Giving Voice to Children

Imagine being a parent who is facing daily struggles, including emotional, financial, and societal challenges.  What if you were a child who could not safely stay in their biological family. What are the fears, hopes, and dreams of that birth parent or that child, as they move through a system that was created to protect them?  What if the child truly had a voice in choosing opportunities for their future? What if we heard more children saying, “I was part of the choice that led me down this path to adulthood?”  What if more birth mothers could say they helped choose the best path or family for their child, feeling empowered to make a parenting decision (whether they chose to parent or chose adoptive parents)?  There are no easy answers. From hospital staff to social service organizations to teachers, judges, attorneys and court volunteers, there are multiple people and organizations involved with families from the moment of the birth of a child through the child’s adulthood.  Every system is tasked with promoting the child’s best interest.  However, the people working within these systems too often fail to meet that mark.  Healthy childhoods depend on healthy decisions by parents the adults surrounding the child.  A parent can only make an informed decision if she is provided with information, options, and support for her decision.
Speaker:
HEIDI BRUEGEL COX is the Executive Vice President and General Counsel for the Gladney Center in Fort Worth, Texas, working in the child welfare field for over 35 years, and is a frequent author and national presenter on ethics as well as adoption law. She serves as Chairman of the Board of the National Council for Adoption and is a member of the Academy of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys. She is also an inaugural member of the board of the Child Protection Section of the State Bar of Texas. Promoting positive adoption practices across the globe, she has traveled to Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Rwanda, and Ethiopia, to work with officials on adoption issues. As a gubernatorial appointee, Heid worked to examine the Texas child welfare system, seeking ways to remove barriers to adoption for children waiting in foster care. As a child advocate, Heidi is active in educating other professionals and the public and promoting ethical practices, legislation, and other initiatives to protect children and support adoption as a positive option for children and their birth and adoptive families. Heidi is the proud mother of 2 grown sons, Patrick and Riley, and a new 4-legged addition to the family, Kip.

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