2017-08-30 General Membership Meeting

Florida State Foster Adoptive Parent Association General Meeting August 30, 2017 Type of Meeting: General Membership Meeting Meeting Facilitator: Chris Johnson Call to order – Chris Johnson called the meeting to order at 11:41 am Approval of Minutes from: 6/17/2017 Chris call for a motion to except minutes with adjustments. Orlando said yes he agreed, seconded by Gerald.  Motion carries Update on upcoming events October Mini Conference update Lynda is taking the lead and we should have a save the date flyer soon. Chris reminded everyon e about the State Park Passes and encouraged everyone to take advantage of them. Spring Mini Conference update Trudy reported that the spring mini was shaping up.  Trudy will have save the date soon. Rally in Tally The dates for Rally in Tally are Decemberr 4-6, 2017, Trudy is asking for a list of people of is attending? III.     Election Ballots will go out Sept. 5, 2018, paid members by the conference last June will receive ballots.  There is a list if anyone has a question if they paid or not. Introduce any DCF staff who comes in. Chris introduced the attending DCF Staff and thanked them for their support. NFPA/FSFAPA conference 2018 Trudy and Kara relayed some information on the 2018 conference; The dates are 6-28 thru 7/1. More information will follow as it is available.  Adjournment: A motion to adjourn was proposed and Seconded, a call for votes was taken and meeting closed at 12:30 pm.  Motion Carried Respectfully Submitted by Curtis Byrd

2017-06-17 General Membership Meeting

Florida State Foster Adoptive Parent Association, Inc. Quarterly Membership Meeting, Orlando, Fl. Saturday, June 17, 2017   The Quarterly Membership Meeting of FSFAPA was called to order at 7:30 am by Harriett Wynn, President. A motion was made by Orlando Avila to accept the minutes as corrected, seconded by Thomas Croom.  Motion passed Harriett introduced Kylie McCracken and welcomed her to the board. Harriett announced that the Chair person for the combined NFPA / FSFAPA 2018 Conference will be Kara Elliott- Jordan. Harriett gave the floor to Denise Sasiain, Treasurer, who presented the 2016 Year End Report to membership.  After discussion a Motion was made to accept the Report. It was properly seconded and a vote was called. Motion passed Harriett then yielded the floor to Thomas Croom, Nomination Chair. Thomas then opened the floor for nominations and announced the candidates previously submitted. Exec. Vice President: Kara Elliott-Jordan, and Christopher Johnson; Vice President: Kara Elliott-Jordan, and Orlando Avila. Secretary: Curtis Byrd, and Christina Nunez. Thomas asked for nominations from the floor.  If no further nominations, are brought forward nominations will be closed at the end of the Quarterly Membership Meeting.  When nominees were ask if they accepted the nomination, Kara Elliott-Jordan declined the nominations. With this decision Exec. Vice President and Vice President will run unopposed. Harriett then introduced Trudy Petkovich, Executive Director Trudy announced the upcoming October Mini Conference & Quarterly Meeting Quarterly Meeting and Mini Conference Date:  Saturday, October 14, 2017 Location:  Hilton Melbourne Rialto Place 200 Rialto Place Melbourne, Fl. 32901 1-321-768-0200 Rate:  $124 a night Time:  10 am – 3 pm Topic:  QPI FAST – Foster Allegation Support Team FSFAPA Quarterly Meeting & Election Sponsored by FSFAPA and Alachua County Foster and Adoptive Parent Association   Harriett introduced Thomas Croom and enlightened everyone on the past legislative session and the plans for the 2018 Legislative session. Harriett and Gay Frizzell then presented the 2016 Awards. Harriett introduced Lora Diaz who update dated everyone what was happening with Just in Time Training and thanked everyone for the support. Harriett thanked everyone for coming. Motion to adjourn made by Thomas Croom and seconded by Stephen Rollo, the motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 am. Respectfully submitted for approval by FSFAPA Secretary Curtis Byrd  

