Our Mission is to be a respected national voice for Foster, Kinship and Adoptive Parents through networking, education, and advocacy.

Our Mission is to be a respected national voice for Foster, Kinship and Adoptive Parents through networking, education, and advocacy.

AGENDA – January 23, 2026, 10:00am-2:00pm Central NFPA Board of Directors Meeting, St. Louis, MO

I. Call to Order: Tammy Wells

II. Roll Call: Tammy Wells

III. Welcome and Introduction of new Board Members

IV. Welcome from Council of State Affiliates: Amanda Cruce

V. NFPA Listening Session Presentation: Des Ellis (See 3rd Tab)

• Feedback

VI. Lunch (tentatively 12:00 – 12:45)

VII. Approval of Minutes: Tammy Wells (See 4thTab)
• December 8, 2025

VIII. Board President Information/Action: Tammy Wells

Election of Board Officers:

Vice-President
Secretary

IX. Election Results

X. Standing Committee Reports
• Executive, Tammy Wells
• Governance, Shawn Johnson
• Membership/Marketing, Denise/Des
• Finance/Treasurer, Armmetta Torrence/Arnie Eby
• Audit, Interim Chair Tammy Wells

XI. Leadership Report: Executive Director, Arnie Eby
• Current Landscape of Foster Care
o Discussion
• Mission for 2026: Delivering Resource for Impact to Caregivers

XII. Unfinished Business

XIII. New Business

XIV. Announcements

XV. Adjournment

Board of Directors Meeting – Zoom 

December 8, 2025 

7:00 pm Central 

Call to order: Tammy Wells, President, at 7:08 pm Central 

Roll Call of Members, Staff, and Guests: Leslie Stroud-Romero 

Present: Denise Blakney, Desmond Ellis, Shawn Johnson, Leslie Stroud-Romero, Armmetta Torrence,  Tammy Wells 

Absent: Amanda Cruce, Sam Macer, Keith Mason, Dan Reese, Tonya Van Beber 

Staff: Liesl Lukacs, (Arnie joined about 7:30 pm) 

Guest: Karen Poteet 

Karen said hello and that she misses everyone. She’s now on the board of directors of FASD and they  have had exciting news of a piece of legislation that was just signed into law.  

Quorum – Not Established (need 7 to vote): 6 members present at roll call 

Approval of previous minutes: We can hold the approval of minutes until the meetings in January unless  someone else joins before the end of the meeting. 

Council of State Affiliates Report: Amanda Cruce 

Amanda could not join this meeting, and Arnie was going to be the backup for Amanda but he’s running  later than he intended so we will skip this for now.  

Treasurer’s Report: Dan Reese 

Tammy has not heard from Dan, so does not have a report.  

Board President Information/Action: Tammy Wells, President  

The proposed 2026 meetings are below. It follows the same schedule we’ve been following of every  other month so committee work can take place in the other months. We can review these dates and  discuss and then can vote at next meeting (the date is already approved for January). Tried to make sure  we were avoiding holidays. The dates are live on the website. 

• Friday, Jan. 23 (In-Person, Centene HQ, St. Louis, MO) 
• Monday, February 9 
• Monday, April 13 
• Monday, June 8 
• Monday, August 10 
• Monday October 12 
• Monday December 14

Denise asked about hotel information for January’s meeting. It is on the website here  (https://nfpaonline.org/nfpa-bod-annual-meeting-cosa-and-town-hall-2026/) and there are a couple of  options for hotels. The hotels are either inside the convention center or within walking distance.  

STANDING COMMITTEES  

Executive: Tammy Wells, President  

The Executive Committee has met a couple of times. The main focus has been to plan and execute the  January meeting: coordinating the agenda with COSA and the board and how to have everything flow. Liesl has been sending save the dates in marketing/media sources and Amanda sent it out to the COSA  representatives. We’ve also been talking about potential new board members, talking about budget, and  lots of moving parts so we can start 2026 in a good standing. The committee has also been working toward 2026 goals for NFPA and where we want NFPA to focus on; the board will hear more about this in  January. Please reach out if you think of questions or have things you want on the agenda for the  Executive Committee.  

