Symposium Details
Symposium Overview
The annual PA Child Abuse Prevention Symposium, hosted by Pa Family Support Alliance (PFSA), is a unique virtual event that connects professionals, partners, and stakeholders in the family support and child abuse prevention field focusing on best practices for strengthening families and keeping kids safe in Pennsylvania. This conference delivers content and resources that meet the current needs of families while also shining a light on new and emerging trends. Participants attending this symposium will have an opportunity to learn, engage, and network with expert speakers from across the country presenting on innovative topics that intersect with family support and child abuse prevention practices.
The PA Child Abuse Prevention Symposium will be held virtually via Zoom and all participants will have an opportunity to attend each session during the symposium. Presenter handouts will be available for all registered participants. Additionally, all registered participants will be eligible for continuing education credits (CEUs), continuing legal education hours (CLEs), and ACT 48 credits.
Participants attending the symposium live will also have access to the recording of the symposium as part of their registration. An option to purchase the recording-only is available, but eligibility for credits is only available to those attending the live, virtual event.
Session Topics
- Creating Concrete Supports for Families and the Confusion Between Poverty and Neglect
- Introducing the Huntingdon Endangered/At-Risk Youth Response Team (H.E.A.R.T.) Program
- Prevention Made Possible: Collaborative Strategies for Child Abuse Prevention
- Race, Social Class, and Child Abuse: Content, Strength, and Impact of Stereotypes on Medical Decision-Making
- Shifting from Digital Diligence to Digital Wellness
Timeline
- June 17, 2024: Registration Opens
- November 13, 2024: Access to Symposium Recording Made Available
Registration & Pricing
- Live (virtual) Attendance & Recording Access: $125
- Access to Recording-Only: $50
- CBCAP Network Member Discount: 10% discount when using discount code, which can be applied to either registration option
- Continuing Education Credits: All live attendance registrations include CEUs, CLEs, Act 48 credits.
*Please note that live (virtual) attendance is required to be eligible for any of the continuing education credit options. ‘Recording-Only’ registration permits viewing of the recorded sessions but is NOT eligible for any credits.
Symposium Agenda
| 8:30am – 9:00am | Virtual Meeting Room Opens | ALL |
| 9:00am – 10:20am | Creating Concrete Supports for Families and the Confusion Between Poverty and Neglect | Kim Eckel & Clare Anderson |
| 10:20am – 10:30am | BREAK | ALL |
| 10:30am – 11:30am | Introducing the Huntingdon Endangered/At-Risk Youth Response Team (H.E.A.R.T.) Program | Chief Charles T. Streightiff |
| 11:30am – 12:00pm | LUNCH BREAK | ALL |
| 12:00pm – 1:00pm | Prevention Made Possible: Collaborative Strategies for Child Abuse Prevention | Michelle McDyre |
| 1:00pm – 2:00pm | Race and Child Abuse: Content, Strength, and Impact of Stereotypes on Medical Decision-Making | Dr. Cynthia Najdowski |
| 2:00pm – 3:00pm | Shifting from Digital Diligence to Digital Wellness | Justin Donofrio |
Event Session Information
Creating Concrete Supports for Families and the Confusion Between Poverty and Neglect
Time: 9:00am-10:20am
Speakers: Kim Eckel, CEO, Footbridge for Families & Clare Anderson, Senior Policy Fellow, Chapin Hall-University of Chicago
Summary: Concrete supports are essential for families in times of need and also identified as one of the Strengthening Families Protective Factors. This presentation will walk participants through a deep understanding of how concrete supports can positively impact families and provide a bridge to resources and resilience. Additionally, presenters will examine the differences and confusion around poverty and neglect and the role that concrete supports play in each. Finally, presenters will examine these areas from both a local and state level as well as a national perspective.
Introducing the Huntingdon Endangered/At-Risk Youth Response Team (H.E.A.R.T.) Program
Time: 10:30am-11:30am
Speaker: Charles T. Streightiff, Chief of Police, Huntingdon Borough Police Department
Summary: Every child should have the opportunity to experience a safe and healthy childhood free from exposures to illegal substance abuse and influence, child abuse and neglect, and unnecessary trauma. They should also feel supported in areas of trauma-informed care, mental health, and other environmental influences. The mission of the Huntingdon County Endangered and At-Risk Youth Response Team (H.E.A.R.T.) is to create an early warning “handle with care” alert between Law Enforcement, Children and Youth Services, and local school districts to provide timely and valuable information about concerned youth that otherwise would go undetected and unreported.
H.E.A.R.T. works to collaboratively combine the expertise and resources of multiple professionals, agencies, and communities to improve interventions for children and families.
