Annual Conference

Faculty Speakers/Workshops

Plenary Speaker: Peter Jaffe

"Understanding The Impact of Exposure to Domestic Violence on Children: Challenges for the Justice System & Community Partners"

Although society recognizes the impact of physical and sexual abuse on children, we often overlook the impact of living with domestic violence on child and adolescent development. The presentation will focus on better understanding this impact and the links to emotional and behavioral adjustment problems in children and adolescents. These issues are often ignored or minimized in parenting plans after separation in domestic violence circumstances. The implications for supervised visitation centers and their partners will be presented in terms of awareness, prevention and early intervention programs as well as enhanced collaboration.

Peter Jaffe, is a Professor in the Faculty of Education and the Academic Director of the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women at the University of Western Ontario (London ON Canada). He is the Director Emeritus for the Centre for Children & Families in the Justice System, a children's mental health centre specializing in issues which bring children and families before the court.. Dr. Jaffe's extensive publications include 10 books and over 80 articles on the effects of violence and abuse in the lives of children and families. He is involved in workshops on domestic violence and child abuse for professionals in the health, social service and the justice sectors across North America. He has been a member of the Domestic Violence death Review Committee with Ontario's Chief Coroner since 2002. He was honored to be named an Officer in the Order of Canada in July 2009.

Scheduled Workshops

Using Supervised Visitation to Promote Family Economic Self-Sufficiency

Karen Oehme, J.D., Florida State University

This workshop will describe the lessons of a federally-funded pilot project that used two Florida supervised visitation programs to improve financial outcomes for low-income families.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.5.5, Setting Fees

Note: Applicable SVN training standards are suggested for each workshop, but individual SVN members are responsible for determining how they meet the SVN training requirements

Children Have Rights Too - Short Videos by Young People on Separation Issues & How services are delivered to them.

Gillian Mason-Johnson, Australia

Workshop will include the presentation of short videos made by young people about their experience of navigating through the mazes involved with a family breakdown. It will show how effective the system, their parents and professionals were in listening to their needs, views and wishes. There will be a group discussion on how we, as professionals, can be proactive in putting the needs of young people we service forward, sometimes in spite of the competing needs of the adult stakeholders.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.8, Grief and Loss associated with parental separation and removal from the home due to child abuse and neglect

Neutrality in Supervised Visitation - What is it? What isn't it? How do you do it?

Judy Newman, Ministry of the Attorney General, Ontario

Neutrality is one of the standards of SVN. There are many misconceptions about what neutrality is and how it is used in the context of supervised visitation. This workshop will provide an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the Neutrality standard and the concept in general through discussion and engaging activities. Providers should come away from this workshop with some tools for implementing the standard in their practice.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.5, Professional Boundaries, conflict of interest, confidentiality, and maintaining neutrality

Increasing Parenting Satisfaction: Parent Education in Action

Brenda Tully, LCSW, New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Xuan Tran-Walsh, LMSW, New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

This experiential workshop focuses on how the integration of parent education programs helps to further support coaching within supervised visitation. Identifying common topics taught in parent education programs, this workshop will give the participant opportunities to practice engagement strategies during supervised visits that are supportive of increased parenting skills and parenting satisfaction.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.15, Parenting Skills

When Women Use Violence in Cases of Domestic Violence

Melissa Scaia, Executive Director, Advocates for Family Peace, Grand Rapids, MN Laura Connelly, Program Director, Advocates for Family Peace, Grand Rapids, MN

Since the implementation of mandatory arrest policies there has been an increase in the arrest of women in cases of domestic violence. Are the women who are being arrested batterers, resisting battering, or neither? This session will explore the answers to that question. To be effective, interventions for women who use violence must address the contextual factors of women's lives. This workshop will increase your understanding of women's use of violence in intimate relationships and the most effective interventions in these cases in supervised visitation.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.10, Family Violence, including domestic violence and the effects of domestic violence on children

Engaging the Hesitant Child; Therapeutic Interventions at Different Developmental Stages

Jesse Kauffmann, MSW, Ocean Township,NJ Department of Human Services

Jennifer Yorks, MSW, Ocean Township, NJ Department of Human Services

The session will focus on the orientation process for custodial and non-custodial parents, Issues pertaining to how to approach children at the initial orientation, and ways to engage children that are refusing to enter the visitations. These techniques will be broken down by developmental ages.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.6 Basic Stages of Child Development

Supervised Visitation for Children in Foster Care: Utilizing a Systemic Lens to Strengthen Connections and Move Towards Permanence

Kathy Lotsos, LCSW, New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Brenda Tully, LCSW, New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

