● November 6 & 7
This is a faith-based session rooted in Scripture and lived experience. This breakout talks about foster care as a calling and not a feel-good mission. What it looks like to say yes to God when it hurts. How faith carries families through grief, loss, and outcomes that do not go the way we prayed for.
This session is about obedience, surrender, and continuing to follow God when the road is heavy.
(Cristiana Amato, The Feathered Nest Blog)
Foster care is about more than just taking care of a child, it’s about playing a part in the healing of a family. This breakout will address the foster parent’s role in building, strengthening, and repairing relationships with biological families. Jamie will lay the groundwork for a theological and research based foundation for family preservation and reunification, and share practical steps and ideas for foster parents looking to grow in building relationships with biological parents.
(Jamie Finn, Foster The Family)
Often times in the foster and adoptive journey, one of the first things to take a “back seat” on the priority list is our marriages. This workshop is designed to help bring our marriages back to their rightful place – as one of the most important things we can focus on and pour into. We don’t just want marriages to survive the journey, but to thrive and grow because of it. That’s what this workshop is designed to help you with.
(Jason Johnson, Director of Church Mobilization and Engagement with Christian Alliance For Orphans)
Infertility can be a deeply painful and isolating journey, especially for those walking toward adoption with questions, grief, and hope intertwined. In this breakout session, we will create space to acknowledge the heartache of unmet longings while also exploring the steady hope, comfort, and identity we can find in God. Together, we will reflect on how faith can sustain us through uncertainty and how God’s presence meets us with compassion in every part of the adoption and infertility journey.
(Nick & Beka Wolfe)
For children impacted by early adversity, play is not just a leisure activity—it is a critical pathway to healing, connection, and healthy brain development. Many fostered and adopted children have missed early play experiences that support regulation, attachment, and learning. In this trauma-informed workshop, we’ll explore how play supports brain development, emotional regulation, and relational safety. We’ll discuss why playful experiences are especially important for children with histories of stress or trauma and how play can help rewire the brain for trust, flexibility, and resilience.
This session offers practical, developmentally appropriate strategies for using play as a tool for connection and regulation, supporting both children and caregivers in building safe, nurturing relationships.
(Dr. Joe O’Tool, Board-Certified Functional Neurologist, Lifestream Brain + Body Clinic in Ankeny, IA)
In this workshop we go in depth into what an effective safety plan looks like, why it’s crucial for every caregiver to have on in their home (even if everything seems calm and normal) and how to manage crisis. In addition to this we will discuss what to do and say if you find yourself in the unfortunate position of being under investigation by CPS.
In this session, we will explore practical, trauma-informed strategies to help children from hard places navigate the journey toward social and emotional maturity. Developmental delays and children appearing “behind” others are a common side effect of early loss and trauma, and that can be discouraging for everyone involved. Participants will learn what to expect, and gain actionable insights into fostering empathy, sharpening a child’s self-awareness, and gradually building personal responsibility through “scaffolded” accountability. Our goal is to equip you with the patience and the toolkit to nurture a resilient child, transforming daily challenges into milestones of emotional growth.
(Jill Thomas, LISW, RPT-S, PMH-C)
We were never called to foster alone, so join us as we offer practical ways to enter into community with healthy rhythms of tending to your soul and inviting your church in to support you.
(Philip Pattison, Executive Director of Foster The City)
The Adoption Tax Credit is $17,670(With $5,000 now refundable). The Income Exclusion is also $17,670. One of the largest credits in IRS code. We will explain how it works, when to claim it and who qualifies.
We are blessed by adoption and want to help as many families, caseworkers, agencies and attorneys understand this great credit.
(Becky Wilmoth, Adoption Tax Credit Specialist and Enrolled Agent for Bills Tax Service)
When you’re in the middle of a tough season, it’s hard to know whether or not you are making any lasting change. That’s where a little bread-making can help shape your perspective. Join Chef Kibby (host of the Hunger for Connection Podcast) as he takes you through the science and art of making complex flavors out of simple ingredients and demonstrates how this fascinating process can give you encouraging insights into the difference you are making in the life of a young person.