2017-02-11 General Membership Mtg

Florida State Foster Adoptive Parent Association General Membership Meeting Crestview, Fl.  February 11, 2017 Type of Meeting: FSFAPA Membership Meeting Meeting Facilitator: Harriett Wynn, President Introduction of Board Members – Harriett introduced all board members to the general membership.   Each board member gave a little information of who they are and what region they cover. Approval of Minutes from:  10/15/2016 – A motion was made to approve the general membership minutes with changes if needed. Ennis Coleman made the motion; it was seconded by Joy Cromer. With no further discussion a vote was taken.  Motion Carried Harriett announced that we are seeking a location to hold the Oct/Nov Mini Conference. Amanda will check with her CBC about holding the fall mini conference in Gainesville. Legislative update and review – Thomas discussed the current bills that we are supporting and asked everyone to please become more aware of the bills and who is supporting them.  Get to know your local legislators. Update on upcoming events Update 2017 Conference – Trudy discussed the upcoming 2017 conference in Orlando.  The registration will be going to the CBC in 10 days. The 2018 NFPA/FSFAPA conference will be held at the Caribe Royale in Orlando. Adjourned, with no other business to be brought before this meeting a motion was made to adjourn.  It was seconded and a vote was called for.  Motion Carried.   Respectfully Submitted Curtis Byrd Curtis Byrd, Secretary

2017-02-11 BOD Minutes

Board of Directors Meeting – Crestview Saturday February 11, 2017   President Harriett Wynn opened the meeting at 4:22 pm Curtis Byrd took roll call, please see attached A motion was made by Amanda Williams to approve the minutes with any corrections from January 30, 2017.  Motion was seconded by Lynda Thompson.  The motion carried Denise Sasiain – Gave brief description of how she would like to see the chart of accounts and the general layout of the financial reports. Chris Johnson – announced that Melissa Schol moved to Ocala a few months ago, she is our Suncoast RVP & Social Media person.  She has submitted her resignation so we are now looking for someone for the Suncoast RVP position. Fawn Moore – discussed the partnership between DCF Regions and the FSFAPA RVP’s.  She encouraged all RVP’s to attend the DCF monthly licensing meetings that are held with the CBC’s.  She also suggested they attend the System of Care Meetings in their respective Regions.  She believes this will facilitate the DCF people knowing who the RVP’s and how they can partner to fulfill the FSFAPA/DCF contract of supporting recruitment and retention. He is added that the Executive Board would step up to help the RVP in making connections between the RVP’s and DCF Regional Managing Directors. Coleen La Costa – FAST has been getting a lot of calls, some are more conversation and discussing licensing concerns.  There are still a lot of relative calls.  Allegation related calls seem to be more complicated that are coming in to the FAST line.  Coleen is looking for additional input from the Investigations workgroup that is meeting regularly. Foster Parent Week – the letter FSFAPA sent to the families in the State; was authored by Chris with input from the Executive Board.  This letter should have been received by families around the State this week. FSFAPA Conference theme:  “Our Journey, Your Dreams” Kinship and Adoptive Parent Scholarship will be given again this year, how many not yet decided. Melanie is in charge of child care and she has announced this year we will not have medical child care available. Tweens $75 registration – Nex Gen Registration Super Sitters has been contracted again this year to handle child care. Amanda announced she is looking into working with Mike Williams and his Inspiring Program. We hope to meet several Leadership goals this year with Nex Gen So this is not just viewed as babysitting while parents are at the conference. Melissa Eady will be working with the tweens this year. Lynda Thompson, Lori Decker and Dorothy Alvarez are working on the Exhibitors this year. Lillie and Laurallyn are looking for unique items for the Silent Auction Harriett announced that she has already begun setting up conference calls with the different committees on a regular basis. Laurallyn is working on the CBC Membership letters, per Trudy. David Brown – addressed the membership and discussed what was going on with QPI and invited all in attendance to attend the QPI quarterly meeting in Miami. Per Thomas Croom’s requested Harriett created an ADHOC committee to review our voting procedures and to see if there is a better process. Committee members include: Chair- Thomas Croom, Orlando Avila, Kara Elliott–Jordan, and Lynda Thompson. Harry Dubia – reminded all Board members that dues were due on January 1, 2017. Please see him if you have not paid your dues. Open Discussion: It was discussed that we rotate between monthly board call and RVP calls. It was decided that starting in March the call will consist of RVP business and the April call will consist of Board business. It was also put out to the Board that we are looking for somewhere to hold the October 2017 Mini Conference.  Amanda stated that her CBC might be interested in hosting it. June conference letters for the CBC allocation of registrations will go out the second or third week in February. A motion was made to adjourn made by Orlando Avila and seconded by Coleen LaCosta. The motion carried   Respectfully submitted Curtis Byrd     Curtis Byrd, FSFAPA Secretary       Attendance Record Florida State Foster/Adoptive Parent Association Inc. [42] NAME Jan-17 Feb-17 Mar-17 Apr-17 May-17 Jun-17 Jul-17 Aug-17 Sep-17 Oct-17 Nov-17 Dec-17 # % 1 Trudy Petkovich x x 2 16.7% 2 Harriett Wynn x x 2 16.7% 3 Denise Sasiain x x 2 16.7% 4 Lillie Blackshear x x 2 16.7% 5 Lynda Thompson x x 2 16.7% 6 Curtis Byrd x x 2 16.7% 7 Coleen LaCosta x x 2 16.7% 8 Dorothy Alvarez x x 2 16.7% 9 Chris Johnson x x 2 16.7% 10 Orlando Avlva x x 2 16.7% 11 Ann Whiteside x 1 8.3% 12 Travis Davis x x 2 16.7% 13 Melanie Stimell x 1 8.3% 14 Thomas Croom x x 2 16.7% 17 Harry Dubia x 1 8.3% 21 Kara Elliott x x 2 16.7% 22 Amanda Williams x x 2 16.7% 23 Laurallyn Segur (Advisor) 1 8.3% 24 Gay Frizzell (Advisor) x 1 8.3% 25 Xiomara Turner (Advisor) x 2 16.7% 0 0.0%    

