NYS Office of Children and Family Services, other systems providing out of home care for children, and local agencies represent the citizen's viewpoint in advocating for improved adoption and foster care services.

The Coalition is concerned primarily with system-change advocacy and individuals taking responsibility for influencing and changing the systems affecting their lives and the lives of their children.