Lauretta (Pat) Sims is the Program Manager for the Adoption and Post Adoption Programs for DePelchin Children’s Center.  She oversees Adoption programs, both infant and special needs, the Post Adoption Contracts for Regions 05 and 06, the Search, Reunion and Exchange Programs, and FACES: Family Adoption Connections and Enrichment Services, as well as being a trainer and curriculum developer for DePelchin Children’s Center in Houston, Texas.  Pat previously supervised the Creating Adoption Neighborhood grant that focused on recruitment of African American adoptive families for African American children.

 Pat has been co-developer of several training projects: the Enable (Mosaics) curriculum which focused on special needs adoption issues for mental health providers, Project Connect curriculum which focused on empowering triad members through birth family connections, Connect II curricula (Techniques in Placement: Skills and Strategies and Techniques in Parenting: Skills and Strategies) which focused on adoption preparation for TDFPS staff and post placement issues for adoptive parents and CAPS: Collaborative Advances Preparation Skills. Pat has conducted training statewide in Texas, in several other states and at national conferences.

Pat has worked in the field of special needs children since 1969.  She has worked for the state as a protective service worker; AFDC social service worker and contract worker doing court ordered investigations and studies.  She has worked with unplanned pregnancy clients, infant adoptive couples (both domestic and international) and special needs adoptive families for over thirty years.

Pat and her husband have four children who are now adults.  Three of the children were adopted as special needs children.  Pat assisted her children in locating their birth families.  Pat’s perspective comes from living the experience of parenting children with special needs while working professionally as a social worker in the field of adoption.