(Chef Kibby Professional Chef, Public Speaker and Podcaster)
This session is about the side of foster care people rarely talk about. The behaviors after visits. The grief foster parents carry quietly. The tension between giving grace to biological parents and protecting children.
I share real life experiences from inside our home. Not statistics or theory. Just truth. The kind that helps people understand foster care more clearly and support foster families better.
We are living in a digital world and there are many challenges to raising children who have easy access to the internet and screens daily and can easily get hooked on them. Join this workshop to hear from a mental health therapist and adoptive
parent on the risks of excessive screen time, social media, and video games, and learn ways to develop a Tech-Wise Family plan and teach your children to use tech as a tool and not a trap.
(Jill Thomas, LISW, RPT-S, PMH-C)
This session focuses on why caring for ourselves and our souls is critical to not just surviving the journey, but thriving on it. You can read more about the ideas expressed in this session here: Click HERE.
(Jason Johnson, Director of Church Mobilization and Engagement with Christian Alliance for Orphans)
Tools for a hope-filled labor and delivery experience. An exploration of the many layers to consider within your child’s delivery story. From birth family, adoptive family, support staff, and hospital staff… consider an approach that honors all parties and brings about the most loving circle of care.
(Stephani Souliere, Maternity House Manager, Trained Birth Attendant and Childbirth Educator)
The cumulative impact of chronic stress, lifestyle choices, unresolved hard experiences, and trauma is causing our nervous systems to be in constant dysregulation. When our nervous system is dysregulated, all aspects of our wellbeing is impacted (mentally, emotionally, physically, spiritually, and relationally). After exploring these concepts in depth, we will draw on practices from somatic therapy, breathwork, mindfulness, and other holistic approaches to learn how to shift our nervous systems from survival mode into a more stable (regulated) state.
Often people come to me as a therapist wanting to learn better coping skills. As I often tell my clients “I want to help you learn more than just how to cope with your life, I want to help you heal so you can live your life.” Come join as we learn how to heal…
*This session will be both informative and experiential. session will be both information and experiential. Let’s start your journey in resetting your nervous system!
(Darcie Van Voorst, LISW/Therapist/Trainer/Consultant)
(During the lunch period)
In this workshop we identify unhealthy and healthy attachments, discuss how and why healthy attachments can become disrupted, and provide a blueprint for healing and reconnection even when the child continually pushes the caregiver away.
(Mike & Kristin Berry, The Resilient Caregiver)
(During the lunch period)
This presentation focuses on what it can look like when foster families and birth families work together toward successful reunification. Drawing from the experiences of foster parent, Lindsey Phillips, and Claire Robinson, a biological parent who reunified with her child, and international relationship-building, this session offers meaningful insight. Participants will gain practical suggestions for foster families engaging with birth families, along with a deeper understanding of the emotional experiences biological parents face when their children enter foster care.
(Lindsey Phillips and Claire Robinson)
(During the lunch period)
In this breakout session, Austin Ludwig will share from his lived experience in foster care, weaving together personal storytelling, original songs, and practical insight for foster and adoptive families. Drawing from his journey of trauma, aging out of care, navigating biological family relationships, and finding healing, Austin will help participants better understand the inner world of children and youth who have experienced abuse, neglect, separation, and loss.
This session will also explore the importance of trauma-focused care, attachment, felt safety, and principles connected to Trust-Based Relational Intervention (TBRI). Through story, music, reflection, and Q&A, families will be equipped with deeper empathy and practical perspective as they seek to care for children with compassion, patience, and connection.
(Austin Ludwig)
(During the lunch period)
Often there is tension that foster parents feel when they think the case plan or certain decisions being made are not in the best interest of the child. Foster parents have experienced a gap between what the worker or system was doing and what they believed was right for the child. The session will focus on the importance of advocating for the children and youth placed in your home and being a good partner in the child’s case plan.
