Finally - a baby care class designed especially for pre-adoptive parents! You will learn the fundamentals of baby care and won't have to sit through topics that don't necessarily apply to your family (such as post-partum care or the assumption that your child will be breast-fed). The class will teach you the basics of baby care as well as give you really practical information about how to promote attachment and read your new baby's cues.

Other topics covered in the morning session include how to hold your baby, bathing, feeding, clothing, sleeping patterns for the newborn vs. the older infant, health care and safety issues. This class is appropriate for parents-to-be of children up to 2 years old when they come home. Featured speaker: Molly Brannigan, certified infant care instructor.

The afternoon session is divided into two groups � one for families adopting children internationally, including information about how to promote attachment in children who have been in foster care of orphanage settings and specifics on medical and physical expectations for children from various countries presented by Dr. Nancy Curtis of the International Adoption Clinic, Children's Hospital of Oakland. The other group is for domestic adopters, who will have additional time with Molly Brannigan to discuss newborn transitions and needs and Pact staff who will provide general information about the process of coordinating the transition at the hospital, bringing a newborn home and other issues specific to domestic infant placement.

LUNCH: Please bring your own lunch. We allot one hour for our lunchtime break, and are a bit away from any restaurant lunch options, so we find that bringing your own lunch is best for our time constraints. This will also allow you time to visit with the other workshop participants and enjoy some discussion with our staff and speakers.

For directions and more information click here.