Keynote Speakers

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

William C. Bell, CEO and President, Casey Family Programs, Seattle, Washington

Creating a Safe Future for Our Children
William C. Bell, President and Chief Executive Officer of Casey Family Programs and a doctoral candidate at Hunter College School of Social Work, has devoted his entire 30-year career in child welfare to championing on behalf of the now more than half-a-million children and youth residing in foster care. Currently, he leads the largest national foundation dedicated solely to foster care in its strategy to reduce the foster care population, as well as assure their safety and well-being. In his Keynote Address, Mr. Bell shares the vision of the Casey Family Programs for improving the child welfare system, emphasizing the role each one of us must play in the effort to strengthen families and ensure all children grow up in safe, nurturing, and loving homes. Setting the tone for the 16th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, Mr. Bell proposes two most significant instruments of change: an unwavering belief we can make a difference and the courage to act.

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Robert Clyman, MD, Executive Director, Kempe Children's Center, Denver, Colorado

The Impact of Foster Care on the Well-Being of Children: What We Know and What We Only Think We Know
Major child welfare policies focus on reducing children’s length of stay in foster care, reunifying children from foster care, and placing children into kinship care when reunification is not possible. Dr. Robert B. Clyman, Executive Director of the Kempe Children’s Center in Denver and Board Certified in both General and Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, opens his address with a review of the scientific evidence regarding the impact of these child welfare policies on the well-being of children in foster care. He reports that most of the available evidence, while inconclusive thus far, fails to indicate that children’s well-being improves when children reunify or are placed in kinship care. Dr. Clyman builds on this research, concluding by emphasizing the critical role the community plays in improving the lives of children in the child welfare system.

Thursday, April 19, 2007

Juan Williams, Senior Correspondent, National Public Radio, Washington, DC

What Communities Must Do to Protect Children and Strengthen Families
Juan Williams calls attention to the current reality that too many black Americans are in crisis. Caught in a twisted hip-hop culture, black youth may drop out of school, end up in jail, and have babies when they are not ready to be parents. A National Public Radio Senior Correspondent and an Emmy Award winning writer and television correspondent, Mr. Williams presents his case that it is way past time for black Americans to open their eyes to the “culture of failure” existing within their community. He applauds the proud black traditional values of self help, strong families, and belief in God and explores actions communities can take to support the efforts of parents, schools, and churches to protect children and strengthen families.

Commissioner’s Award Ceremony

Joan E. Ohl, Commissioner, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

ACYF Commissioner’s Award Ceremony
For more than 20 years, the prestigious Commissioner’s Award has been presented to a broad range of accomplished individuals. Since 1981, the Governor of each state plus Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Virgin Islands, along with the Mayor of the District of Columbia, has been asked to nominate a person who makes a significant contribution to the prevention, intervention, or treatment of child abuse and neglect. Awardees represent social work, legal and judicial, education, and medical fields, as well as numerous other disciplines involved in the nation’s response to child abuse and neglect. Commissioner Joan Ohl will preside, presenting awards to this year’s distinguished recipients at this always inspiring ceremony.

Friday, April 20, 2007

Judge Patricia Walker FitzGerald, Circuit Court Judge, Family Divisions, Louisville, Kentucky

Safeguarding the Rights of Children
A nationally recognized children’s rights advocate, Judge Patricia Walker FitzGerald addresses the evolving rights of children and the accompanying responsive changes occurring in family court. Judge FitzGerald, a member of the Jefferson Family Court in Louisville, Kentucky, since her appointment in 1995 and chief judge from 2000-2002, is committed to implementing systemic changes in family courts nationwide to safeguard the rights of children to live and grow in a protected environment. Her efforts contributed to the Jefferson Family Court becoming a national model for best practices in cases involving child abuse and neglect. Judge FitzGerald, a practicing lawyer since 1978, earned her Juris Doctor degree from the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law. She also serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Council for Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

Saturday, April 21, 2007

Hilary Weaver, MS, DSW, Associate Professor, State University of New York, Buffalo, New York

Drawing on Cultural Strengths to Move Toward a More Child-Centered, Family Friendly Society
Dr. Hilary N. Weaver, a Lakota social worker and President of the American Indian Alaska Native Social Work Educators’ Association, has built a career of examining the role of cultural issues in the helping process. Identifying the cultural diversity of clients to be a potential strength and asset, she addresses ways to draw on cultural strengths as a means to move toward a more child and family friendly society and thus proactively prevent child maltreatment. Dr. Weaver presents culturally-based examples of valuing children and families together with strategies for developing collaborative relationships and community partnerships aimed at both preventing and treating child abuse and neglect.