Child Welfare League of America

Morning Super Session Panels

8:30 - NOON
Instead of two more sets of workshops, this year our member advisory committees have put together Super Session Panels on topics felt to be most relevant to today's child welfare practitioners. Time for question and answer sessions will be incorporated into each session. Choose the one for which you have the most passion!

S1 Reconciliation as a Pathway to Address Disproportionality and Improve Outcomes for Children

With disproportionate numbers of Native and African American children in our systems, we have no choice but to look for different ways of doing this work. This super session examines and reconciles the values underlying our practices regarding child welfare interventions and services for Native children and families. And the content has application to other peoples and cultures affected by our programs and services. Presenters share the principles and steps that lead to reconciliation, and engage participants in working toward individual and collective action to reduce disproportionality and to improve outcomes for children of color.
Presenters: Terry Cross, Executive Director, National Indian Child Welfare Association, Portland, OR; John George, Senior Consultant, Indian Child Welfare Initiatives, CWLA, Bellingham, WA; and other reconciliation partners, tribal leaders, and national leaders TBA

S2 Early Childhood Mental Health

The growing number of young children with mental health issues and concerns continues to be an important area of focus. This session presents an overview of the latest research on brain development and the effects of trauma, and highlights effective tools for prevention and early intervention. Participants are provided information on the scope of relevant issues as well as effective practices for meeting the needs of this population of children. Time is built into the session to discuss implications for policy and the gaps that still need to be addressed.
Presenters: TBA

S3 Integrating and Linking Residential Services and Community-Based Services and Supports: The Public, Private, and Federal Perspectives

Public agencies and residential providers today are faced with redefining the role of residential care in community systems. This session looks at these efforts and discusses the goal of linking residential- and community-based services and supports, while also addressing the current need to transform and develop a comprehensive, flexible, familydriven and youth-guided array of culturally competent and communitybased services and supports.
Presenters: TBA

S4 Child Welfare Financing: Reforms, Challenges, and the Need to Make the System Work for Children and Families

The debate over child welfare financing will continue with key members of the Senate and House showing an increased interest in the subject. Recent changes in administration policy on Medicaid have affected how states address the needs of children in care; and funding sources like Promoting Safe and Stable Families and the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act are not fully funded. This super session focuses on the needs of children, including their health needs, and discusses how the child welfare system is funded. Panel presentations include a review of funding and a discussion of how other programs outside of child welfare address the needs of children. Capitol Hill staff explain how members of Congress will address these issues.
Presenters: John Sciamanna, Co-Director Government Affairs, CWLA, Washington, DC; experts on child welfare health needs and financing, and Congressional staff TBA

S5 Adoption and Foster Care Session

This Super Session focuses on international and rural foster care adoption; other adoption issues will be discussed.

Reaching Excellence in Serving Migrating Children
This session focuses on delivering culturally competent child welfare services, such as developing local support systems, recruiting ethnically similar foster families, addressing immigration status, and other innovative practices. Participants discuss case examples that illustrate common issues and effective responses. Technical assistance materials are available, including Enhancing Child Care for Refugee Self- Sufficiency: A Training Resource and Toolkit, a new publication focusing on serving newcomer youth.
Presenters: Julianne Duncan, Associate Director for Children's Services, Migration and Refugee Services, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops; and Lyn Morland, Senior Program Officer, Bridging Refugee Youth and Children's Services, Migration and Refugee Services, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Washington, DC

Rural Adoption Discussion
Participants in the Rural Adoption Grants issued by the Children's Bureau lead a discussion about the early findings of the 10 grants in the project, focusing on their similarities across the nation.
Presenters: Beverly Gmerek, Project Director, Rural Adoption Cooperative, Aurora, CO; Susan Quash-Mah, Project Director, Recruiting Rural Parents for Indian Children, Eugene, OR; Cheryl Tarantino, Northeast Ohio Adoption Services, Statesboro, OH; and Cindy Knul, Children's Home Society of North Carolina, Greensboro, NC

Intercountry Home Studies for Foster and Adopted Children
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) regulates and monitors intercountry adoption home studies. Policymakers lead a discussion of best practices and perceived drawbacks of the current USCIS approach. The discussion also focuses on the impending intercountry Adoption Act regulations and how the home studies may or may not change in light of the requirements of the law and the underlying Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions.
Presenters: Ann Palmer, Chief of International Operations, and Karen Eckert, Adjudications Officer, International Operations Division; Leah Torino, Adjudications Officer, and Lisa Lopez, Domestic/Field Operations Division, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Washington, DC


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