Detective Mike Johnson, Boy Scouts USA and previously Plano Police Department

Detective Mike Johnson was our closing speaker for the 2010 Together We Can Conference. He opened his presentation with a powerful video. Click here to view the video.

Nicole Bossard

The General Session on Wednesday, October 6th featured Nicole Bossard from the National Resource Center on Permanency and Family Connections. Conference participants heard how parent voices are helping inform policy and practice changes that help better engage families. Click here to view her presentation.

Nicole Bossard

Following her General Session presentation, Nicole Bossard (with the National Resource Center on Permanency and Family Connections) gave a follow-up session on making family engagement efforts meaningful. Participants learned how “Parent/Family Partners” are helping to bridge the gap between birth parents, service providers, and foster parents, and helping policy and decision makers better embrace parent participation at all levels from policy development to resource allocation. Click here to view this presentation. 

Judge James Payne

When children and their families are in your caseload, how can you help them reach the goals? Budget cuts are slimming down the available programs that you could normally use to help them and others are closing their doors. This presentation by Judge James Payne, former Juvenile Judge and current Director of the Indiana State Child Services Department, offered comments and suggestions on the current economics of working with children, families and bureacracies. Click here to open his presentation.

Deirdre O'Connorm MSW, LCSW

Structured Decision Making (SDM) models in both juvenile justice and child protection provide a framework for gathering and assessing information that is most important to consider at each decision point in the life of a case.  Part 1 of this workshop provides an introduction to SDM assessments for juvenile justice and child protection, along with the research and evidence that indicate quality implementation of these tools support improved outcomes for children and families.  This will be followed by a brief overview of the SDM tools Louisiana DCFS is currently using, including a screening assessment; family risk assessment, in-home risk reassessment and reunification assessment.  Part 2 of the workshop will be an in depth discussion of quality implementation of the reunification assessment.

We have received two PowerPoints from Deirdre's presentation in the Institute Session on Structured Decision Making. We will be partnering with SDM for our 2011 conference. This will be a good introduction.Click on the red text to view the presentation: Part 1 and Part 2. This session was sponsored by the Louisiana Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges.

Walter Fahr, MSW, LCSW

Walter Fahr, LA Department of Children and Family Services, offered a presentation on Alternative Response. This presentation looked at the basics of implementing and providing Alternative Response as a tool and the sustainability of innovation in a bureaucratic setting. Click here to view the presentation.

Carmen Spooner, MSW, GSW and Karen Grant, MSW, LCSW

Participants heard about the realities faced by youth leaving the foster care system.  The discussion included helping them make successful transitions to adulthood through improved outcomes in education, employment, housing, physical and mental health and personal/community engagement. Presented by Louisiana DCFS staff members: Carmen Spooner and Karen Grant. Click to view their presentation.

April Naturale, Ph.D.

The families of Louisiana are feeling the financial crunch as much of the country is, and it is taking a toll on the overall family functioning. In addition to the national economic decline, much of Louisiana is also recovering from hurricane issues, oil spill issues, seafood and hospitality issues connected to the oil spill – it seems to continue to build. What tools can we utilize to help families balance the anxiety, depression, frustration and other emotions without the addition of child abuse and neglect to the family dynamics? This session was sponsored by the National Resource Center on Permanency and Family Connections and presented by April Naturale, Ph.D.  Click here to view her presentation PowerPoint.

Chris Ramsey and Greg Guthrie

Chris Ramsey is the Program Coordinator and Greg Guthrie is the Director for CASA of Northeast Louisiana. Their presentation focused on 5 skills for coaching volunteers to be great advocates for abused and neglected children. These five skills will greatly increase your capacity and ability to provide guidance and supervision to empower more exceptional advocates.  Click here to view their presentation.

Cynthia Chauvin and Wendy Magee

The Advanced Court Report Writing Clinic was tailored to meet the needs of CASA Advocates in their quest to create cogent and concise reports to the court based on factual information. This session was presented by Cynthia Chauvin and Wendy Magee with the CASA Jefferson Program of the Jefferson Parish Juvenile Courts. Click here to view their presentation.

April Naturale, Ph.D.

The work and responsibility of providing safety for children who have been victims of abuse can take a toll on the workers who have not taken time to care for themselves. Fatigue and burnout are symptoms – but you can prevent this. This practical session was presented by April Naturale, Ph.D. and sponsored by the National Resource Center on Permancency and Family Connections. Click here to view her presentation.

Deborah Whitley, Ph.D., MPH

Joining us from the National Center on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren located at Georgia State University, the workshop offered service providers, program administrators, and advocates about the multiple needs of grandparent caregivers, and service delivery approaches to enhance their well-being.  The workshop consists of three parts: Issue Introduction, Program Model Descriptions and Participant Exchange. Click here to view Dr. Whitley's presentation.