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A Workshops

A-01

Visit Coaching: An Innovative Approach to Engaging Families in Visits

Family visits with children in out-of-home care are an underutilized service which can be the most significant assistance a public or private agency provides for safe reunification. Visit coaching actively supports families to make each visit fun for their children and to demonstrate their best parenting skills.

A-02

Attachment: You Know Nothing if You Don't Know This

While everyone working in child welfare has a vast amount of knowledge and insight into a child's world; none is complete without a clear understanding of the development and maintenance of attachment. This is particularly true for children in child welfare as nearly all of them suffer from attachment fracture in removal from their family of origin or primary care-taker. This presentation will inform attendees regarding attachment development (particularly neurological development), maintenance, attachment fracture, and grief and loss.

A-03

How Not To Help The Defense Attorney In Child Sexual Abuse Cases (Part 1 of 2)

This program will acquaint law enforcement, prosecutors, medical practitioners, mental health practitioners, child protection caseworkers, and victim assistance agency personnel with the intimate workings of the defense in child sexual abuse cases: the preparation of a defense case, investigative techniques, pretrial motion practice and discovery, examinations before trial, jury selection, defense trial strategy, demonstrative evidence, trial exhibits, cross examination techniques, and courtroom psychology.

A-04

Basic Street Gang Identification

A comprehensive introduction to gang culture and answers to several related questions: Why do youth join and remain in street gangs? What is a street gang by definition? How are street gangs structured? What does gang clothing look like and how would I know it if I saw it? What are common items which constitute gang paraphernalia? What does gang graffiti look like and how do I make sense of it? - presented in a detailed PowerPoint, videos and music.

A-05

Protecting the Children of Those Who Protect Our Freedom

This workshop will focus on the unique stressors of military life on the family and the innovative ways the military is combating violence on the home front. After an overview of recent literature and research regarding child maltreatment in military communities and the effects of deployments on military families - the many positive measures instituted by the Department of Defense to address these issues will be discussed.

A-06

Learning from Fatalities: Findings and Recommendations from the Washington State Domestic Violence Fatality Review

We've all seen news stories that remind us domestic violence can be lethal. We mourn the loss of life and wonder: What can we learn from these tragedies? This workshop will be a presentation of the findings and recommendations from the Washington State Domestic Violence Fatality Review's most recent report, If I Had One More Day, and will include a discussion of how a range of disciplines can use the report to improve their local community response to domestic violence.

A-07

Physical Abuse, Discipline & Culture: Working with Diverse Families

This workshop explores the delicate and controversial line between corporal punishment and physical abuse, and how ethnic culture can play a factor here. Participants will learn practical techniques for helping families from all groups reduce their use of violent parenting with their children. Examples will be drawn from African American, Somali, Latino, Asian, religious, and military families.

A-08

Selection, Engagement and Seduction of Children and Adults by Child Molesters (Part 1 of 2)

During this workshop, participants will have an opportunity to study (via multiple videotaped interviews with sex offenders), some of the etiological factors and operational strategies (grooming tactics) involved in child molestation. The speaker will review some factors that appear to contribute to the development of pedophilic arousal and some of the more common strategies offenders use to seduce and manipulate child victims, adults, families, youth serving organizations and the community at large.

A-09

Understanding the roles of CPS and Law Enforcement

The underlying thread in this presentation is of CPS and law enforcement coming together as equal partners in a spirit of cooperation and communication in the collaborative process that marks our work in serving children and families, and how to understand each agencies role during a joint investigation. The instructors will present the role each agency plays during a child abuse investigation. CPS professionals will learn to understand what law enforcement is looking for and why. Law enforcement will learn to understand the unique and on-going investigation being conducted by CPS.

A-10

Engaging Fathers In The Child Welfare Caseload: How to Reach Out to and Establish a Working Relationship with Men who may be Avoidant, Challenging or Hostile

Workshop focuses on fathers who are living at home, and fathers who are not at home. It identifies practices that can help social workers broaden their emphasis from over reliance on mothers to also focusing on fathers and what they can provide their children and/or the children's mothers, highlighting safety, respect and responsibility.

A-11

Parenting in Recovery Classes: It's About the Kids

Risk factors are extremely high for children in substance abusing families. Nearly 100% of participants in Parenting in Recovery classes are involved with one or more Court jurisdictions. Many have histories of alcohol and other drugs (AOD), Domestic Violence (DV) arrests and/or incarceration. Helping parents work with multiple agencies, improved parenting skills, and reduce conflict is essential to family recovery.

A-12

Families, Communities, and CPS: Partnering to Strengthen Children and Families

To quote one family partner, "Nothing about us without us!" Children, youth, parents, caregivers, CPS, service providers, and the community all bring different and valuable perspectives to strengthening and protecting children and families. Working together, they can help child welfare agencies to communicate more effectively about agency strengths and purposes and to engage the community in efforts to make needed systemic improvements.

A-13

The Current State of Assessment and Treatment of Juveniles who Have Sexually Abused (Part 1 of 3)

Research indicates that many things our field has believed in the past about sexual aggression have turned out not to be true. This workshop explores what we know and don't know about the assessment and treatment of youth who have sexually abused. It includes recent research into recidivism, treatment outcome, and what works with this most challenging and diverse population. It also includes suggestions for appropriate measures and treatment strategies.

A-14

Intercultural Competence: The Alchemy of Resilience to Create Caring Communities (Part 1 of 2)

Participants will learn, why and how culture is a creative and essential resource for effectively addressing the needs of multicultural families and communities; they will acquire a deeper practical appreciation for how a strong working knowledge of cultural differences becomes a viable strategy for developing a school's assets re: the other 3 R's, resilience, reconciliation, respect; and increase their understanding for why and how tribal traditional knowledge systems work, the relationship between First World knowing, and effective ways to resolve violence in our families, schools, and communities.

A-15

Sudden Unexplained Infant Death Investigations (SUIDI)

From scene through certification, infant death investigations are unique. These investigations require skill and knowledge drawn from disciplines outside those typically considered part of medico legal education. This workshop will present an overview of sudden, unexplained infant death, its typical causes, and the importance of the death scene investigation to accurate cause and manner of death determination. Important discussion on the SUIDI form as a "living" document will be part of this workshop.

A-16

Eliciting Reliable Information from Children: Basics of Best Practice Interviewing

Talking to children about suspected abuse is difficult and sensitive. Interviewers can expect intense scrutiny of the methods used and circumstances in which interviews take place. Developers of the WA State Child Interview Guide will introduce basic principles of state-of-the-art evidence-based child interviewing. Emphasis will be on techniques that maximize reliable information while minimizing trauma, and on recognizing when to involve other professionals to assist in interviews with children.

A-17