When
Divided over two days:
Day 1: Thursday, June 11, 2020
             11 am - 2:30 pm

Day 2: Thursday, June 18, 2020
            11 am - 3:00 pm
(Eastern Time Zone)

Where
Zoom Virtual Conference

Cost
Paid by May 31st - $150
Paid after May 31st - $175
KFC Facilitators- $100
IPV Advocates - $50
 including legal service attorneys and others working for agencies seeking to end domestic violence
Students - $50
Pay it forward opportunity at Registration

Meeting ID and login information will be emailed prior to the conference
​'
​
 Continuing Education Credits:     
  • 5.25 CLE Credits
  • 3.75 Guardian ad litem Credits
  • 6 CE hours Board of Psychology ​(pending)
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.

    Caring Dads Training
    ​Coming Soon

Conference attendees will receive a 10% discount off the training fee

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


​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 on day 1 of the Confernce; Dr. Amy Holtzworth-Monroe and Dr. Amy Applegate, both of Indiana University, are the featured speakers on day 2. .

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 judges 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 exists 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 and also put their children at risk. 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. 

Day 1: Keynote Speaker 
Dr. Katreena Scott is an Associate Professor in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development at the University of Toronto. Professor Scott's Keynote is entitled: The Case for Caring Dads. Dr. Scott is 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.

Day 2: Keynote Speakers
The presenters will review data on intimate partner violence (IPV) and family mediation, including the prevalence of IPV in mediation and IPV dimensions and subtypes. They will review research demonstrating the need for mediators and other professionals to systematically conduct IPV screening and the best methods for IPV screening. Based on available data, they will discuss issues that should consider when deciding if, when, and how to offer mediation to cases reporting IPV.
​
Dr. Amy Holtzworth-Munroe is a Professor of Psychology at Indiana University. She has conducted research on intimate partner violence (IPV) for over 30 years. Her team compared social information processing skills of violent and nonviolent husbands, marital communication behaviors of violent and nonviolent couples, and related issues. Holtzworth-Munroe is a recipient of AFCC’s Stanley Cohen Distinguished Research Award. Professor Holtzworth-Munroe's talk is entitled, IPV and Family Mediation for Separating and Divorcing Parents: What Do We Know and Where Are We Going?​

Professor Amy C. Applegate is a Clinical Professor of Law at the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University. She teaches mediation theory and practice in the clinical law program that she developed at the Maurer School of Law. Through this program, law students provide mediation services to indigent and low-income litigants in disputed custody, parenting-time, and other family law cases. Applegate and colleagues have conducted research on family law issues, focusing on families experiencing parental divorce or separation. Professor Applegate's lecture is entitled, Why Mediators and Other Family Law Practitioners Should Screen for Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), and How to Conduct Effective IPV Screening


Other Sessions
The Conference moderator is Faye Luppi, Esq., Director of the Cumberland County Violence Intervention Partnership. Sessions will include a statistical look at IPV 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 domestic violence intervention public policy and specifically Batterers' Intervention Programs (BIPs). 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.

​The Conference will conclude with a policy and practice conversation with Dr. Scott.
The 2020 Kids First Center Professional Conference is Zoom hosted and Sponsored by:



​Additional funding and support provided our ADVOCATE level sponsor:

Thank you to our 2020 Conference Sponsors

PARTNERS
SUPPORTERS
​
Child Centered Solutions
Town and Country FCU
Steven Young, LSCW
Rioux, Donahue, Chmelecki & Peltier, LLC
Andrucki & King


FRIENDS
 
The Law and Mediation Office of David C. Webb, Esq.
Terri DeCoster, MS • Online Family Mediation and Co-Parent Coaching