National Adoption Association (NAA) 2026 National Conference - Boston

Featuring NAA Leadership, Recognizing Mashpee Wampanoag Leaders, New England Commissioners and Directors and a Keynote by Anthony Barrows, Executive Director of LIFT – New York

Opening Remarks:
“When we know better, we do better”
Kamilah Bunn CEO, National Adoption Association

The exciting welcome message will be delivered by the leadership of The Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, Commissioner Staverne Miller, LCSW. This inspiring place-based morning message will help attendees generate goals, strategies, and take action to strengthen permanency outcomes in their jurisdictions.

“New England Priorities and Progress, in partnership with the New England Association of Child Welfare Commissioners and Directors”, facilitated by Executive Director Maria Gagnon

The New England Association of Child Welfare Commissioners and Directors (NEACWCD) Executive Director, Maria Gagnon, will then facilitate a panel discussion including Staverne Miller, LCSW Commissioner Massachusetts Department of Children and Families and her colleagues:
Susan Hamilton, Interim Commissioner, Connecticut Department of Children and Families
Bobbi Johnson, Director Maine Office of Children and Family Services
Marie Noonan, Director, Division of Children, Youth and Families, New Hampshire Dept of Health & Human Services
Aryka Radke, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Children and Families Vermont
Brandi Di Dino, Deputy Director, Division of Children, Youth and Families Rhode Island
  

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 [SK1]Brandi Title to be confirmed

Anthony Barrows will share his experience in the foster care system as an anchor for why he searches for the root cause of family separation. This search led Anthony to become a powerful advocate within the anti-poverty movement.  
This riveting keynote is part lecture and part call-to-action to members of the NAA community. Anthony will offer a rationale for why we must build partnerships across silos to truly improve outcomes within the systems where we work. As a person who has dedicated his professional career to improving outcomes for marginalized communities and as someone with personal experience in public systems like foster care, public housing, safety net programs, and juvenile justice, Anthony shares how he is living the experience. Attendees will understand why we must all take the leap to expand our sphere of influence– as Anthony did, to truly change and improve systems for children, youth and families.

Join the AdoptUSKids team for a special Lunch & Learn featuring the premiere screening of the AdoptUSKids’ video: “When We Have Each Other: Teen Adoption Stories.” The video highlights the voices of youth and families who are living the experience of adoption from foster care.
This interactive session will introduce a new discussion guide designed for facilitators to support thoughtful, trauma-informed conversations with pre-adoptive families, foster families, child welfare professionals, and youth. Following the screening, participants will engage in a table discussion and share feedback that will help inform future dissemination and use of the guide and video resource across the country.
A boxed lunch will be provided. Pre-registration is required.

Welcome Students, Welcome Back Professionals: 
Summary of Day One Learnings by Kamilah Bunn CEO from the National Adoption Association

 1.0 CE (National Association of Social Workers – NASW)   
Speaker Panel: Susan Devan Harness, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (Author, Bitterroot: A Salish Memoir of Transracial Adoption),  Lorraine Brave, MSW Mohawk of the Turtle Clan- people of the Flint (Founder, Brave Transitions, Taylor McClellan, Sac and Fox, Bahkhoje and Mvskole (Independent Consultant and a Member of AdoptUSKids Speakers Bureau), Misty Flowers, Santee Sioux Nation and descendant of the Tlingit of Alaska from the National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) and Melinda Kline, MSW from AdoptUSKids.[KB1]

Join us for a meaningful dialogue led by Native American elders, mothers, community leaders, and adoptees as they share their wisdom on the vital role of community cultural connections and reconnections. Through stories of mass separations, generational loss, resilience, and reconnections, we will explore what it means to rebuild community and identity in the face of historical trauma.
These sacred teachings from the Native Community will highlight important examples of ways to practice family connection work ethically and effectively today. Current, emerging and new child welfare leaders are invited to listen, learn, and seek guidance from the esteemed speakers on how to improve permanency practices by tapping into the collective wisdom and strength of the first peoples of this land.

Recognizing outstanding practice, people and systems who are fulfilling the NAA philosophy, “adoption is addition, not subtraction. We will honor awardees, enjoy lively table conversation with peers, listen to emerging leader, Rimy Morris from the Collective who will serve as our emcee and hear from nationally recognized speaker, Jodi Hill-Lilly, about how to transform systems with “steady hands and a bold vision.” Plated lunch is provided. You will not want to miss this time to connect and celebrate our work completed and what is to be done!  

Awards Presentation Host: Rimy Morris
Lillian Lansberry Award Recipient: Name from the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families
Ujima Impact Award Recipient: Jacqueline Ford from the Connecticut Department of Children and Families
Loperena Excellence in Mentorship Award Recipients:
Maria Gagnon from the New England Association of Child Welfare Commissioners and Directors
Ricardo Franco from the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange
Generosity of Spirit Award Recipient: Dr. Jacqueline Wilson
Former President, National Adoption Association Board of Directors, Former CEO, TRAC Services for Families

“Steady Hands, Bold Vision: Transformational Leadership in Changing Times” Jodi Hill- Lilly, MSW from the Doris Duke Foundation
Lead by former Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Children and Families who is now leading Child Well-Being efforts at the Doris Duke Foundation, this interactive keynote invites the audience to consider how to identify one's personal mission and how to not stray from it during changing times. Elevating the tenets of implementation science, Ms. Hill-Lilly will communicate how child welfare leaders should employ specific strategies to address barriers, engage stakeholders, and measure outcomes like feasibility, adoption, and sustainability. Using witty stories, compelling lived experience narratives from her own life's journey, Ms. Hill-Lilly will help attendees adapt to change and continue to transform systems on behalf of the children, youth and families we all serve.