Dr. DeGarmo Attends International Foster Care Conference

Just outside of Athens, Greece, child welfare experts from across the world gathered together by the shores of Marathon, Greece, taking part in an historical international adoption and foster care conference.

Led by the Roots Research Center in Greece, these global experts focused upon one issue; the human rights of children around the globe during the two day conference.

“It was both so very inspiring and informative,” said Dr. John DeGarmo, a leading expert and consultant in foster care, and director of The Foster Care Institute. Dr. DeGarmo was the sole representative from the United States to attend the multi nation event.

“I came away from the conference gaining great insight into how the foster care and adoption process works in other parts of the world; insight that I will be able to share with others throughout the United States.”

The theme of the first day centered around adoption, with foster care focused upon during the second day. Speakers from Croatia, India, Romania, Belgium, Norway, Greece, the Netherlands, Geneva, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Hungary, Estonia, were featured.

Dr. DeGarmo was the sole speaker to speak on two separate occasions. “Without a doubt, it was a distinct honor to have been a part of this conference, sharing how the foster care system works in America, and about my own experience as an adoptive and foster parent.”

Policy makers, attorneys, child welfare workers, and experts from several countries worked together on the shores of the Aegean Sea, sharing the practices of their own country with others, and discussing how to improve child welfare and foster care across the world.

“I was encouraged to find that those in attendance were most interested in how the foster care system functions here in America, and how they can take some of those practices back to their own country. I feel that there is an international movement to improve foster care around the world, and I am excited to be a part of it.”