Governance: Shawn Johnson 

Most of the work we’ve done will now be pushed to January because of no quorum to vote on several  motions. We did a rewrite of the give/get policy to better clarify it. We will review in January. We met  with two board candidates and our recommendation is on the portal. He will reach out to both of them  because we had told them that we’d have a decision by December 8 so he will tell them it will be mid January. They have another interview scheduled this week with another candidate. The re-election of  board members will have to wait until January. This will be a vote and you must win by having a majority  of the current directors (“An affirmative vote of the majority of the board.”) 

Leslie asked if we could have a special meeting or another way to elect the new board members so they  could attend the January meeting. Tammy said technically we could do that if someone made a written  statement and others sign off on the statement, and then we would give everyone two weeks notice so  we could have a meeting on December 29. Shawn could send an email to everyone requesting a special  

meeting for these two agenda items. Karen looked up the bylaws and it says that the board may be  called at the written request of the president or any two directors. It requires 48 hours in notice in  writing to call a meeting. There was discussion about what date to hold it on, and agreed on the 15th at 7  pm for re-election of directors and election of new candidates. Liesl will create a new folder for that  meeting (https://drive.google.com/drive/u/3/folders/10gyhKYpxnVYVNxW5MrvN9VHBVLG6AY94), and  Shawn will make sure that the committee has a recommendation before Monday for the candidate they  are interviewing on Friday. Tammy will send out that email to the board.  

Arnie joined at 7:27 pm. 

Members/Marketing: Denise Blankey/Des Ellis 

The committee is continuing to move forward with proposed free membership meeting, but need to go  over some logistics with finance to understand full implications of that shift. They will be better  prepared to finalize that recommendation after that. We are meeting with Armetta sometime next  week, then meet as a committee before the end of the year to be prepared to present in January. 

Finance: Armetta Torrence 

Tammy said that since we do not have a quorum, we cannot make a motion, but do need to make some  kind of recommendation to continue to pay our bills without an approved budget. Tammy will add that  to the agenda for the special meeting. Arnie reported that Cindy’s update just came out after lunch and  

he and Armetta will connect shortly to go over the budget. Arnie said we would not have a formalized  budget for review by the 15th. Arnie mentioned that income dropped off, and some things haven’t  happened as expected. He had dinner today with some funders from the past and he is trying to work  through this. Last week he had a conversation with another Executive Director from a long-time  nonprofit and they are taking a hard look at everything they do and the services they provide because  there is no way to provide those things because people aren’t using them as much and the funding  environment. We are in a fluid and changing environment right now. One of the things for the annual  meeting is a fundraising discussion. This other organization that Arnie was talking to is also considering  stopping membership. We’re not the only nonprofit having to reposition.  

Audit: Leslie Stroud-Romero 

There is a report on the portal. Chuck submitted our 990 on time and it is on the portal for review by the  board. The audit is also completed although Leslie, Arnie, and Cindy had a meeting to discuss updating  some language and formatting in the audit to be more aligned with how we define our financial  reporting and language. The audit could be used now, but we will make those updates and then consider  it final. Leslie will follow up with Cindy to get her final updates about the edits and then pass these on to  Chuck. As we complete this effort, next year the audit chair should consider putting out an RFP to find a  new auditor. We considered doing this a few years ago, but it was the same time we were still bringing  Cindy on board, and working with two new financial people at the same time felt like it would be  difficult. However, the time is right now to switch.  

We are making progress on the key executive transition for NFPA’s bank accounts. Leslie is currently the  only key executive, but Arnie and Tammy have both been to their Wells Fargo branches to fill out  paperwork and they were FedExed to Leslie’s branch. She has an appointment on Tuesday to fill out the  final paperwork to officially add Arnie and Tammy and then will remove herself from the accounts.  

Leadership Report from Executive Director: Arnie Eby 

The NFPA virtual conference is still open and will be through the end of the year. Pass the word.  Dates are not finalized, but we are still working toward a mini conference/meetings with FASD in DC in  September with a tour of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. Tentative dates are the  second or third week of September. 

Committee meetings are still happening for ATTACh conference in 2026. He met with Mary from ATTACh  recently and they are still working on registration; they will do a big push after the first of the year and  do outreach, especially to foster parents in Texas. Arnie is part of two different presentations on the  Friday of that conference. One is about fathers and their experience and importance in interfacing with  child welfare, and the other is with someone who is now with FASD and had been with Families Rising.  Finally, he’s working on pulling together details and finalizing who is going to be presenting at the annual meeting in St Louis. If you have any questions or help to work through the arrangements, let him  know. 

