How's NACAC, Year Three

Two years ago I blogged about NACAC while in Pittsburg.

Last year I blogged abou NACAC while we were in Long Beach.

So I guess this year, I have to offer a different perspective. The first year I wrote from the perspective of a parent. The second year, from the perspective of a professional, and now I'd like to the issue of "support from the past and future" Just having returned from the Award's Breakfast, this is perfect timing.

So here goes, "How's NACAC, Year Three"

NACAC is a place where folks from every step in the process can see roll models of those who have gone before. It's a magical place of connection where the present can hear about the past and see the future.

A person who just had their home study complete can sit in the same room with people who have fostered the kind of children they are hoping to parent;

A person who is matched with a child who is bipolar can sit in a presentation with a presenter who is discussing their journey of parenting a child from age 3 to 23 who is bipolar;

A brand new social worker can sit in an awards breakfast, and hear a worker reflect on her 30 years of experience;

Those who are parenting delightful loving 8 year olds can talk with parents who warn them that adolescence is coming;

Perspectives change with time. Those of us who were new and naive parents 10 years ago recognize how naive we were and realize that in 10 more years we will see ourselves today as still being naive;

Professionals who feel like we have a brand new idea, are humbled to meet those who thought of the same thing years ago.

So you ask, "What is NACAC?"

NACAC is a beautiful blend of the energetic, the excited, the green, the naive and the seasoned, the almost jaded, the near cynical, and the older but still passionate. It is people passing on wisdom, stories, successes, failures. It is those who have gone before warning folks of what is to come expecting to be ignored, to a certain extent, because they, too, ignored some of the warnings that were given to them.

NACAC is having lunch with someone who sees you in either their past or their future. It is being with the person that you used to be, or the person who you aspire to become.

NACAC is listening to someone comment in a seminar and remembering how you used to feel that way, and though smiling at the simplicity and passion of a new parent, you borrow from their enthusiasm and feel hope and promise once again.

NACAC is sitting in awe listening to the war stories of those who have parented to adulthood several difficult children and are still alive. It is laughing with them as they tell about all the funny things that have happened to them, it is being suprised by their response, respectful of their decisions, and empowered by their courage and tenacity.

But most importantly, NACAC is the incredible power created by this blend of new and old, of naive and experienced, of hopeful without reason and tested through fire, of knowing it can be done, and showing that it has been that moves us forward. It is this interaction that helps bind us together, knowing that we can parent difficult children, we can influence legislators, we can find homes for teenagers, we can support parents, we can provide therapy to children with multiple diagnosis, we can make a difference in the system, we can influence the lives of "one child, every child."

And after every NACAC conference we return home changed people. Changed because we have seen our future, and we have seen our past. Changed because we are reminded that it is not about us -- that it always has been, always will be, and is today about the children. It is about one fact, and one fact alone -- that everyone needs a parent and that in finding or being that parent for a child, we will change not only that person, but their children, and their childrens' children for generations to come.

NACAC is not a place where we talk about how we WILL change the world, but a place where we rejoice in the fact that it has already been changed. And this blending of the past and the future, which is the vortex of all our experiences, becomes the launching pad for another year of doing what we all have done, are doing, and will be doing as long a we are able -- changing the world, one child at a time.