AFCC Scholarship Fund

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

First and foremost, we hope that you, your family, friends, and colleagues are healthy, safe, and managing well in these challenging times. Although this is not a normal way to begin a fundraising letter, needless to say, this is not a normal year.

In a normal year, the AFCC Scholarship Committee provides financial support to help family law professionals from all corners of the world convene at AFCC conferences. These scholarships provide important face-to-face access to top-flight continuing education along with an amazing network of collegial professionals. If you would like to donate to this year’s scholarship fund, click the button below. If you still need convincing, please keep reading.

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This year, AFCC members have adapted our practices to include online meetings, hearings, mediation, and client conferences. We have learned new terms like Zoom fatigue. We have purchased masks and disinfectant wipes in bulk (when they are available). We have developed a new appreciation for a solid internet connection and the value of plexiglass, and a much, much deeper appreciation for any face-to-face interaction with the friends, family, and colleagues.

Some AFCC member are busier than ever as divorce and separation continue, and parenting disputes are further complicated by pandemic-related challenges. Other members have been furloughed or experienced a drop in practice. As if that were not enough, in the midst of shelter-in-place, social distancing, and wearing masks, we have social unrest due to the racial injustice, and the ravages of climate change which are decimating parts of the United States West Coast in fires and the Gulf of Mexico in hurricanes.

Throughout all of this, AFCC has worked hard to serve as a valuable resource to members. Since March, we have provided online discussions, monthly webinars, and special webinar series on parent-child contact problems and parenting coordination. These programs have cumulatively attracted more than 10,000 participants, demonstrating AFCC’s incredible reach with virtual programs.

Looking ahead, the 14th Symposium on Child Custody will be presented in a virtual platform. AFCC will offer its training programs in parenting coordination online for the first time. Although we are hoping for a face-toface conference in Boston next spring, it is just too soon to know if that will be possible.

Regardless of the format, AFCC will be granting scholarships to all conferences and working hard to find ways to engage recipients. This year, the Scholarship Committee will also be working with the AFCC Task Force on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion to further enhance the diversity of the association. We will focus on awarding scholarships that enable AFCC to build a professional community that is more inclusive of members of different races, ethnicities, gender identities, sexual orientations, and nationalities.

Please take this opportunity to help us improve the family law community, one hard-working professional at a time! Contribute to the AFCC Scholarship Fund today. We understand this may be a difficult year for many people to give. If you are able to contribute, however, we hope you will consider making a donation.

AFCC uses every penny you donate to fund scholarships. No contributions are used to cover administrative overhead. 

Although your donation is appreciated at any time, if we receive your gift by December 31, 2020, we can better plan how many scholarships to award in 2021. Gifts to the AFCC Scholarship Fund are tax-deductible (US taxpayers only). Donors will be recognized on the AFCC website.

Regardless of the size of your gift, please know that it is greatly appreciated. Your gift makes a lasting difference in the lives and careers of the recipients. Can we count on your support to help a colleague in need?

Please support the AFCC scholarship program today! Have we convinced you yet? Here’s that button again!

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Our sincere thanks,

Mary M. Ferriter (signature)
Mary M. Ferriter
Chair, Resource Development Committee
Peter Salem (signature)
Peter Salem
Executive Director

 

P.S. Remember, your gift supports the betterment of families and children—join your fellow AFCC members in making a difference in the practice and ensuring that all our colleagues have access to the AFCC network of excellence that we have come to know and expect at AFCC conferences. Thank you!