When
​Thursday, May 14, 2020
8:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Where
Casco Bay Room
Harraseeket Inn


Paid by April 30 - $175
Paid after April 30 - $195
IPV Advocates - $90
 including legal service attorneys
Students - $50
​
​(Includes Buffet Lunch)
​
 Continuing Education Credits:     (PENDING)
  • 6 CLE Credits, includes 1 Ethics Credit
  • 6 Guardian ad litem Credits, includes 1 Ethics Credit 
  • 6 CE hours Board of Psychology ​
Suggested Audience:
This is an interdisciplinary conference for attorneys, mediators, guardians ad litem, mental health professionals, social workers, IPV advocates, judicial officers, court administrators, educators, ACE and resilience professionals, public safety professionals and policy makers.
Harraseeket Inn
162 Main Street, Freeport, ME
(207) 865-9377

Directions:
From I-295 North or South, take exit 22.  If coming from North, take right off exit.  If coming from South, take left off exit.  Follow 1/2 mile to stop light; the Harraseeket Inn will be directly in front of you.
​FREE Parking around the back of Inn.

KIDS FIRST CENTER PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCE
​
​Keeping Children Safe in Family Matter Cases:
​Interventions for Fathers Who Abuse

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​Conference Overview
This year's professional conference explores the overlap of the exercise of parental rights and the exercise of abusive power and control. Dr. Katreena Scott of the University of Toronto is the featured keynote speaker.

The use of violence and the exercise of power and control against women and against children are intricately intertwined and these two issues can and should be addressed together. Each day in Maine, Judges and Family Law Magistrates are tasked with crafting parenting plans in family matters when evidence of coercive power and control is present, though often this evidence is very subtle . . subtle to everyone but the survivor. These are the cases where there is no finding of abuse, but abuse in varying degrees exist nonetheless. Abuse that impacts not only mothers, but the children who become pawns to further a mostly unspoken control agenda. The conference examines abusive male behavior in divorce and parental rights cases and what interventions are available not only to lessen the risk to women and children but also to enhance the chances of children having loving relationships with their fathers. The conference is not about the majority of men who do not abuse their partners or put their children at risk; similarly, the conference is not about the minority of women who abuse their partners. The focus of the day is to explore male accountability when children and the court system itself are used as tools of power and leverage against the mothers of their children. 

Keynote Speaker 
Dr. Katreena Scott is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at the University of Toronto. Dr. Scott is also a trained clinical psychologist and has worked with child, adolescent and adult victims and perpetrators of abuse and violence. She is also a researcher,  with specific expertise and interest in exploring ways of reducing violence in family relationships and addressing violence perpetration in men and fathers. Dr. Scott is recognized internationally for her intervention work with abusive fathers and nationally for her research on effective interventions for intimate partner violence. She has authored over 40 articles and book chapters on the development of violent relationships, the efficacy of service to male batterers, the effect of abuse and trauma on children, and on empirically and ethically sound policies for working with abuse perpetrators. The Caring Dads program that she developed (www.caringdads.org) is currently running in many sites across Canada, as well as in the US, UK, Ireland, Wales, Germany and Sweden.

Sessions
The Conference moderator is Faye Luppi, Esq., Director of the Cumberland County Violence Intervention Partnership. Sessions will include a statistical look at IPV in Maine and at fathers who are at risk of abusing their partners and children by Dr. Daniel Puhlman, Associate Professor of Family Studies at the University of Maine/Orono and Director of the Parenting Relationships Research Lab. Rebecca Hobbs, Executive Director of Through These Doors will lecture on Maine's domestic violence intervention public policy and Batterers' Intervention Programs in the state. Karen Frink Wolf, Esq. of the Portland law firm Verrill will lead an interactive session using case studies to explore evidentiary issues and challenges in presenting or defending an IPV parental rights case in family court. Christopher Leddy, Esq. of the South Portland law firm, Ainsworth, Thelin & Raftice will discuss ethical considerations that must be considered by lawyers, guardians ad litem and mental health professionals in the handling of these cases. 

​The Conference will conclude with a policy and practice conversation with Dr. Scott.
 Caring Dads Training
​Coming to the Kids First Center
July 2020
​
More information at the registration table or at 
​
www.caringdads.org

Conference attendees will receive an additional 5% discount toward the training fee 

Thank you to our 2020 Conference Sponsors

ADVOCATE
​​
​​PARTNERS​
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SUPPORTERS
Child Centered Solutions
Shankman & Associates Legal Center
Maine Community Law Center
Town and Country FCU
Law Office of Gregory W. Files, LLC
Peter W. Evans, Attorney at Law
Holmes Legal Group, LLC

​
 
FRIENDS
 
Moncure & Barnicle, Attorneys at Law
The Law and Mediation Office of David C. Webb, Esq.

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