Unfinished Business: 

The 3-year organizational plan is still here as we have not completed this.  

New Business: 

Keith Mason reached out to Tammy today and he sent in his letter of resignation to be effective  immediately. With his new COO position in healthcare and his family being in two different states, he is  not able to focus on NFPA in the way he wants to. If we have any questions on healthcare or out of the  box thinking, he is very open to the board getting in touch. Please reach out to him and wish him well.  

Leslie mentioned that since his resignation is active as of today, we now have 10 board members, so we  would have a quorum to vote on some of the items tabled earlier. 

Leslie asked for a motion to approve minutes from October 13, 2025. Des made the motion to approve,  and Shawn seconded.  

Approved: 6 Opposed: 0 Abstentions: 0 

We already discussed our meeting calendar. If no one has any concerns, Tammy asked to entertain a  motion to approve the proposed meeting schedule for 2026. Shawn moved to make the motion, and Denise seconded.  

Approved: 6 Opposed: 0 Abstentions: 0 

Shawn made a motion to approve spending through February 10, 2026 until we have a new budget.  Leslie seconded.  

Approved: 6 Opposed: 0 Abstentions: 0 

Announcements: 

Special meeting will be on December 15 at 7 pm Central. Agendas will be election of new members and reelections of current members.  

Des asked about the give/get and when it is due. You can make a donation online, or send an email to  Arnie and he’ll send a link to an invoice in Quickbooks. The amount is $180. Arnie will send to Des and  Denise. It won’t come until Wednesday because he is traveling.  

ADJOURNMENT 

With no further business and no discussions, Tammy adjourned the meeting by general consensus at  7:59 pm Central.  

Respectfully submitted, 

Leslie Stroud-Romero

Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau

Ryan Hanlon

Associate Commissioner, Children’s Bureau
Administration on Children, Youth and Families

Administration for Children and Families

National Center for Missing and Exploited Children

NCMEC will join us to discuss the resources they are making available to parents with the goal of preventing child exploitation and trafficking.

Visit the Website

Resources

NCMEC 2026 Human Trafficking Prevention Month Toolkit (For organizations, social agencies, etc.).

NetSmartz Online Safety Education Resources: www.ncmec.org/netsmartz

CyberTipline: https://report.cybertip.org/

Take It Down: www.takeitdown.ncmec.org

NCMEC Connect online learning platform: https://connect.ncmec.org/learn

Blogs

Using Sextortion to Groom Kids for Violence and Pain (Blog Post 8/28/2025)

https://www.ncmec.org/blog/2025/using-sextortion-to-groom-kids-for-violence-pain

Spike in online crimes against children a ‘wake-up call’ (Blog post 9/4/2025)

https://www.ncmec.org/blog/2025/spike-in-online-crimes-against-children-a-wake-up-call

The Deepfake Dilema: New Challenges protecting students, confidentiality (Blog Post 11/20/2025)

https://www.ncmec.org/blog/2025/the-deepfake-dilemma-new-challenges-protecting-students-confidentiality

NCMEC on the Hill: Online child exploitation escalating, more violent (Blog Post 12/12/2025)

https://www.ncmec.org/blog/2025/ncmec-on-the-hill-online-child-exploitation-escalating-more-violent

NCMEC Town Hall Presentation January 2026

See the related NFPATI.org training, ‘NCMEC Resources for Parents and Caregivers‘

Department of Homeland Security

Presenter: Rene Young, Forensic Interview Specialist with Homeland Security Investigations

Rene is a part of the Know2Protect Campaign as a Senior Advisor. Tagline: Together We Can Stop Online Child Sexual Exploitation.

Discussion Items & Useful Links

• Know2protect.gov Link to their main website.
• Campaign Resources | Homeland Security These are FREE resources that can be printed and shared with the communities you and attendees serve. Rene will discuss FREE co-branding opportunities of materials for your organization if you would like to work with the Know2Protect team to spread the word and help end child sexual exploitation. 
• Pledge2Protect | Homeland Security Take the Pledge2Protect, to help keep kids safe online and then pass the pledge!
• Training | Homeland Security This is how you can request a FREE, in person, online safety presentation. We have our presentations specifically designed to cater to several groups (parents/trusted adults, teens and tweens) and do so in a developmentally appropriate manner.