Duprey Adoptive Parent Survey 2017

Hello Everyone, Below you will find a link to a survey.  We have been ask to forward this to our members.  Please read and if interested please take the survey. Hello!             My name is Ryan Duprey, and I am a doctoral candidate at Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville, TN.  I am in the process of completing my dissertation study focusing on adoptive parents, and would like your help in furthering adoption research.  Your participation in this study may benefit future adoptive parents, adoption agencies looking to place children, as well as the mental health providers who support adoptive parents!  The survey is not long, and can be completed in about 15 minutes. This study focuses on adoptive parents who: Have adopted from foster care Are currently married Have children between the ages of 3 and 15 years old As an incentive to complete this study, you can choose to be entered into a drawing for one of four $25 VISA gift cards! If you are interested in participating in this study, please click on the hyperlink below and it will take you to a Survey Monkey® website.  Survey Monkey® is a secure website with many layers of encryption to protect your answers to these questions.  While this study may ask about the make-up of your family, it will NOT ASK ANY PERSONAL INFORMATION, such as your name, address, etc. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/AdoptiveParentsFla Thank you for your participation! Ryan Duprey, LMFT Trevecca Nazarene University Nashville, TN

2016-08-29 BOD Minutes

Florida State Foster Adoptive Parent Association Board Meeting Minutes August 29, 2016 8:30 pm Type of Meeting: Board of Directors Meeting Facilitator: Harriett Wynn Invitees: See Attached Call to order – Harriett WynnApproval of Minutes from 7/25/2016     A Motion to except the minutes with changes if needed was made by Ann the motion was seconded by Orlando. With no discussion, a vote was called: Motion CarriedQPI National Conference Open it up to the board to see if anyone else to go? Once opened to the board, Lynda stepped up and agreed to attend and represent FSFAPA. Thank you Lynda Announce that Melissa will be taking over Social Media (Facebook) Melissa has volunteered to take over the Facebook, Thank you Melissa we are looking forward to your changes.Go Fund Me – how much money did we receive? Is it still up? – Orlando. As this being related to Social Media, Orlando will get with Melissa and provide her with the login information and she will assume responsibility for its promotion. Conference 2016Financial Reports: Maria has given herself a target date of this weekend to have all reports completed.RVP’s use of Website Charles will provide a 30 min. training at the Summit. This training session will let the RVP’s know what new changes are coming with the restricting. Chris will be passing on information about starting up a 5013c  Update on upcoming events ( Summit, Quarterly) – Trudy Schedule for the Exhibition table. Ask Chris if there were anything that he needs printed. Trudy will send out the table schedule on Wednesday there are still open positions. Please look at the schedule and see where you can fill in. Trudy also requested that everyone ware their red shirts on Thursday. These shirts will also need to be worn in October at the Mini Conference. Open Discuss Gay states that all is good around the state. As far as the Summit the only problem is a conflict with our meeting and QPI meeting. DCF Appoints Children’s Ombudsman Heather Cox Rosenberg appointed to work with youth and young adults in care. Congratulations Heather   Adjournment With there being no other issues a motion to adjure was made by Chris, Melanie seconded, with no other discussion a vote was called and Motion carried @ 8:54 pm   Respectfully Submitted by:  Curtis Byrd, Secretary  

2016-07-25 BOD Minutes

