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Often associated with members of the military returning from combat, post-traumatic stress disorder also can show up in children who experience the unexpected death of a parent after a long illness.

PTSD, trauma and attachment in children being cared for outside their home will be topics presented by Kimber Evensen, keynote speaker at the 2008 Kenai Peninsula Out-of-Home Care Conference May 1 at the Solid Rock Bible Camp outside of Soldotna.

Sponsored in part by the Office of Children's Services and the Alaska Center for Resource Families, the free conference is being conducted for foster parents, adoptive parents, residential providers, social workers, tribal providers, child care providers and community members who work with children.

In addition to the keynote address, the conference will offer a number of workshops and a caregivers appreciation lunch celebrating the beginning of national Foster Parent Appreciation Month, according to Holly Mercado, community care licensing specialist with OCS in Kenai.

Mercado and OCS social worker Allison Gottesman will present a workshop titled, "The Inside Scoop: What Every Foster Parent Should Know."

Other workshop topics include managing unmanageable behaviors, domestic violence in the Alaska Native family, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder impacts on children in care and understanding childhood sexual behavior.

"Families can pick and choose which workshops they need or are lacking knowledge in," Gottesman said.

She and Aileen McInnis started the Out of Home Care Conference in 2001 "to bring hands-on training to foster parents here on the Kenai Peninsula," she said.

"The training was always being offered in Anchorage and a lot of foster parents were not able to get away and go up there," she said.

According to Mercado, families with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome in their homes, who plan to attend the Evensen presentation in the morning and the two-part FASD workshop, can qualify for travel scholarships to defray the cost of mileage and lodging.

Last year, 80 people attended the conference, including 25 foster and adoptive families, according to Gottesman. She said a similar number is expected this year. The conference runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In the central Kenai Peninsula area, from Nikiski down to Clam Gulch and east to Sterling, approximately 100 families provide foster care. Mercado said the families are required to receive 15 hours of training every year and licensed foster families who attend the full-day conference, including the caregivers luncheon can earn eight hours toward the requirement.

While there is no charge to attend the conference, lunch tickets are $9 per person, except for foster parents who eat free. Lunch must be pre-ordered and people planning to attend the conference are asked to preregister by Friday with the Alaska Center for Resource Families in Anchorage. Registration may be made online at acrfsc@nwresource.org.

During conference breaks, area organizations including the Infant Learning Program, Alaska Children's Services, Frontier Community Services and the FAS Diagnostic Team will be on hand with information helpful to families with children.

Following the conference, on Friday evening and during the day Saturday, core training will be given to resource families at the Kenai River Center on Funny River Road.

Presented by McInnis from the Alaska Center for Resource Families, training topics include Understanding the OCS System, Impact of Child Abuse, Foster Care Regulations on Discipline, Visitation Issues and Transition and Reunification.

Registration for the core training can be made by calling the resource center at 1-866-478-7307 or by calling Mercado at OCS at 283-3136.

Phil Hermanek can be reached at phillip.hermanek@peninsulaclarion.com.