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February 28th 2006 • Printer version
PROMOTING CHILDRENS WELL BEING
National conference features New Orleans psychologist now working on post-Katrina
child mental health
The new Oregon Child Advocacy Projects first national conference will
be held at the University of Oregon School of Law, 1515 Agate Street,
Eugene on Friday, March 24 and Saturday, March 25, 2006.
"Protecting Childrens Need for Nurturance" features child
 psychologist
Joy Osofsky, a professor at Louisiana State University Health Sciences
Center and the president
of Zero to Three, a national resource for
parents and professionals who are concerned about the healthy
development of young children.
Osofsky has been involved around the clock in one of the most dramatic
recent examples of childrens need for nurturance. She has been
working on the assessment and follow-up treatment of New
Orleans children displaced by Hurricane Katrina, who are at significant
risk of disaster-related mental illness. In a recent Times Picayune
article, she said, We know that children are resilient and will be
most resilient in a nurturing, consistent environment with parents who
are emotionally available to them.
On Saturday, she will deliver the luncheon keynote, Healing the Child in Juvenile
Court: Using an Infant Mental Health Approach.
In addition to Osofsky, more than a dozen experts from around the
country will discuss topics such as children with multiple
parents, parenting after the parents split up, parenting the child
with special health care needs, comprehensive child welfare system
reform, and noncustodial parents in juvenile court. Oregon experts will
provide commentary linking the presentations to Oregon practice and law.
The conference is free and open to the public. For CLE credits and cost, contact
Leslie Harris, the director of the Child Advocacy Project.
Conference registration
Can't find what you need? INFO: (541) 346-3835
ABOUT THE OREGON CHILD ADVOCACY PROJECT
The conference was made possible by Duncan Campbell 73. Last
year, he gave a generous gift to the law school to teach law students
child advocacy skills and to make systemic legal changes that promote
childrens well being.
Family law professor Leslie Harris directs the new program. She said, The
commitment of a nurturing adult is so important to a childs growth
into competent, happy adulthood. Unfortunately laws and policies dont
always work to preserve such relationships. Duncans gift enables us to
involve law students in reform efforts that support children and help
the next generation of childrens lawyers become effective advocates.
The project funds two student fellows each year. The 2005-6 Campbell Fellows
are
Molly Allen 06 and Tehan Wittemyer 06.
Allen spent the past two summers working with and advocating for abused
and neglected children at Juvenile Rights Project, Inc. in Portland,
Oregon. She is also a 2005 Henry Bergstrom Child Welfare Law Fellow.
Wittemyer volunteered in New York City public schools while she was
attending Columbia College. She later joined Teach for America and
taught for five years in struggling Washington DC public schools.
Wittemyer was a Wayne Morse Fellow from 2003-5.
Oregon Child Advocacy Project
-Eliza Schmidkunz
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