22^nd NCCAN Virtual Conference Agenda

This featured session focuses on concrete strategies for addressing racism and bias in child welfare—both within the workplace and as it affects the children and families we serve.

• Alan-Michael S. Graves, Senior Director of Teaching and Capacity Building, Good+Foundation
• Kimm Campbell, Assistant County Administrator, Broward County
• Anthony Queen, Member, Parent Advisory Council, FRIENDS National Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention
• Shauna Rienks, Evaluation Co-Principal Investigator, National Child Welfare Workforce Institute

Washington, D.C., is investing in Family Success Centers in targeted neighborhoods to address disproportionality and how poverty and stress contribute to child welfare involvement. The 10 new Families First Success Centers are in neighborhoods carefully targeted based on analysis of not only child welfare data, but also neighborhood data on social determinants of health. This place-based approach seeks to empower communities by tailoring services to community-specific needs; facilitate access to government and community services—making it easier for families to get what they need to thrive; and focus upstream, preventing crises through early engagement.

• Kiara Streater, Ward 7 Program Specialist, D.C. Child and Family Services Agency
• Taylor German, Management Analyst, Office of Community Partnerships, D.C. Child and Family Services Agency
• Christian Gineste, Data Scientist, D.C. Child and Family Services Agency
• Andrew Russo, Co-Founder and Director, National Family Support Network

This session invites practitioners to step back from their daily interactions with families to consider how their thoughts, beliefs, and language about parents with substance use disorders (SUDs) influence how they interact with families. Stigma about SUDs affects the attitudes of health care professionals, treatment providers, and the person with an SUD, which creates barriers and disparities to access and engagement in treatment. This session will provide strategies for child welfare agencies and community providers to identify and disrupt stigma in interactions, expectations, language, and policies affecting families.

• Dawnia Flonnoy, Senior Program Associate, National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
• Tessa Richter, Senior Program Associate, National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
• Elizabeth Bullock, Program Associate, National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
• Annette Morrison, Program Associate, National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare
• Dakota Roundtree-Swain, Young Adult Consultant, Capacity Building Center for States

Too often parent advisory groups are relegated to marginal roles in systems change. This session examines how state partners are investing in true partnerships that put families in the driver's seat of redesigning programs and supports. Learn from two states’ perspectives about how to structure, support, and nurture deep parent partnerships. Hear from parent leaders about their experiences, how to overcome fear on both parent and agency sides, and how to build a partnership structure that promotes growth.

• Carolyn Abdullah, Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator, FRIENDS National Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention
• Kara Allen-Eckard, Program Manager, North Carolina State University Center for Family and Community Engagement
• Teka Dempson, North Carolina Child Welfare Family Advisory Council Member
• Natalie Towns, Prevention and Community Support Section Director, Georgia Division of Family and Children Services
• S. Colleen Puckett, Parent Advisory Council Member, Georgia Division of Family and Children Services
• Kristine Gunningham, Young Adult Consultant and Coach, Capacity Building Center for States

This session will focus on providing a historical and cultural context for American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) historical trauma and the contemporary influences of that history on the well-being of AIAN children, youth, families, and communities. This session also will provide strategies for supporting AIAN families impacted by trauma.

• Nona Main, Training and Technical Assistance Specialist, National Native Children's Trauma Center
• Laura Guay, Training and Technical Assistance Manager, National Native Children's Trauma Center
• Lauren Kelso, Training and Technical Assistance Specialist, National Native Children's Trauma Center

Disproportionality in child welfare systems is impacted not just by what happens to families in child welfare systems, but also by what happens to them before they reach child welfare. Many of the families served are touched by multiple child- and family-serving systems, many of which face their own challenges with race and bias. Come hear from speakers working collectively to build race equity across child- and family-serving organizations within their own states or localities.

• Sue Williams, Chief Executive Officer, South Carolina Children's Trust Fund
• Aditi Srivastav Bussells, Director of Research, South Carolina Children's Trust Fund
• Judge Aurora Martinez Jones, Associate Judge, Travis County, Texas
• Jasmine A. Snell, Young Adult Consultant, Capacity Building Center for States
• Dianne Kelly, Children and Families Program Specialist, Children's Bureau Region 4, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services