Caring for Children Who Join your Family- Christchurch

This seminar is relevant for anyone caring for a child who has joined your family - foster care, caregiving, blended family - and for professionals who support them.

We are delighted to host Michele Maurer ( Couples and Family Therapist from Vancouver, Canada) to present to us.

Based on the work of Dr. Gordon Neufeld, this workshop will explore the relationship and developmental considerations when parenting or caring for children who have come to your family through adoption, fostering or through

marriage.

Even with the best of intentions, many parents and caregivers find themselves uncertain when caring for children whose lives involve multiple homes or multiple caregivers. We will explore the dynamics of step family, foster family and adoptive family relationships, and discuss useful insights for adults looking to deliver the care these children need, and how it is that sometimes they seem to struggle to receive.

OUTLINE:

 How and why children need to attach to their caregivers

 Impacts of separation, adoption and fostering on children

 What gets in the way of children re-attaching to new caregivers

 How we can support children to form meaningful relationships

 How to keep children safe and help them grow and mature

Take aways from the seminar -

Participants will learn about the nature of attachment

 Participants will learn about the impact of separation from their attachments, and the complexity of trying to re-attach to new caregivers

 Participants will learn about how caregivers can support relationship for foster, step and adoptive children, as well as children who live in government or professional care

 Participants will take home ideas to help children in their care adapt to the complexities of their lives and how to preserve their opportunities for wellbeing

About Michele

Michele Maurer is on Faculty with the Neufeld Institute and a Registered

Marriage and Family Therapist with 35+ years’ experience. Michele works

as a relationship counsellor and parent consultant in private practice in

Vancouver, Canada. She is a clinical supervisor and instructor for mental

health providers across the province of BC. Michele has worked with

children, youth and families in widely diverse settings, from the emergency

room to a log at the beach and so many places in between. No matter the

setting, connecting with people from a place of providing care is central to

the work. Michele earned her master’s degree in Couple and Family

Therapy in 1997. Married for 25+ years, she and her husband enjoy

parenting and playing with their two grown children.