Prevention Made Possible: Collaborative Strategies for Child Abuse Prevention
Time: 12:00pm-1:00pm
Speaker: Michelle McDyre, Director of Prevention Education and Outreach, Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center
Summary: This workshop provides a comprehensive understanding of the multifaceted nature of child abuse, what it takes to prevent these crimes and empower children to speak out against abuse. Learn from Michelle McDyre, Director of Prevention Education and Outreach at Mission Kids, who founded the CAC’s first-ever prevention education department in 2018 and has since led efforts to educate over 48,000 students in the past six years. Participants will learn evidence-based prevention strategies, the vital role of Child Advocacy Centers (CACs) in community response, and the importance of a multidisciplinary approach involving various stakeholders.
Race and Child Abuse: Content, Strength, and Impact of Stereotypes on Medical Decision-Making
Time: 1:00pm-2:00pm
Speaker: Dr. Cynthia Najdowski, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Psychology at University of Albany
Summary: Black and poor children are overrepresented at every stage of the child welfare system, from suspicion of abuse to substantiation. Focusing on stereotypes as a source of bias that leads to these disparities, this workshop will present two studies that examine the content and strength of stereotypes relating race and social class to child abuse as viewed by medical professionals. The first study identified stereotype content by asking doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals to list words associated with the stereotype that either (a) Black or (b) poor children are more likely to be abused by their parents, and responses were organized into construct groups. The second study determined stereotype strength by asking a separate sample of participants to rate how strongly the constructs generated by the first study’s participants related to either the race-abuse or social class-abuse stereotype. Altogether, this program of research documents the existence, content, and strength of stereotypes that link race and social class to child abuse. The findings also help illuminate how race may lead to different outcomes in cases of potential child abuse, while also demonstrating potential pathways through which racial disparities in misdiagnosis of abuse and subsequent miscarriages of justice can be prevented.
Shifting from Digital Diligence to Digital Wellness
Time: 2:00pm-3:00pm
Speaker: Justin Donofrio, Prevention Services Manager, Pa Family Support Alliance
Summary: PFSA’s Family Digital Wellness initiative is built on the foundation of the Digital Diligence framework. This framework provides parents, caregivers, and families a starting point for creating safe and healthy interactions with digital technology. But as more professionals begin working with families around the topic of mental health and digital wellness, we must understand how to go beyond the skills of digital diligence and start focusing on the human side of technology to balance digital wellness. In this presentation, PFSA’s Prevention Services Manager, Justin Donofrio, will walk through the process of tapping into how our behaviors and relationships can positively impact our interactions with digital technology and our family relationships.
PA Child Abuse Symposium Speakers
Kim Eckel is the CEO of Footbridge for Families and founded the organization to fill a much-needed gap in our society’s safety net. Footbridge keeps families together and out of a poverty spiral by providing rapid financial support to short-term financial crises that have no other solution.
Kim has been the Manager of Strategic Initiatives at Allegheny County’s Office of Children, Youth and Families, the state’s Young Child Wellness Coordinator for Project LAUNCH (Linking Actions for Unmet Needs in Children’s Health), and earlier, a Senior Advisor in the Office of Data Analysis, Research and Evaluation at Allegheny County’s Department of Human Services. Kim spent nearly a decade in management consulting at the beginning of her career.
Kim holds a B.A. in Ethics, Politics, and Economics from Yale University, an M.Sc. in Comparative Social Policy from the University of Oxford, and is pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science from Boston College.
Clare Anderson is a Senior Policy Fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. She uses research, policy, and fiscal levers to improve outcomes for children, youth, and families. Anderson engages child welfare agencies, stakeholders, and constituents in large-scale system change. This includes guiding states to implement the Family First Prevention Services Act. Additionally, Anderson is a national thought leader on economic and concrete supports as core to prevention of child welfare involvement, and the development of a family and child well-being system that prioritizes family support and cross-sector partnerships.
Prior to joining Chapin Hall, Anderson was Deputy Commissioner at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF). There, she provided leadership for federal programs including child welfare, runaway and homeless youth, domestic and intimate partner violence, and teen pregnancy prevention. During her tenure at ACYF, Anderson co-led the development and implementation of a national well-being policy agenda. She was among the chief architects of the effort to address trauma, adverse childhood experiences, and toxic stress in children known to child welfare. Anderson spent a decade at the Center for the Study of Social Policy helping states and urban jurisdictions change policies and practices to improve outcomes. Anderson holds a Master of Social Work from the University of Alabama.
Chief Charles T. Streightiff has over 20 years of law enforcement experience and has served as Huntingdon Borough Police Chief since October 2021. Before that he served as an HPD patrol officer, criminal investigator and corporal. He began his law enforcement career with the Hagerstown, Maryland, police department. In addition to the many duties and activities Chief Streightiff leads, he was also the developer of the Huntingdon County Endangered and At Risk Youth Response Team (H.E.A.R.T.), creating an early warning “handle with care” alert between Law Enforcement, Children and Youth Services and local school districts to provide timely and valuable information about concerned youth that otherwise would go undetected and unreported.
