March 2
Workshop Proposals Due
Call for Proposals
Present at TCCAC
The Texas Center for Child and Family Studies (the supporting organization of the Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services) invites experienced presenters to submit workshop proposals for our annual Texas Child Care Administrators Conference (TCCAC). This year’s conference is September 21-23, 2026, at the Gaylord Texan in Grapevine, Texas.
About TCCAC
The TCCAC is the premier child-welfare conference in Texas and the one-stop-shop training event of the year for over 1,500 professionals working in adoption, foster care, residential childcare, prevention, family preservation, and more. TCCAC consistently delivers the best of the best training, tools, and networking opportunities to child, youth, and family-serving professionals in Texas (and beyond)!
About the Theme: Step Right Up
Each year, the Texas Child Care Administrator’s Conference brings together dedicated professionals and leaders who are ready to learn, connect, and lead with purpose. This year’s theme, Step Right Up, is a call to step into the moment with confidence and courage—even when the path ahead isn’t fully clear. Leadership often means showing up before you have all the answers, trusting your experience, values, and community to guide you forward. Whether you are navigating change, supporting your team, or advocating for children and families, you already have what you need to lead with intention and impact. Together, we step up for one another, for the children in our care, and for the future of Texas families.
Our Audience
Most workshop attendees are seasoned professionals and include child care administrators, case managers, clinicians, public agency personnel, and community service organization staff. Presentations that address a broad spectrum of administrative and clinical issues for experienced professionals at the program and systems-level are welcomed. Due to the large size of our conference, many workshops will have an audience of between 100-300 attendees, sometimes more.
A Hybrid Event
TCCAC is a hybrid event and includes workshops for both in-person and virtual audiences. All workshops are 90-minutes and will be delivered in-person, and some of these same workshops will be selected for inclusion in both the in-person and virtual program. Workshops also selected for inclusion in the virtual program will be pre-recorded between June and July and made available to virtual attendees via the conference website and app at the start of conference, September 21, 2026 and for 90 days after the end of conference. If your workshop is selected for both programs, conference organizers will contact you to schedule a time to pre-record your workshop via Zoom. None of the workshops will be selected for virtual only.
Deadline for Proposals is March 2
Help us make the 2026 Conference the best yet with your workshop proposal. Please direct all workshop-related questions to conference@tacfs.org.
Submit Your ProposalGuidelines and Timeline
May 15
Presenters Notified
August 31
Workshop Materials Due
September 21
First Day of TCCAC 2026
– Proposals must be submitted through our online submission form by March 2, 2026.
– We kindly request that presenters do their best to include ALL of the information we’ve requested when submitting a proposal (bio, headshot, A/V needs, etc.) for the primary presenter and any co-presenter(s).
– Primary presenters are responsible for communicating all information with co-presenters.
– Submitting a proposal does not guarantee acceptance.
– Presenters are not paid for participation in a workshop.
– Workshop presenters also selected for inclusion in the virtual program will be contacted by conference organizers to schedule a time to pre-record their session via Zoom. Pre-recordings will occur between mid-June and the end of July. PLEASE NOTE: If selected for inclusion in the virtual program, the expectation is that the workshop will ALSO be presented live at the in-person event.
– Presenters will be asked to submit copies of their workshop materials no later than August 31, 2026.
– Digital copies of presentation materials that are shared will be uploaded to conference app in lieu of TCCAC providing printed copies of material.
Discounted Registration for Primary Presenter:
We are happy to share that this year we will be offering a discounted registration of $100 off the conference registration for the primary presenter of a workshop. Presenters are not automatically registered for the full conference. If any presenter plans to attend conference sessions, they will need to register as an attendee. Details on this will be included in your presenter agreement if selected. ALSO, there will be an additional $50 discount for any primary presenter that also agrees to record their workshop for the virtual program.
Continuing Education Credits
The Center will submit all workshop proposals selected for pre-approval to the Texas Health and Human Services Licensed Administrator Program for Child Care Licensing for Licensed Child Placing Agency Administrator (LCPAA) and Licensed Child Care Administrator (LCCA) continuing education training credits.
Selection Criteria
- Proposals will be selected based on their relevance to the conference theme as described above, the guidelines below, and current issues in child, youth, and family wellbeing.
- Proposals should be engaging and advance attendees’ knowledge and understanding of best practices and promising innovations in the field, building on skills and resources relevant to a diverse workforce servings kids and families across the child wellbeing continuum.
- Experienced presenters with lived experience in the child welfare system are strongly encouraged to submit proposals.
- Proposals that market/sell a product or program will not be considered.
Compelling workshops proposals will...
- Be suitable for a 90-minute session
- Be interactive rather than lecture-based only
- Cover practical application of topics discussed – attendees want useful takeaways and tools
- Demonstrate a basic understanding of Texas child welfare, including Community-Based Care
- Provide an opportunity for participants to go beyond the status quo and think in new ways that advance the field towards excellence
- Create opportunities to strengthen interconnectedness between participants, teams, and organizations in your session
Other considerations for workshop selection may include...
- Originality
- Panelists/presenters must be limited to no more than 3.
- Identification of emerging best practices and techniques
- Incorporation of effective adult learning techniques
- Reflection of creative, promising work that responds to the needs of children, youth, families, and staff (model programs)
Ideas for Sessions
Addressing Complex Trauma & Building Resilience
Adoption
Advancing Equity
Behavioral Health
Boards of Directors (recruitment, development, succession planning, etc.)
Child Development
Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children/Anti-Trafficking
Complimentary Therapies
Community-Based Care
Data & Evaluation
Education Services
Effective Community-Based Interventions
Ethics
Fundraising
Integrating Youth & Family Voice
Leadership
Legal Aspects of Child Welfare
Mental Health
National Initiatives
Normalcy for Children & Youth
Organizational Leadership
Older Youth/Teens
Prevention/Early Intervention
Regulatory Issues
Siblings
Suicide Prevention/Intervention
Supporting Provider/Staff Wellbeing- Grief & Loss
Teaming Models
Transitional Programs for Youth
Trauma-Responsive Clinical Work
Working with Kin and Family
Workforce/Staff Retention
Youth & Family Engagement
Deadline for Proposals is March 2
Help us make the 2026 Conference the best yet with your workshop proposal! Please direct all workshop-related questions to conference@tacfs.org.
Submit Your Proposal