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It’s conference time! I am very excited to be in person again for the NCFR Annual Conference. I look forward to seeing you again in person!

The 2022 NCFR Annual Conference Program Chair, Debra Berke, Ph.D., CFLE, designed the conference theme, Light and Shadow, Shifting Perspectives and Families. With the goal of amplifying the voices of those who are living at the margins, Dr. Berke asks, What does it mean for individuals and families to be in the shadow?

Dr. Berke and the NCFR Conference Program Planning Committee have organized another amazing conference with many excellent, high-quality sessions, including plenaries, special sessions, invited presenter symposia and workshops, and more to address this year’s conference theme: families in the shadows.

In harmony with the Family Focus theme in this issue, Families in the Shadow, I want to call your attention to some of the many sessions related to centering marginalized voices that will occur during this year’s conference.

Please check the conference schedule for session times: ncfr.org/ncfr-2022/schedule.

Tuesday, Nov. 2—NCFR preconference day

There are three preconferences this year during NCFR: Theory Construction and Research Methodology (TCRM), the KAIROS Blanket Exercise: Exploring Relationships Among Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Peoples, and Broader Impacts Bootcamp: Translating Your Research for Social Change.

• The KAIROS Blanket Exercise is a unique interactive and experiential teaching tool that explores the historic and contemporary relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in North America. Participants play various roles during the blanket exercise and take turns reading and listening to a localized script that covers historical and contemporary events such as pre-contact, colonization, treaties, settlement, and resistance. 
• The TCRM preconference workshop offers the symposium Reflexive Family Voices: Narrating the Personal, Professional, and Political to explore LGBTQ families; naming the invisible in complex families; faith, race, and heterosexism; and intersectionality.

Plenaries, Special Sessions, and Invited Sessions That Shift Perspectives on Families

Wednesday, Nov. 16

• *Understanding Child and Family Well-Being During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States and South Korean Contexts, an invited session made possible by the International Section.
• *How Stories Build Lives, the opening plenary by Kao Kalia Yang
• *Creating Culturally Appropriate Healthy Relationship Interventions in Tribal Communities: Centering Indigenous Voices and Wisdom, a special session organized by the Family and Community Education, Advancing Family Science, Family Policy, and Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Families Sections.

Thursday, Nov. 17

• *Surviving “Murder Town USA”: Coping With Homicide, Structural Violence, and Activism in a Small Urban Black City, Thursday plenary with Yasser Payne, Ph.D.

Friday, Nov. 18

• *Bringing Racism out of the Shadows in Family Science, the Friday plenary with Deadric Williams, Ph.D.

Saturday, Nov. 19

• *Playing With Light: Making the Invisible Visible, the closing plenary, presented by Derek Peterson.
• *How Latino Voices Are Transforming Practitioners, Programs, and Research Agendas, an invited session organized by the Racial and Ethnic Diversity in Families Section

(*denotes live stream session)

Check out the conference program (ncfr.org/ncfr-2022/schedule) for a full list of all symposia, workshops, paper sessions, and posters not listed here that shine light into the shadow and center the voices of those whom we do not always hear—and for all the other excellent conference sessions. The sessions listed above will be live streamed, recorded, and available on demand for all conference registrants, including those who opt to view sessions virtually through our new offering for 2022: NCFR Bridge (see sidebar).

Policy-Related Sessions During the 2021 Annual Conference

Many of the sessions listed above have the potential for great impact on policy or to provide policy implications.

As I do annually, I would like to share policy-related sessions being presented during the conference, some of which also shift perspectives on families. These sessions highlight the excellent policy work being presented at the NCFR Annual Conference. The conference program (ncfr.org/ncfr-2022/schedule) provides a full list of policy and policy-related posters and sessions not listed here:

Wednesday, Nov. 16

• Engaging Research to Shed Light on Practices and Context in the Shadows of Adoptive and Foster Families, a Family Policy Section symposium
• Family Policy Section Member Meeting

Thursday, Nov. 17

• *Introducing Innovative Therapeutic Practices Into an Education Program For High Conflict Divorcing and Separating Parents: Demonstrating Techniques, Evaluating Effectiveness, and Identifying Implications For the Field, a special session organized by the Family Policy, Family and Community Education, and Family Therapy Sections.

Friday, Nov. 18

• Working at the Edges of Family Policy: Meeting the Needs of Often Overlooked Populations, a Family Policy Section paper session
• *When Research Harms: Who Does Theory Forget? A special session made possible by the Religion, Spirituality, and Families; Family Policy; Research and Theory; and Feminism and Family Science Sections

Saturday, Nov. 19

• Adoption, Gender, and Sexuality: Shedding Light on Complex Issues in Adoption, a Family Policy Section symposium

(*denotes live stream session)

Remember these are only a handful of the many excellent sessions that are helping to cast light on families who have historically been marginalized and relegated to the shadows. I can’t wait to learn more!

I hope you join me for the great family reunion as we once again come together in person for the 2022 NCFR Annual Conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

 

NCFR Bridge: New Virtual Registration for 2022

NCFR Bridge is a virtual option to participate in the NCFR conference for attendees who are not able to meet in person.

Because the NCFR virtual conferences held the last 2 years were such a success, we are pleased to offer a virtual option again for 2022. There are many reasons why you may choose to attend NCFR 2022 virtually, and we have designed NCFR Bridge to best meet those needs.

NCFR Bridge attendees will be able to view select conference sessions live, watch recordings on demand, participate in live Q&A, network with colleagues, and more.

Conference sessions highlighted in this article that will be live streamed for NCFR Bridge are denoted with an asterisk (*).

Learn more and register at ncfr.org/bridge-2022.