Adoption Training Day on October 26, 2010

Ontario Association of Children’s Aid Societies (OACAS), in collaboration with the Ministry of Children and Youth Services, hosted an Adoption Training Day on October 26, 2010, for both private and public adoption professionals.

Mary Rella, INTERFACE Program, Thistletown Regional Centre, Ministry of Children and Youth Services, a clinician with over 20 years experience working with families in clinical settings and child welfare, provided the training, “Adoption Through the Lens of Attachment, Adaptation and Resilience” at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. Click here for the presentation.

Mary Rella can helped adoption professionals begin to answer the question, “Can this child be cared for by this family?”  Together, Mary and attendees used Attachment theory to help better understand the behaviours, defensive strategies and developmental needs of fostered and adopted children and youth with problematic histories of abuse, neglect and multiple separations.  Mary Rella is Manager of Consultation Assessment and Training Services at the INTERFACE Program, Thistletown Regional Center.  Mary provides parenting assessments, attachment assessments and training to professionals across the province of Ontario.  Mary has focused on the areas of parent/child relationships and the repair of relational trauma.

Adoptive parents benefit from support in developing skills in becoming attuned to their child and interpreting their behavioural signals.   Mary Rella can help adoption professionals identify the correct match between a child and parent and then find the right support for families in creating predictable relationships.  This helps families successfully navigate the impact of past maltreatment and supports children and youth to develop “resilience” in future relationships, resulting in a more successful adoption.

This training was for both private/international and public adoption professionals and was interest to all CAS staff involved in permanency planning for children in care. The training qualifies for credit as part of the ministry’s annual training expectations for licensed private/international adoption professionals in Ontario.

Supported by the Government of Ontario.