RESOLVE New England was thrilled to once again offer our full-day Connect & Learn Seminars on Adoption and Donor Egg on Saturday, January 28th. With over 50 attendees – our highest combined Connect & Learn attendance to date – both seminars were a huge success, with attendees from both sessions leaving with valuable information and resources as they navigate their family-building decision-making process.
Director of Marketing and Education, Naomi Goldman and Board President, Amy Demma at the registration table. (Photo credit: Keiko Zoll)
New for 2012, we offered both our Donor Egg and Adoption Seminars on the same day, allowing registrants to pay for the price of one seminar while still being able to attend sessions from both. While most of our attendees were from the New England region, our seminars were so popular we even greeted attendees who traveled to Waltham all the way from Michigan and California!
Highlights from the Adoption Sessions
Our colleagues from a variety of area adoption agencies and practices – including Adoption Resources, Adoption Choices, Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) and Wide Horizons for Children – joined us for an engaging day of conversation and resource-sharing for our prospective adoptive parent attendees. Former RNE Board Member Dale Eldridge and current Board Member Betsy Hochberg kicked off the day’s events discussing the domestic adoption process. They presented to a packed room at the Children’s Hospital of Boston in Waltham.
Bridget Chiaruttini, Director of Child & Family Services for MARE, led the discussion about foster-to-adopt. After lunch, Ava Sarafan from Wide Horizons for Children walked attendees through international adoption, a process that has faced many drastic changes in the last few years. Board Vice-President Barb Luciano rounded out the afternoon with a thoughtful, compassionately moderated panel discussion from adoptive parents.
Resource packets for Connect & Learn attendees. (Photo credit: Keiko Zoll)
New for 2012: Surrogacy Options
RESOLVE New England was joined by Daniele Cardone, BSN, Egg Donation and Gestational Carrier Coordinator, from Cardone Reproductive Medicine & Infertility to discuss surrogacy options for intended parents in the New England region, in addition to joining our colleagues Dr. Vito Cardone, MD, Medical Director of Cardone Reproductive Medicine & Infertility to discuss donor egg options. Attendees of the Donor Egg/Surrogacy sessions repeatedly expressed how much they liked Dr. Cardone’s approachable presentation about all the clinic aspects to approaching donor egg.
Legal considerations were shared by Michael Grant, Attorney at Law and Amy Demma, JD, Law Offices of Amy Demma, P.C. while Ellen Glazer, LICSW talked with prospective parents about the psychosocial issues they may encounter on their donor gamete and surrogacy journeys. She also moderated the closing donor egg recipient parent panel that rounded out a day filled with information for our attendees.
In sum, our Winter 2012 Connect & Learn events were a hit! We thank all of our presenters for donating their time on an unusually sunny January Saturday to share vital resources and information with our grateful attendees.
Connect & Learn Returns This Spring
If you missed our Connect & Learn seminars, fret not: we’ll be offering them again in the spring of 2012. Join our E-List for the latest updates announcing date, time and registration information.