It is mid-afternoon and I am sitting on the couch at my friend Karen’s home, with my lovely Beth sitting next to me. We both just awoke from a much needed nap, and we have about two hours before we must leave for the airport. We are still in Tampa, after wrapping up the NACAC conference at lunchtime. Julie was with me at the conference, but she left before sun up to fly to Atlanta and then hop in a car and start her drive to Kansas for our conference next week.


I thought this morning might be a little slower, but I was wrong. I managed to connect with someone from the Freddie Mac Foundation, the president of the National Foster Parent Association, the President of the American Adoption Congress, the Adoption Program Manager from the Child Welfare Information Gateway, the Director of Policy at Children’s Rights, and the Executive Director of the National Adoption Center. Several of these connections were facilitated by my new friend, Mark, a former CWLA employee who now works for Legacy, Inc. Mark is even more connected in the adoption community than I am in the attachment community ... he doesn't know the folks I know, and I don't know the folks he knows!


After I return home, I head right to our conference next week. Following that, I have ten people coming to my home for several days. After that, I will be following up with many of these connections and working on making even more of a dent in the “must meet” list that Mark enthusiastically generated last night.


As I mentioned in several previous posts about the conference, I am excited and amazed at the attention our booth received this week. There seems to be a truly increasing awareness of the plight of our families. We have a long way to go, but for the first time in a long time I feel like we might really be in a position to see some results. I have much more to tell you about what I learned and accomplished this week, so stay tuned!


Photo Credit