Chief Streightiff has been honored by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) as one of the two 2024 recipients of the John A. Zottola Mental Health and Justice Award. He is the first law enforcement officer to receive this award. Additionally, in 2023, Chief Streightiff was the recipient of the Blue Ribbon Champion For Safe Kids Award, the first and only law enforcement officer in the commonwealth to receive the award, which was presented by the Pa Family Support Alliance (PFSA).
Michelle McDyre, a graduate of Penn State University with a degree in Criminal Justice and a minor in Sociology, has dedicated 9 years to Mission Kids Child Advocacy Center in a variety of capacities including direct service as a Case Coordinator and Family Advocate, as the Development and Outreach Manager, and ultimately expanded her impact as the first-ever Director of Prevention Education and Outreach. Michelle is responsible for coordinating and managing child abuse education and prevention efforts, including trainings, speaking engagements, presentations, community events, and social media and online engagement.
Michelle launched the organization’s prevention education department and its “ROAR” program. “ROAR” is a child-based education program that teaches children age 4 through 8 about bodily safety and empowers them to speak out if they ever feel they are in an inappropriate situation. Michelle also oversees the “Safe Touches” Program for 2nd graders, which is in a pilot research phase in coordination with Penn State’s Child Maltreatment Solutions Network, PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency, and researchers from New York University..
Michelle has received several awards and commendations for her work, including, most recently, PA Family Support Alliance’s Blue Ribbon Champion for Safe Kids Award (April 2023), Jefferson University’s first-ever Hope and Healing Award (April 2022) for her outstanding commitment to prevention and awareness and the “MontCo 2021 Millennial Superstar Award.”
Dr. Cynthia Najdowski received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, and her M.A. and Ph.D. in Social & Personality Psychology from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She joined the University at Albany in 2013, where she is now an Associate Professor and Director of the Social-Personality Psychology Doctoral Program.
Dr. Najdowski’s research examines the social psychological causes of miscarriages of justice that affect stigmatized, marginalized, and vulnerable populations. Her studies address how stereotyping and racism generate racial disparities in criminal legal outcomes, the developmental appropriateness of legal responses to adolescent offenders, and social and policy reactions to sexual violence against women. Dr. Najdowski’s interdisciplinary approach generates empirical knowledge on important real-world issues with the dual goals of advancing psychological science and improving equity in law and legal practice.
Dr. Najdowski’s studies have been supported with funding from agencies like the National Science Foundation, the American Psychological Foundation, and the Russell Sage Foundation. Her work has been published in leading journals in her area and she has co-edited two books. Dr. Najdowski has received several nationally competitive awards for her contributions to scholarship as well as her teaching and mentoring.
Justin Donofrio is the Prevention Services Manager at Pa Family Support Alliance (PFSA). In this role, Justin serves as the leader for prevention-related services and programs for the organization as he works alongside several community-based organizations across the state to build a strategic foundation of supports and services throughout Pennsylvania’s communities. Justin is also a certified Digital Wellness Educator and has led the development of PFSA’s Family Digital Wellness initiative.
Justin has more than 10 years of experience working with nonprofits and community-based organizations throughout Pennsylvania. Justin received his Master of Science in Social Work (MSSW) with a specialized concentration in Management, Leadership and Community Practice (MLCP). Justin has also earned a graduate certificate in Nonprofit Management from Temple University and has a comprehensive knowledge of Pennsylvania’s human services resources and supports.
Session Handouts
Session handouts will be available to registered participants during the day of the symposium event via Eventbrite.
Registered participants can access the Eventbrite registration webpage to view and/or download handouts for each presentation session. Access available on November 7, 2024
Virtual Event Attendee Resources
Continuing Education Units / Continuing Legal Education Credits
NOTE: Access to CEU, CLE, and ACT 48 credit request forms will be available after the Event concludes on November 7, 2024 via a follow up email from PFSA.
- Social workers, marriage and family therapists, and professional counselors can earn Continuing Education Units (CEU) at no additional cost.
- Attorneys can earn Continuing Legal Education (CLE) Credits at no additional cost.
- Pa educational professionals (K-12) can receive continuing education under ACT 48 at no additional cost.
Troubleshooting Assistance
If you experience issues accessing any information on this page, or connecting to the scheduled event sessions, please email [email protected], and include your name and contact information, so a staff member can quickly respond with assistance.
Join the CBCAP Network!
Overview: PFSA’s Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) Network is a diverse network of local organizations, providing a wide range of prevention efforts and programs to anyone who may be in a parenting or caregiver role. This includes family centers, child advocacy centers, child welfare agencies, community support agencies, etc. These agencies are located statewide and receive a variety of resources and services from PFSA. Some of the primary benefits of joining PFSA’s CBCAP Network include:
- Resources for parents, caregivers, and families
- Training and development opportunities for staff and volunteers
- Prevention program offerings and implementation assistance
- Support for agency public relations
- 10% discount on materials and event registrations
- Membership benefits for entire agency staff and volunteers
- And so much more!
