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CFCC's Ninth Annual Urban Child Symposium, Addiction and the Urban Child (April 6, 2017)
Substance use disorders affect 21.5 million American adults, with nearly 8 million of these individuals also struggling with a mental health disorder. Over 60 percent of teens report that drugs are sold, used, or kept at their schools. Many families are involved in the justice system for reasons directly and indirectly related to substance use disorders. This symposium brings together experts at the front lines of this critical issue to examine the science or\f addiction, as the connection between substance use disorders and the legal, social, and economic problems faced by urban families. For more detail, visit the event page.
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CFCC's Eighth Annual Urban Child Symposium, The Education of the Urban Child (April 7, 2016)
There are few, if any, aspects of a community's well-being more important than the quality of its public education. Education has an impact on every aspect of life: from employment rates to crime rates, from the number of houses bought to the number of teen pregnancies. We know that to have healthy and productive communities, education must be our first priority, particularly in low-income, urban neighborhoods. This symposium examines some of the most difficult challenges facing Baltimore and other large urban areas as they confront troubled schools and the children and families they serve. For more detail, visit the event page .
October 23, 2015 - Family Transitions: Issues, Solution and Policies Conference
The University of Baltimore School of Law Sayra and Neil Meyerhoff Center for Families, Children, and the Courts (CFCC) and the National Family Resiliency Center (NFRC) convened the “Family Transitions: Issues, Solutions, and Policies Conference” at the University of Baltimore School of Law. The conference was designed to launch a statewide conversation about the ways in which courts, policymakers, and service providers can better serve separating and divorcing families in transition. The morning keynote speaker, Dr. Robert Emery (Professor of Psychology and Director of the Center for Children, Families, and the Law at the University of Virginia), discussed how to address the impact of divorce and separation on children. The afternoon keynote speaker, Maryland State Delegate Kathleen Dumais (Vice Chair of the Maryland House of Delegates Judiciary Committee), spoke about new legislative recommendations for custody decision-making. Children, youth, and parents brought the issues faced by families in transition to life through their own personal stories. Multidisciplinary panels including policymakers, practitioners, judges, and attorneys explored solutions and policies essential for a holistic, therapeutic approach to meeting the needs of families in transition. For more about this conference, read a summary of the event on our blog. View the event video.
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Maryland's Family Justice System: a Symposium
On June 1, 2015, CFCC collaborated with the Maryland Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) to present Maryland's Family Justice System: a Symposium. The symposium featured keynote remarks by Maryland Chief Judge Mary Ellen Barbera, former Chief Judge Robert Bell, and Frank Kros, Executive Vice President of Children's Guild of Baltimore City. Panelists focused on the successes and challenges of Maryland's family justice system since the establishment of the five Family Divisions in 1998. Symposium participants laid the groundwork to move forward to address critical issues affecting families and children in family court. To view the symposium video, click here. To view the PowerPoint presented by keynote speaker Frank Kros, click here.
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CFCC's Seventh Annual Urban Child Symposium, Violence and the Urban Child: What Can We Do? (2015)
The 2015 Urban Child Symposium focused on breaking the pattern of traumatized youth committing crime as adults. Keynote speakers were Nicholas Turner, President and Director, Vera Institute for Justice, and Vincent Schiraldi, Senior Advisor, Mayor's Office of Criminal Justice, New York City. For more information, or to watch the podcasts of the event, please visit our Urban Child Symposium page.
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CFCC's Sixth Annual Urban Child Symposium, Social Media and the Urban Child: The Effects of the Digital Age (2014)
The 2014 Urban Child Symposium addressed the problems social media pose for urban children and the effects of social media on individuals, families and communities. Keynote speaker was Melody Barnes, Vice Provost for Global Student Leadership Initiatives and Senior Fellow, Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, New York University; Chair, Forum for Community Solutions, Aspen Institute; and Assistant to the President and Director, White House Domestic Policy Council 2009-2012. For more information, or to watch the podcasts of the event, please visit our Urban Child Symposium page.
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CFCC's Fifth Annual Urban Child Symposium, A Holistic Approach to the Urban Child's Trauma: From the Eyes of the Beholder (2013)
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.
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CFCC's Fourth Annual Urban Child Symposium, The Beginning or the End? The Urban Child's Experience in the Juvenile Justice System (2012)
The 2012 Urban Child Symposium addressed the importance of balancing public safety with the unique needs of urban children in the juvenile justice system and explored how society should address those needs in its approach to juvenile criminal behavior.
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CFCC's Third Annual Urban Child Symposium, The Urban Child in the Child Welfare System: From Fracture to Fix (2011)
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.
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ABA Section of Family Law and Center for Families, Children and the Courts' Families Matter Symposium (2010)
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.
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CFCC's Second Annual Urban Child Symposium, Health and the Urban Child: Diagnosing Problems and Prescribing Solutions (2010)
Remedies for health challenges facing the urban children and their families today. -
CFCC's Inaugural Urban Child Symposium, Solving the Dropout Crisis: Getting the Other Half to Attend and Achieve (2009)
The dropout crisis that plagues Baltimore City and other urban school districts.
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A Comprehensive Approach to Truancy for Baltimore City: A Roundtable Discussion (2007)
CFCC hosted two roundtable discussions for all stakeholders, including policymakers and advocates, on ideas to solve the school attendance and truancy crisis in Baltimore. -
Summit on Unified Family Courts: Serving Children and Families Efficiently, Effectively and Responsibly (2007)
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.
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A Family Disease: The Impact of Addiction and Substance Abuse on Children, Families, Family Courts and Communities (2005)
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.