CFCC Conferences

This year’s Urban Child Symposium, “A Holistic Approach to the Urban Child’s Trauma: From the Eyes of the Beholder,” addressed the importance of considering exposure to childhood trauma when developing more effective means to address the problems that urban children and their families face. For more information, or to watch the podcasts of the event, please visit our Urban Child Symposium page.

The 2012 Urban Child Symposium will address the importance of balancing public safety with the unique needs of urban children in the juvenile justice system and will explore how society should address those needs in its approach to juvenile criminal behavior.

CFCC's third Urban Child Symposium addressed the urban child's experience with the child welfare system. Speakers addressed issues of poverty, class, race, and culture and debated the impact of reform efforts made towards the system.

The Families Matter Symposium - an invitation-only meeting of 60 leaders from the legal, judicial, academic, financial, psychological, and mediation fields - was the kick-off event for a three-year American Bar Association, Section of Family Law/CFCC initiative designed to make the family legal process less destructive to families and children.

Remedies for health challenges facing the urban children and their families today.

The dropout crisis that plagues Baltimore City and other urban school districts.

CFCC hosted two roundtable discussions for all stakeholders, including policymakers and advocates, on ideas to solve the school attendance and truancy crisis in Baltimore.

The American Bar Association and CFCC co-sponsored a two-day conference in May 2007. The summit was a follow-up to the 1998 "Summit on Unified Family Courts: Exploring Solutions for Families, Women and Children in Crisis." The 2007 summit brought together over 150 representatives from 27 states, including state appellate court justices, trial judges, academics, bar leaders, attorneys, policymakers, services providers, and court administrators.

Plenary sessions and workshops featured prominent state appellate court justices, trial judges, academics, bar leaders, attorneys, services providers, and court administrators.

The conference covered issues critical to the development of Unified Family Courts:

• Services and accountability.
• Standards and measures to assess Unified Family Courts.
• Need for judicial leadership/training.
• Ways to establish a Unified Family Court.
• Addiction and other non-legal issues.
• Facilitating collaborations with the legal community.
• Self-represented litigants.

The conference showcased Maryland's Family Divisions, including a tour of Baltimore City's Family Division.

Over 150 judges, masters, court staff, and attorneys attended the conference convened to discuss a holistic response to addiction and substance abuse affecting families and children in the justice system.

The Maryland Administrative Office of the Courts, Department of Family Administration, the Open Society Institute-Baltimore, and the American Bar Association's Standing Committee on Substance Abuse co-sponsored the event.