Participants will learn the importance of their roles as foster parents and remembering that they are ambassadors of Jesus.
(Dr. Sharen Ford, P.h.D. Director for Foster Care and Adoption at Focus on the Family)
(During the lunch period)
Sleep and rest are foundational to healing, regulation, and resilience—yet for children and caregivers impacted by trauma, they are often the hardest to achieve. Night wakings, hypervigilance, exhaustion, and burnout are common in foster and adoptive families and among the professionals who support them. In this restorative and trauma-informed workshop, we’ll explore how sleep and rest affect the brain, nervous system, and emotional well-being. We’ll discuss why children with early adversity often struggle with sleep, how chronic stress disrupts rest for caregivers, and why intentional rhythms of rest—sometimes referred to as “Sabbath”—are essential for long-term sustainability.
This session offers practical strategies and compassionate insight to support healthier sleep for children and restorative rest for adults, helping families and professionals show up regulated, present, and resilient.
(Dr. Joe O’Tool, Board-Certified Functional Neurologist, Lifestream Brain + Body Clinic in Ankeny, IA)
In this workshop we dive into proven response and regulation strategies to help caregivers quickly achieve calm in the middle of chaos. Participants will gain an understanding of how trauma impacts the brain and causes certain behaviors to arise, but most importantly, the most effective responses to de-escalate big emotional moments.
(Mike & Kristin Berry, The Resilient Caregiver)
This breakout will explore the importance of Biblically informed self-care. Topics include the risk of secondary trauma and burnout for foster and adoptive parents, a Biblical foundation for self-care, creating space for self-care in a busy family, and practical ideas for foster and adoptive parents to build actual self-care into their lives.
(Jamie Finn, Foster The Family)
What happens when the calling God has placed on your life becomes heavier than you ever imagined? Foster care isn’t just hard—it can be heartbreaking. There are days when the grief feels overwhelming, when the system leaves you exhausted, when your marriage feels stretched thin, and when the child you’re pouring everything into seems to reject your love. In those moments, walking away can feel like the easier choice.
In this deeply honest and hope-filled session, Lindsey Phillips invites you into the raw realities of the foster care journey. You’ll discover what it looks like to grieve the dreams you’ve had to let go of, lament the losses that often go unseen, and keep choosing faith when your circumstances make you question everything. Through vulnerable stories of caring for medically fragile children, parenting through trauma, and seasons when she nearly gave up, Lindsey shares how God continued to meet her, strengthen her, and call her to keep saying “yes.”
Whether you’re in a season of burnout, questioning your calling, or simply longing for renewed hope, this session will remind you that you’re not alone. Come be encouraged, challenged, and refreshed as you rediscover the courage to keep walking in faith even when every part of you wants to turn back.
(Lindsey Phillips and Claire Robinson)
The Table Project has built Iowa’s first Gospel-centered foster parent pre-licensure training — and this breakout gives you a working piece of it. We’ll share an overview of what The Table Project is, how it works within Iowa’s foster care ecosystem, and what it means that a Christian pre-licensure pathway now exists in Iowa. Then you’ll get to experience a central piece of our training firsthand: Four-Part Gospel exercises that help you identify how whatever you’re facing right now is informed by Creation, Fall, Redemption, and Restoration. If the Gospel is your why, then frequently re-orienting yourself within its larger story is what sustains your family for the long haul. You’ll leave with a theological framework you can return to again and again.
(AJ Doyle, The Table Project)
Have you ever stopped to wonder why you love eating certain foods and others don’t? Is it something hard-wired into us, or is it simply a matter of taste? Join Chef Kibby, host of the Hunger for Connection Podcast, as he dives into the neuroscience of flavor and the encouraging insights it gives to those who struggle to find those warm feelings – not for a pineapple pizza, but for a person in their home.
(Chef Kibby Professional Chef, Public Speaker and Podcaster)