Community Involvement
The XVIII ISPCAN International Congress on Child Abuse & Neglect took place September 26-29, 2010. The ISPCAN Congress provided the opportunity for many different types of professionals from all across the world to meet, share and discuss their concerns and ideas regarding the challenges of preventing child abuse and neglect. 70 countries were represented by over 700 attendees. The sub-themes of this year’s Congress were: cultural perspectives in strengthening families and protecting children, identifying, treating and preventing family and sexual violence, impact of armed conflict on families and children, family strengthening, and youth empowerment in the prevention of generational child abuse and neglect.
Joe Pickard was chosen to present a workshop at the ISPCAN Congress entitled "Forensic Child Abuse Experts; Effective Reports & Testimony." His interactive presentation on this topic lasted one hour and thirty minutes. He prepared a PowerPoint presentation and created a DVD of examples for his presentation. This interactive presentation served to hone the forensic skills of every discipline called upon to render evidence to the legal system. The legal system designates those with special knowledge, training or skill as "experts." Unfortunately for such experts, the legal system does not actively train such experts before involving them in the legal process. The specific skills that were discussed in his presentation were: effective forensic report writing and the ability to provide effective and professional expert witness testimony in court.
Kerry Simpson was chosen to present a paper review at the ISPCAN Congress that focused on the impacts of war/catastrophic events on orphans primarily in third world countries. The main learning objectives are to recognize and identify definitions of "orphan," recognize and identify factors to weigh in considering whether permanent or temporary removal of a child/children from their native country and placement in an asylum country may be necessary for the child’s safety due to war/catastrophic event, and recognize legal standards necessary in order to gain asylum/refugee status. She focused her presentation using the earthquake in Haiti as an example.