Training:

Preparing Birth and Adoptive Families for Healthy Adoption Relationships

May 6
Wednesday, May 6, 2026 – 11:00am
11:00am - 12:30pm

Audience: All Caregivers (Adoptive, Foster & Kinship Parents)

Level: Intermediate
Ages addressed: 18 and under

Building healthy relationships between bio/birth families and foster/adoptive families ideally begins long before an adoption occurs, but various factors can make this difficult or impossible. This workshop explores how education can empower birth families and adoptive families to understand their distinct roles, rights, and responsibilities, laying the groundwork for open and respectful connections after placement. We will explore the facets of open adoption contact and the "homework" that foster and adoptive parents still have to do when contact is not currently safe or accessible. We will discuss the role that technology plays in open adoption and how everyone deserves to set boundaries, not just the power holders. Finally, we’ll confront the realities of building trust across socioeconomic and power divides and identify practical ways to create bridges of empathy, accountability, and mutual respect that truly honor the child at the center of the adoption constellation.

Register Here

Location:

FosterEd Adopt Minnesota - Webinar

https://www.fosteradoptmn.org/

Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard is the Director of Policy & Advocacy at Ethical Family Building, where she leads state and federal efforts to enhance protections for all parties in private adoption and center children’s long-term well-being. As a birth mother in an open adoption and a longtime professional in private adoption, she brings uniquely modern insight to adoption reform policy. Kelsey is dedicated to spotlighting the lived experiences of all parties in adoption through storytelling and advocacy; she is the co-author of the 2023 book Adoption Unfiltered, co-founder of Utah Adoption Rights, and co-producer of the documentary Carrying (2026). Kelsey resides in Southern California with her husband and daughters.