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BUFFALO, N.Y. - Professionals in the legal and social services communities can play a key role in helping to nurture positive connections between family members when dealing with relationships between children and their parents during times of crisis.
An upcoming workshop, entitled “When Children Reject a Parent: Strategies for Professionals” will help these professionals develop a planned response to maintain the integrity of families in crisis. The event will be held Friday, May 7 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at Shanghai Red’s, 2 Templeton Terrace, Buffalo.
The workshop will provide best practice approaches to the legal profession, courts, social workers and others who work with high conflict/multi-problem families where a child is refusing access with a parent because of issues of anger or access conflicts after separation or divorce, alienation, trauma, or other conditions that may prevent a child from having a safe relationship with their non-custodial parent.
“Children of 'warring' separated or divorced parents may reject a parent as a way to escape a seemingly impossible situation,” said Kathy Marsh, Program Coordinator of Catholic Charities Court Related Services. “When these families enter the family court system, they require an intensive and coordinated approach to intervene effectively.”
The morning keynote lecture will feature cutting edge research on this topic presented by Claire Crooks, Ph.D., Faculty of Health Sciences from the University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario.
An afternoon panel entitled “How Can Courts and Professionals Intervene?” will be moderated by Andrew Shepard, Esq., Director of the Center for Children, Families and the Law at Hofstra Law School. Panelists will include Barbara Rittner, Ph.D., LCSW, UB Graduate School of Social Work; Frank Alabiso Ph.D., Suburban Psychiatric Associates; Julie Kramer, LCSW, Catholic Charities of Buffalo; and Kristin Arcuri, Esq., Watson, Bennett Law Firm.
“This conference is a wonderful example of cross-disciplinary training,” said Hon. Janice M. Rosa, New York State Supreme Court Justice. “From the court to the bar association to social services organizations and mental health practitioners, the collaboration brings a cutting edge discussion with international experts right into our community. The families we serve will benefit by what we will all learn for many years to come. It is our hope that the children and families will find ways to repair and heal.”
The workshop is co-sponsored by the New York State Bar Association, Erie County Family and Supreme Courts, Catholic Charities of Buffalo, Child and Family Services Center for Resolution and Justice and University at Buffalo School of Social Work office of Continuing Education.
For more information or to register, call Noreen Flynn at (716) 845-9340 or go to www.nycourts.gov.
Catholic Charities is the most comprehensive human service provider in Western New York, reaching all eight counties with 61 locations. Founded in 1923, Catholic Charities also provides, without regard to religious affiliation, comprehensive counseling services for children and families, anti-domestic violence programming and emergency services, among other social and mental health services. For more information, go to www.ccwny.org.
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