Conferences

The Innovative Methods in Child Maltreatment Research conference will be offered in-person for 2021!  Internationally renowned speakers will present pragmatic solutions to the biggest challenges in our field by reviewing the latest in innovative methods for child maltreatment over two full days at the Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel.  Presentations will be geared toward a diverse audience, including researchers, practitioners, and caseworkers, to facilitate the fastest uptake of these innovative methods.  Continuing Education Units (CEUs), as well as food and refreshments, will be available to those attending in-person.  A virtual attendance option will also be provided for those who are unable or unwilling to attend the conference in-person.

The Future of Foster Care conference will focus on identifying and addressing the barriers to meaningful change and innovative policy and practice solutions to the foster care system’s most pressing challenges. Leaders from government, academia, and the non-profit sector will meet for a two day event during which speakers will elucidate key challenges and detail solutions that are currently being tested in real-world settings.

Over the past decade, the landscape for using data to inform child welfare system efforts has seen tremendous growth. Technological innovations have allowed for the accumulation and centralization of large datasets critical to identifying risks of child maltreatment and its negative consequences and to better target community and system response to these challenges. How can these data be leveraged to promote more effectives efforts to detect, prevent, and respond to child maltreatment? The purpose of this conference is to showcase emerging and innovative approaches in the acquisition and use of administrative data to inform the societal and governmental response to child maltreatment. This conference will highlight the use of multi-system data (or Integrative Data Systems) to conduct predictive analytics, risk monitoring, or policy and program-focused research and evaluation to inform child welfare system solutions.

An often under-recognized aspect of the United State Military is its leadership efforts to enhance child and family well-being. Indeed, the military supports a large portfolio of programs and practices to enhance overall family health and resilience.  For instance, the military’s child development centers have been widely regarded as some of the highest quality centers in the world. In addition, the military has a large system of family advocacy efforts, including family support, new parent education, resiliency and readiness, and sexual assault prevention.

More than ever before, schools and teachers are called upon to identify and respond to the unique challenges of childhood trauma. The National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) estimates that one out of every four students in U.S. schools has been exposed to a traumatic event that can affect learning and/or behavior. In particular, children who experience the trauma of maltreatment often have difficulties inside and outside of the classroom. These challenges can negatively affect educational well-being and often persist over the long-term, creating unnecessary barriers to learning and independence.

Novel research in the science of stress biology has opened exciting new avenues for understanding how stress ‘gets under the skin’ providing real opportunities for translation. The fields of endocrinology/immunology, neuroscience and genomics are, independently and together, advancing knowledge that will change the way we think about how early-life stressors such as how child maltreatment and other forms of traumatic experiences become biologically embedded and can impact subsequent health, development and well-being.

This year’s conference featured presentations by experts from around the country, including Sherry Hamby, Laura Ann McCloskey, Judith Cohen, and John Lutzker and a host of internationally known discussants. Focusing on family dynamics, speakers addressed four topics: family processes underlying child maltreatment, intergenerational transmission of maltreatment, evidence-based interventions with maltreated children and their families, and future directions in child maltreatment prevention.

About 260 child advocates from around Pennsylvania gathered at The Penn Stater Conference Center Hotel on the University Park campus on September 25 to promote the expansion of multidisciplinary investigative teams and child advocacy centers. Penn State's Second Annual Conference on Child Protection and Well-Being aimed to provide information and share expertise in developing these teams and centers specifically in counties that do not have these resources.

The Child Sexual Abuse Conference: Traumatic Impact, Prevention, and Intervention brings together an impressive lineup of nationally recognized experts who are gifted in translating the results of research into the language of the layperson. Featured speakers include Elizabeth Smart and Sugar Ray Leonard, whose testimonies will address abuse, recovery, and resiliency.  The goals of the conference are to raise awareness, educate, energize, and empower all of us to move forward to better protect children.