Allen University News January 15, 2015 Allen University, Statewide Adoption Conference “Answer the Call, Shape a Generation, Adopt a Child” Allen University will be hosting a statewide adoption conference in collaboration with the South Carolina Department of Social Services (SCDSS). The conference is scheduled for February 13, 2015 and will be held in the university’s John Hurst Gymnatorium, located on the corner of Taylor and Pine Street in Columbia, South Carolina. Registration will be from 8:00 am – 9:00 am, continental breakfast and lunch provided. Conference covers diverse topics such as best practices in foster care/adoption, learning about the One Church One Child program, support for foster care and/or adoptive parents, mentoring programs, recruiting qualified adoptive families for older youth and sibling groups, helping teenagers to be open to the adoption process, pre and post adoption services, challenges facing DSS staff, international adoption, and additional special topics. The conference will feature several sessions, including papers, panels, and roundtable discussions. This conference combines the strength of leaders in the field of foster care, adoption, and childhood mental health. Keynote speakers include: Lisa Williams, founder and director for Living Waters for Girls, an organization which is dedicated to the mental, emotional, and spiritual rehabilitation of girls between the ages of 12 and 17 who have been rescued from the commercial sex trade. Williams has years of experience in the field of adoption and foster care; she is also a birth, foster and adoptive mother. Joining Williams are acclaimed authors and speakers Bishop W.C. Martin and Tammy McCottry-Brown. Bishop Martin spearheaded the adoption of 76 children in a town of only 300 residents and Tammy McCottry-Brown was born and adopted at birth in Charleston, South Carolina. She is a television and radio talk show host, author, motivational speaker, broadcasting, media, film producer, marketing consultant and humanitarian. Executive Directors from Oklahoma’s, Florida’s and Virginia’s One Church One Child Adoption Programs will be presenting an informative panel discussion of Best Practices for adoption initiatives, their organization’s moments of success and hurdles they faced. Combining the strength of a diverse group of presenters and participants, Allen University’s statewide adoption forum “Answer the Call, Shape a Generation, Adopt a Child,” is focused on the continuum that connects caring adoptive families with the needs of over 600 South Carolina older children who are waiting for a loving, safe, permanent, and nurturing family. The university is looking forward to providing an unprecedented opportunity for all who attend this conference to learn, network, and lead. The conference is free and scholars, DSS workers, members from faith based communities and the public communities are invited to attend this important event. For further information about the conference, please, contact Mrs. Cheryl R. Scott at 803.255.4786, cscott@allenuniversity.edu<mailto:cscott@allenuniversity.edu> or audssinitiative@allenuniversity.edu. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.