The New Normal School: Engaging Diverse Families

 

 

 

Educators and education professionals working with children in early education and care, out of school time and public school programs will learn about the challenges faced by children and families dealing with the issues of adoption, gender identity and English language acquisition; and consider ways to improve their programs, their curricula and their teaching strategies to better serve these families.

 

Family Engagement Conference Registration Form

Monday, November 19, 2012 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM UMass Amherst Campus Center One Campus Way Amherst, MA 01003 www.umass.edu/umhome/visit_campus.html November 19, 2012 Agenda

Or

Monday, November 26, 2012 8:30 AM to 3:00 PM Bridgewater State University Rondileau Campus Center 19 Park Avenue Bridgewater, MA 02325 www.bridgew.edu/campuscenter November 26, 2012 Agenda

 

Conference Resources

 

Keynote Speakers Bios:

Joelle Auguste was named executive director of the Multilingual Action Council (MAC). MAC is a council of child serving professionals, advocates, educators, higher education, and parents from multilingual communities. MAC is an independent organization hosted by the Aspire Institute, a program of Wheelock College, MAC's fiscal agent. Prior to MAC, Auguste held leadership roles in a number of organizations, securing funds and coordinating fundraising events for nonprofit, religious organizations as well as schools. She also developed and facilitated various parenting education programs for low-income, immigrant families and families with children with disabilities. While at ABCD Head Start, she developed management and monitoring systems and structures for the Citywide Mental Health & Social Services Department. She holds a Bachelor degree in Business Administration from the National Institute of Management & Political Sciences in Haiti, a Master of Education degree in Counseling Psychology from Cambridge College, and she is currently pursuing a Master of Education degree in Education Policy & Management at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She speaks fluent English, French, and Haitian Creole.

 

Joyce Maguire Pavao, Ed.D., LCSW, LMFT, was the Founder and CEO of Center For Family Connections, Inc. (CFFC - est. 1995) in Cambridge, MA and New York. Adoption Resource Center was founded in 1978 and PACT (Pre/Post Adoption Consulting and Training) was established in 1982-becoming part of CFFC from 1995 to 2012. PACT and ARC are back standing on their own, as of March, 2012. Dr. Pavao is building comprehensive post adoption services throughout the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as Riverside After Adoption Consulting and Training (AACT) and is doing an extensive project with the Department of Mental Health in Massachusetts. Dr. Pavao has done training, both nationally and internationally. She is a Lecturer in Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, and has consulted to various public and private agencies, schools, and the court system. Additionally, she has worked closely with individuals and families created by adoption, foster care, and other complex blended family constructions. She has developed models for treatment and for training using her systemic, intergenerational, and developmental framework The Normative Crises in the Development of the Adoptive Family and her book The Family of Adoption (1998/2005) has received high acclaim. Dr. Pavao has received many awards and honors, including the Adoption Excellence Award for Family Contribution (2003), and the Angels in Adoption award (2000).

 

Kim Westheimer is the director of the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Foundation Family Project’s Welcoming Schools, an LGBT inclusive school climate improvement program that helps schools embrace family diversity, avoid gender stereotyping and end bullying and name calling. Kim is also an adjunct faculty member at Wheelock College in Boston, MA. Prior to joining HRC in 2010, Kim consulted for a wide range of education and non-profit organizations on topics related to equity, health promotion, community dialogue and program development. These organizations included the American Psychological Association, GroundSpark, Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, the Massachusetts Department of Education and individual school districts. She formerly directed the Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students at the Massachusetts Department of Education and is the co-author with Jeff Perrotti of When the Drama Club is Not Enough: Lessons From the Safe Schools Program for Gay and Lesbian Students.