Call for Speakers

We're actively seeking to increase the diversity of our conference speakers and invite participation from people of all races, ethnicities, genders, ages, abilities, religions, and sexual orientations. We also encourage talks from underrepresented groups within the adoption community, including birth parents, adoptees, and others. By sharing your expertise, you can help foster a more inclusive and comprehensive dialogue about adoption. Whether you're an adoptee, birth parent, adoptive parent, or another member of the adoption community,

We are seeking professional proposals that will elevate diverse perspectives and address emerging topics and recent research. We accept presentations that address a wide range of adoption-related subjects, at various levels of expertise, and that offer information relevant to various types of adoption (adoption from foster care, intercountry adoption, and private domestic adoption). We also encourage presenters to consider how issues of race, equity, and inclusion affect their topic.

Here are some examples of presentations from our recent conferences:

• Equipping Transracial Adoptive Parents to Cultivate Positive Racial Identity
• Ethics and Challenges in Post-Placement Birthparent Care
• Learning from Adoptees: Incorporating Adoptees' Voices into Practice
• Fundraising Basics to Support Adoption Agencies
• Race Equity in Adoption: Workforce Considerations
• Decoding Special Needs Supports: From Subsidies to IEPs
• The Continued Impact of Unregulated Domestic Infant Adoption

Please ensure your presentation is connected to clear takeaways for attendees. Don't just detail the problem but detail some solutions that adoption professionals can implement in their work. We prioritize proposals that will facilitate dialogue, interaction, and focus on strategies for practical application of skills taught. We also require most presentation topics to be backed by research (This does not apply if you are presenting on your lived experience). 

Your primary audience will be adoption professionals coming from all different types of adoption (intercountry, adoption from foster care, and private domestic adoption). Attendees will have mixed levels of expertise, skill sets, and professions. Your presentation doesn't have to be relevant to everyone, but it should be relevant to most attendees and shouldn't make too many assumptions about what people already know (unless you are indicating your course is an advanced level offering).

If applicable, please include examples throughout your presentation that are relevant to each type of adoption. If you're coming from a foster care background, please connect your presentation to adoption!

Here are some examples of presentations from our recent conferences:

• Equipping Transracial Adoptive Parents to Cultivate Positive Racial Identity
• Ethics and Challenges in Post-Placement Birthparent Care
• Learning from Adoptees: Incorporating Adoptees' Voices into Practice
• Fundraising Basics to Support Adoption Agencies
• Race Equity in Adoption: Workforce Considerations
• Decoding Special Needs Supports: From Subsidies to IEPs
• The Continued Impact of Unregulated Domestic Infant Adoption

We expect most presentations to last 60 or 90 minutes but will consider presentations of other lengths as well. Please be sure to account for time for audience Q&A during your presentation.

We ask that presentations include a slide deck and incorporate opportunities for audience engagement. Proposals that facilitate dialogue, interaction, and practical application will be prioritized. Speakers may also provide handouts and additional resources.

We are planning to offer the majority of our sessions for social work CE credit. Required CE session materials include: presentation slides, learning objectives, and references/citations. Upon selection, our team will work with speakers to meet all CE requirements. Read about CE session requirements here.

See below for guidance regarding presentations on lived experience, as many of these requirements will not apply.

Whether you're an adoptee, birth parent, adoptive parent, or another member of the adoption community, your voice is invaluable in shaping a more inclusive and compassionate dialogue around adoption.

We are actively seeking to increase the diversity of perspectives included at our conferences and welcome presentations from people of all races, ethnicities, genders, ages, abilities, religions, and sexual orientations.

We ask that all presentations, including those solely focused on lived experience, include clear takeaways or messages for adoption professionals. If you are feeling unsure about developing these takeaways, feel free to reach out to us.

Here's some examples of learning objectives and takeaways from other lived experience presentations.

We are planning to offer all sessions for social work CE credit. Upon selection, our team will work with speakers to meet all CE requirements. Presentation requirements for those presenting solely on their lived experience will not require presentation slides.