Commitees...
AFFM has representation on the following committees:

• Adoptive and Foster Families of Maine is a proud member of the Maine Alliance of Family Organizations (MAFO):
   

The Maine Alliance of Family Organizations announces Family Organizations: Working Together, Growing Stronger premiering personal stories of the life-changing importance of family organization support.

Julia Bell, Executive Director of the Maine Developmental Disabilities Council, lends her personal experience to the introduction. She is followed by parents individually describing the empowerment they've gained from knowledge sharing, peer support, self-advocacy and more, all of which can lead to intergenerational resiliency—the ability to pass on the strength, knowledge and skills they gain to their children and others.

Part I: Mothers from G.E.A.R. Parent Network/Learning Disabilities Association of Maine, Maine Parent Federation and Southern Maine Parent Awareness share their stories

Part II: Parents from Maine Parent Federation, G.E.A.R. Parent Network and the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Maine (NAMI Maine) share their stories.

Through support from MAFO members, families foster and nuture intergenerational resiliency--the ability to pass on the strength, knowledge and skills they gain to their children and others.

• The Maine Dental Access Group meets the second Friday of each month.
   
• AFFM Board of Directors meets monthly (usually) on the third Thursday of the month at the AFFM office. Guests are welcome. Please contact us to be sure the meeting has not been postponed or changed.
   
• Child Abuse and Neglect
   
• Role of Courts in Child protection
   
• Engaging Maine's Youth (educational committee for seeking out how kids may fall through the cracks in the educational system, particularly kids who are in the child welfare system)
   
• PIP, Program Improvement Project  committee works on areas recognized to be weaknesses in Maine's child welfare system as noted by the federal government's audit.
   
• Suspected Child Abuse and Neglect Committee(SCAN) is a committee established at EMMC to monitor child abuse issues seen in the ER and pediatrics ward etc.
   
• FOCUS is a committee established by the National Foster Parent Association to develop ways to build support groups in areas where none currently exist and where a need has been identified, The New England Foster Parent Association NEFCA, came together to develop training resources and to strategize how foster parents in New England could best optimize their respective and similar needs. Ben Melancon of Starks, Maine is the president of NEFCA. NEFCA delivers a conference every two years rotating from one state to the next in each of the 6 states that comprise New England. The most recent conference was held in NH in Nov. 06.
   
• Maine Foster Family Treatment Association (MEFFTA)is part of a National association and is comprised of leaders/representatives of the various treatment foster care placement programs throughout the state.
  Treatment Network Team (TNT ) is a collaborative group of treatment foster care providers and the DHHS.
   
• Recruitment and Retention Group. There are two groups one in Bangor and one in Augusta. The groups strategize ways as the name implies to recruit and retain foster, kinship and adoptive parents. These meetings are held at the DHHS Regional offices in Augusta and in Bangor.
   
• Engaging Maine's Youth
   
• Jim Casey Youth Opportunities Initiative
   
• Maine Justice for Children Task Force
   
• Recruitment and Retention Committees
   
• NFPA Focus Group
   
• FFTA

Are you interested in getting your concerns shared with any of the committees? If so contact the AFFM office.

These are just a few of the committees we have representation on, if you are curious about other activities or committees where AFFM represents the adoptive and foster family community please contact us.