FILM: AIDAS SECRET- Understanding Long Term Disruption and Trauma to Families and Communities Resulting from Mass Migration

Presenter: Marcia Polansky LCSW
Date: Sunday, December 15, 2019
Time: 12:00-4:30 pm | 2 CEs
Location: Cheltenham (Exact location will be provided upon registration)

Summary:
Aida’s Secrets is a moving documentary about the quest of a brother to reunite with his brother who he was separated from as a toddler. The brothers and their parents were refugees in a camp for displaced persons at the end of WWII. One brother was given up for adoption by his mother to an Israeli couple. This brother’s search later in life to find his brother and the unfolding of the relationship between himself and his brother are at the center of this documentary. The ambivalent feelings of the brother who was ‘found are explored. Also explored, are the brothers’ fantasies about why their mother gave them up for adoption. We are let in to see the brothers mourning of the loss of a mother who they have little conscious memory and the loss reworked with what they learn about her and in the context of having each other. One of the brothers was blind from birth which also shaped the meaning for him of being given up for adoption as did the different nature of the families they grew up in. From the interviews of the brothers’ adoptive families as well as interviews with their biological mother and other family members we come to understand that there are radiating waves of loss to all the family. Mixed feelings of the adoptive mother and father, the biological mother to the changes in everyone’s lives as family members reconnect emerge. Social service agency staff are interviewed to so as to explore the complicated nature of adoption and painful choices made in a time of mass migration. Attachment theory and child development will be applied to understand the effects of adoption in this continuing education activity.

Objectives:
1. Understand long-term disruption and trauma to families and communities resulting from mass migration

2. Understand the effects of trauma on parenting

3. Develop skills to facilitate healthy attachments between siblings who meet each other later in life

4. Understand challenges of not having sight in different stages of the life cycle

About the Presenter:
Marcia Polansky LCSW is in general private practice in center city Philadelphia. She is also an onsite psychotherapist for Youth Build, a charter school for young adults to complete high school and prepare for working or college.

Cost: No charge for PSCSW Members to attend; $20 for Non Members to attend. There is a $10 fee for anyone wishing a CE certificate.
Cancellation Policy:
PSCSW Members: There is a $5 non refundable administrative fee for any cancellation up to 48 hours prior to this program.
Non Members: There is a $10 non refundable administrative fee for any cancellation up to 48 hours prior to this program.
No refund will be issued if less than 48 hours notice is given for this program.
This program is presented and hosted by PSCSW members. Both the presenter and host put a lot of time and preparation to make sure that attendees are receiving a wonderful program and feel welcome at the program. Just as in your professional life when someone cancels last minute, it has an impact on you. Please be cognizant of this when you register for this program.
Continuing Education Credits:
FOR PENNSYLVANIA SOCIAL WORKERS, MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS, AND PROFESSIONAL COUNSELORS: This program is approved for 2 credits for professional workshops sponsored by the Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Social Work, a state affiliate of the Clinical Social Work Association listed in Section 47.36 of Title 49, Chapter 47 of the PA Code, State Board of Social Work Examiners. This program is also approved for 2 credits for professional workshops for marriage & family therapists (Section 48.36) and professional counselors (Section 49.36).
FOR NEW JERSEY SOCIAL WORKERS: This program is approved for 2 clinical credits. Attendance at programs or courses given at state and national social work association conferences, where the criteria for membership is an academic degree in social work, are a valid source of continuing education credit (N.J.A.C. 13:44G-6.4(c)4).
PSCSW Members :Before you begin any registration, you must log in to the website to pay the member rate. If you register without logging in, you will pay at the nonmember rate. If you need assistance logging in, please contact pscsw@pscsw.org