Florida State Foster Adoptive Parent Association Board Meeting Agenda July 25, 2016 8:30 pm Type of Meeting: Board of Directors Meeting Facilitator: Harriett Wynn Attendees: See Attached Call to order – Harriett Wynn Approval of Minutes from 5/31/2016, 6/09/2016 Ann made a motion to approve the minutes with any necessary changes. Harriett seconded the motion the floor was opened for discussion, there was no discussion.  So, a vote was called:   Motion Carried Discuss thoughts on Evaluations Report We will start this conversation and continue it at the summit. The floor was opened for conversation, Melanie, discussed one of the comments that the monitors, needed to better trained. There were several other comments on how well everything went. The rest of the conversation was then tabled until further discussion at the DCF Summit. Are we going to send the comments out to presenters? Melanie reported that she personally called each one. And felt that there was no need to send them. III.    Survey Monkey do we have a use for it. – Orlando Survey Monkey has not been used since the 2015 conference. Orlando stated that he did not have time to come up the surveys, but if someone else wanted to come up with questions he would be glad to help. This issue was added to the agenda for the Summit to see if anyone is interested in working on Survey Monkey. Survey Monkey has a yearly cost of $300 dollars. It was discussed that we cancel the subscription to save the $300 dollars.  And just use the free version that is available. This issue will need a motion and vote to finalize. Go Fund Me – how much money did we receive? Is it still up? – Orlando Orlando reported that he has been busy and had not kept up with this fundraising project.  He thought that once it was sent out that the entire board would forward it to all their contacts and spread the word that way.  We have a total of $200 donated to the fund. Conference 2016 – Wrap up Discuss thoughts on Evaluations Report Most everyone thought that as a team everything went wonderfully there some minor adjustments that need to be made. Financial Report No Reports were available Melanie is still working with the hotel on the final bill. Attendee Reports Melanie is still compiling the information. She has several questions for Trudy and should have this done shortly. RVP’s use of Website Calendar RVP’s to start inputting dates of events from their regions on the website calendar or at least send them in to be added by webmaster. Chris admitted that he had totally forgot about this and will add it to the agenda for the RVP training at the DCF Summit. VII.    Update on upcoming events (NACAC, Summit, Quarterly) – Trudy Schedule for the Exhibition table. Trudy will provide a schedule of times that the table will be need to covered. VIII.    Discussion about webmaster? We need to decide what we are going to do? After a lengthy discussion it was decided that we would let the current webmaster go.  Trudy was then given permission from the board to approach our former Secretary, Charles Parker and offer him the position. DCF Advisor – Xiomara Turner Xiomara reminded everyone to remember that our major concern is the confidentiality of the children. A specific example she used was an email that was sent out looking for kinship caregivers caring for siblings for a reality show on Bravo.  We representing FSFAPA should not make any recommendations without the Boards approval.  We need to be aware of confidentiality of others within our system of care. Adjourned:  9:20 With no other business to discussion Orlando made a motion to end the meeting. Chris seconded the motion and a vote was called.  Motion Carried                 NAME Jan-16 Feb-16 Mar-16 Apr-16 May-16 Jun-16 Jul-16 Aug-16 Sep-16 Oct-16 Nov-16 Dec-16 # % 1 Trudy Petkovich x X x x x X X 7 58.3% 2 Harriett Wynn x X x x x X X 7 58.3% 3 Maria Bond x X x x EX X x 6 50.0% 4 Lillie Blackshear X x x x X x 6 50.0% 5 Lynda Thompson x X x x x x x 7 58.3% 6 Curtis Byrd x x x x x X X 7 58.3% 7 Coleen LaCosta x X x EX X x 5 41.7% 8 Dorothy Alvarez x X x x EX X x 6 50.0% 9 Chris Johnson x X x x x X x 7 58.3% 10 Orlando Avlva X x x x X x 6 50.0% 11 Ann Whiteside  NA NA NA NA x X X 3 25.0% 12 Melissa Schol x X x x x X x 7 58.3% 13 Melanie Stimell x X x x X x 6 50.0% 14 Thomas Croom x X x x x X x 7 58.3% 17 Harry Dubia x X x x x x 6 50.0% 18 Laurallyn Segur (Advisor) x X x x x X X 7 58.3% 19 Gay Frizzell (Advisor) x X x 3 25.0% 20 Xiomara Turner (Advisor) X x x 4 33.3% 21 Kara Elliott x X x x x X X 7 58.3% 22 Amanda Williams X X x x x x 6 50.0% 0 0.0%  Respectfully submitted, Curtis Byrd, Secretary