See the related NFPATI.org training, ‘Child Identity Protection‘, and our resource page, ‘Digital Safety for Children in Foster and Kinship Care‘.

FASD United (Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder)

Visit the Website

See the two related NFPATI.org training sessions:

• FASD: What Every Foster or Adoptive Parent Should Know
• Discussion Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders

Center for Adoption Support and Education

Presenter: Debbie Riley, LCMFT, Chief Executive Officer, C.A.S.E./AdoptionSupport.org

Our discussion will be in review of a recent C.A.S.E. Convening. Details of the event follow (taken from a letter from Debbie Riley).

Thank you again for your presence, participation, and partnership at C.A.S.E.’s State of Practice Convening. The depth of engagement, candor, and cross‑disciplinary thinking you brought to the room affirmed what many of us already knew: advancing adoption‑competent mental health care requires coordinated, systems‑level action.

As promised, we’re following up with several key resources from the Convening — and an invitation to continue this work together.

Photos from the Convening

We’ve compiled a photo album capturing moments of connection, reflection, and collaboration throughout the day. Please enjoy, and feel free to download and share the photos!

Help Amplify the Research

The research unveiled at the Convening is now public! We invite you to help extend its reach by sharing it within your professional networks. We’ve attached shareables and a graphic for social media and email that you’re welcome to copy and paste, or edit as you see fit.

What We Heard From You

Attached, you’ll find a synthesis of breakout group discussions and Slido reflections from the end of the day. This summary highlights the themes that consistently emerged across research, practice, and policy, underscoring how deeply interconnected these levers must be to drive meaningful change. We encourage you to review and reflect on this summary as we set the path forward.

Introducing the Adoption Competence Coalition

One of the clearest messages from the Convening was this: We cannot reach our shared goal — making adoption‑competent mental health care the standard of care — by working in silos. To move this effort forward collectively, C.A.S.E. is launching the Adoption Competence Coalition, a national, purpose‑driven effort focused on systems‑level transformation. The Coalition’s aim is simple but ambitious: to ensure that everyone connected to adoption, foster, and kinship care can access adoption‑competent mental health care, regardless of where they seek services.

Why this Coalition

Adoption competence must be embedded within the systems families already encounter — mental health, child welfare, education, healthcare, and judicial. Like trauma‑informed care before it, adoption competence must become an expected, integrated standard across systems.

How We’ll Work

The Coalition will bring together leaders across policy, research, practice, systems administration, and lived experience to align priorities, share expertise, and identify actionable pathways for scaling adoption competence nationally.

We are deeply grateful to the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption for sponsoring the Convening, and to President & CEO Rita Soronen for opening the day with clarity and conviction. Most of all, we are grateful to you — for lending your time, insight, and commitment to this work.

We look forward to continuing the journey together!

With appreciation,

Debbie Riley, LCMFT
Chief Executive Officer
Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.)

Visit the Website

CASE Media Release: New Research Confirms What Families Have Kown  – Adoption-Competent Mental Health Care Changes Lives

Printable Resources

NTI Training: A Family Perspective

Finding the Right Mental Health Therapist

Holistic Strategies for Addressing Complex Needs

Building Bridges to Improve Mental Health

Sleep Study

Authors of a sleep study paper, ‘How Are the Sleep Problems of Children in the US Foster Care System Addressed? See our 54th Education Conference session, ‘Sleep Health for Children in Foster Care‘  for full details on the participants.

View and Print the Presentation:

Prioritizing Sleep Health in Foster Care_Trauma Informed Recommendations for Policy – Read-Only

See the related NFPATI.org trainings on the topic of sleep, ‘Fostering Sleep for Children in Foster Care‘

American Bar Association Center for Children and the Law

Presenters:

Hope Cooper, True North Group

Ashley Moore, ABA Center for Children and the Law

Our contacts will discuss the role of the Center, and will review the resources that they are making available to foster parents.

Visit the Website

Thanks to our connections at the Center, the NFPA was able to assemble an incredible link library with over 100 online resources that they have assembled or provided for foster parents regarding their children and education. Visit the resource.

Presenter: Amanda Cruce, MSW, LCSW

Amanda, our Council of State Affiliates Lead, will discuss a position paper that she and our ED Arnie Eby presented to the US House Ways and Means Committee, Subcommitte on Work and Welfare. This is just one example of the advocacy efforts underway at the NFPA!

View & Print the Document