Welcome to our Calendar of Events!
This calendar includes opportunities for learning and connection from the Wisconsin Family Connections Center, the Coalition for Children, Youth & Families, and several other organizations across Wisconsin. (NOTE: Opportunities from the Wisconsin Family Connections Center are noted with a blue ribbon on the calendar below.)
–> Find training and event flyers here.
–> For a complete listing of Regional Events and Support Groups, please visit the Wisconsin Family Connections Center Eventbrite Page.
–> Find support group flyers here.
–> For information about Recorded Webinars, Upcoming Live Webinars, Courses, and Conferences, please visit the Champion Classrooms.
Events are added as information is made available to us. If you’d like to share an upcoming event with us, please contact us at info@wifamilyconnectionscenter.org.
Live Webinar – Hope, Healing, and Connection: A Trauma-Responsive Journey for Families
Each family brings their own story—and with it, unique needs. Sometimes that story includes foster care, adoption, or guardianship. Often, needs show up right away, while others emerge as children grow and develop. In this webinar, we’ll take a gentle, trauma-responsive look at the emotional and behavioral challenges that can arise throughout the family’s journey. Together, we’ll explore how early adversity shapes the brain and behavior, how grief and loss may surface in different seasons of life, and how questions about identity and belonging can affect children as they grow. Most importantly, we’ll share practical ways families can nurture strong, healthy relationships and create deeper connections with their children.
Presenter: Samantha L. Wilson, PhD, IMH-E® IV, is Professor of Pediatrics in the division of Pediatric Psychology and Developmental Medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She is the Director of the International Adoption Clinic at Children’s Wisconsin and has been licensed as a Clinical Psychologist in Wisconsin since 2008. She provides trauma-informed, relationship-based assessment and intervention to children/teens and their families, exclusively with families formed by adoption/foster care. Academic publications cover aspects of adoption, effects of institutional care, and social-emotional development. She is an adjunct staff for the Wisconsin-based TIES Adoptive Family Travel program, a heritage travel experience for internationally adopted people and families. Dr. Wilson is currently credentialed within Wisconsin as an Infant Mental Health Mentor (Level IV – Clinical) and is recognized as a Wisconsin-based state trainer for Trauma-Informed, Child Parent Psychotherapy. Along with direct service to youth and families, she serves as a mentor within the University of Wisconsin Infant, Early Childhood, and Family Mental Health Capstone Program and provides mental health consultation to the Waukesha County (WI) Head Start Program. Lastly, she is a cadre member of Vibrant’s Crisis Emotional Care Team, through which she provides consultation and education to professionals supporting youth in the context of early adversity and/or disaster recovery.
Tuesday, December 9, 2025 | 6:00-8:00 PM
Free | Registration is limited to 500 participants. Register for the live webinar by clicking here! Licensed foster parents will receive 2.0 training credits for participation in this webinar. Each individual participant must register separately to receive credit. Questions? Call us at 1-800-762-8063 or email info@wifamilyconnectionscenter.org