Guardian Ad Litem – Circuit 10

Cookie Mooney, Circuit Director Tenth Judicial Circuit 205 East Main Street Bartow, Florida 33830 Hardee, Highlands, Polk 863-534-4605

2016-06-09 BOD Minutes

Florida State Foster Adoptive Parent Association, Inc. Board of Directors Face to Face Meeting Thursday, June 9, 2016   Respectfully submitted for approval by FSFAPA Secretary Curtis Byrd The monthly meeting was called to order at 1:15 pm by President Harriett Wynn Secretary Curtis Byrd took Roll:  Attendance attached. May Minutes were not available so they were tabled.  Motion was made to table the minutes until our next meeting was made by Maria Bond and Seconded by Lillie Blackshear. Motion Carried. Open business Melanie Stimell: Melanie goes over everyone assignments, and answers questions. Monitors will meet in the Hospitality Room to receive assignments.  Curtis asks that all the board members at least monitor one training session. Christopher and Orlando: RVP Training: RVP’s should be promoting the FAST Program every opportunity they have. Summit there will be an additional training – in depth for all the RVP’s and it will be mandatory – we will hold that meeting on Wednesday, September 7th from 10 – noon.  Trudy will make arrangements with Amy for that and the Quarterly Membership to be at lunch on Thursday at the Summit. Maria suggested that each time we meet there be in depth trainings for the RVP on specific subjects.  Trudy will send her some suggestions, possibly the United Way can help with trainers. Trudy Petkovich: Executive Board meeting Tuesday night September 6th at 8 pm Fall Quarterly meeting will be on October 8th.  TLC volunteered they have put together support for funding, child care and everything is in Heartland area.  This was approved by the Executive Board to move forward. Mulberry Christian Academy Church of God 200 Dean St. Mulberry, 33860 Limited Childcare 0-12 cost $5.00 per child Conference will start at 9:00am to 4:00pm.  Lunch will be served. The Hotel will be announced later.  Lori Decker will be handling registration, Phone 813-892-3016 or email: She also reminded everyone that they should wear their Red Shirts. Curtis Byrd: Discussed the upcoming elections:  Informed every one of the names that had been sent to him for nominations, President: Harriett Wynn, Chris Johnson Treasurer: Denise Sasiain, and Paul Vernon. Curtis informed every one that we printed a letter to be distributed to the Conference goers and post it on the website and send it out through Constant Contact. Motion to adjourn made by Thomas Croom and seconded by Melanie Stimmell, the motion passed and the meeting was adjourned at 2:30pm.