Children in foster care are managing multiple traumas, including the abuse or neglect which led to their placement in the first place, as well as the trauma of the separation from their primary attachment figures. The role of the supervised visitation provider is critical in mitigating the effects of these traumas. Utilizing an attachment lens, this workshop will highlight the unique aspects of providing supervised visitation to the child welfare community and how these cases can substantially differ from custody cases. Presenters will illustrate how providers can navigate their role of maintaining empathic neutrality with the often precarious role of providing necessary information to the system making critical decisions about children's permanence.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.11, Child Abuse and Neglect, and 12.3.8, Grief and Loss associated with parental separation and removal from the home due to child abuse and neglect

Domestic Violence Cases in Supervised Visitation: A data analysis from five programs

Karen Oehme, J.D., Florida State University

Over 100 domestic violence injunctions in which judges ordered families to use a local supervised visitation program were analyzed by the Florida Clearinghouse on Supervised Visitation. Five SV programs separately tracked these cases to determine service patterns. The outcomes were surprising and informative. This workshop will address the methods and conclusions of the research. This session is important because of researchers' calls for more outcome data on the usage of supervised visitation.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.10, Family Violence, including domestic violence and the effects of domestic violence on children

Who Are We Protecting in Famly Visitation Centers?: A Closer Look

Blanche Creech, MS, Program Director, People's Place II, Inc. Delaware

Traditionally, Supervised Visitation Centers have incorporated policies and procedures that help to ensure safety for the custodial parent and their children. Recent trends have resulted in survivors of domestic violence utilizing visitation centers as the visiting parent rather than the custodial parent; thus increasing safety risks for the survivor and protecting the batterer. This workshop will explore effects on the families and implications for programmatic change.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.10, Family Violence, including domestic violence and the effects of domestic violence on children

Witness Prep 101 - So You Got the Witness Subpoena, What Next?

Anaicka Ortiz, J.D., Executive Director Angel House, Katy, Texas

This program is designed to help prepare for giving testimony. Testifying to fact and observations, not opinion may be harder than it sounds, especially when being urged to give an opinion by both the attorneys and the court. A common fears in giving testimony is dealing with an aggressive attorney or having testimony twisted. The purpose of this program will be to help prepare for various witness situations, and will include discussions of actual transcripts or video testimony and role play demonstrations. We will also discuss the difference in testifying in court and giving a deposition, basic courtroom procedures and objections, and common pitfalls. Participants will receive a "cheat sheet" to take home.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.5.12, Testifying in Court

Measuring Client Satisfaction, Cultural Competence and Client Safety at Your Supervised Visitation Program

Daniel Saunders, PHD, University of Michigan

This workshop will familiarize attendees with a set of brief measures used in a national evaluation of supervised visitation programs. These measures covered client satisfaction, cultural competency, safety between visits, violence history, abuse incidents at the program, the impact of community collaboration, and an inventory of policies and safety mechanisms. The measures can be used to provide feedback for program evaluation and planning. The utility of these measures in a demonstration initiative will be described, in particular the way in which evaluation results led to program innovations to improve the safety of all family members.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.3, Safety for All Participants

Supervised Visitation in Private Practice: Issues and Challenges

Bettina Lozzi-Toscano, PhD., LMHC Doral, FL

This 90 minute workshop will introduce elements of providing supervised and therapeutic timesharing for professionals in private practice as well as discuss areas of focus regarding set up, communication to the Courts, reporting, safety and policy.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.5.11, Reporting to the Court

Burn-out! Strategies to Avoid Staff Burn-out and Build Resiliency

Kathy Lotsos, LCSW, New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
Brenda Tully, LCSW, New York Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children

Supervision is a much hailed tool in the operation of social service agencies, often falling by the wayside or becoming a means for ensuring compliance. While lack of supervision and support often leads to staff and volunteer burn-out and attrition. This workshop revisits supervision in supervised visitation settings and offers a variety of perspectives related to its delivery to program staff and volunteers. Additionally, this workshop integrates the concepts of how secondary stress builds and impacts those providing direct services to our clients, as well as organizational and supervisory strategies for mitigating that stress in order to reduce burn-out and attrition.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.5.10, Training and Supervising staff

Child Orientations - Why and How to Develop Your Own

Valya Roberts , Executive Director, Dalhousie Place, Ontario Canada

A 90 minute interactive workshop that will use various learning styles including; power point, case studies and role plays to explain why a children's orientation should be part of a regular practice in a Supervised Visitation Centre.The workshop will use materials from current Best Practices and Standards used by providers domestically and internationally. Studies have shown that children need to understand why they are coming to supervised visitation and children who had an opportunity to discuss their concerns arrived with less anxiety than those who did not. Upon completion of the workshop providers will have the tools necessary to develop their own child orientation package.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.5.2, Conducting Intake and orientation

Parenting Apart

Robin Bowen, Executive Director, California Parenting Institute

Parents face special challenges when they grapple with separation, divorce and creating blended families. Anxiety and depression are normal responses to a separation, and especially when compounded with the requirement of supervised visitation, can lead to challenging behaviors that get in the way of the parent maintaining a positive relationship with their children. CPI has developed a program that addresses the needs of parents to work together cooperatively and also that gives children a chance to identify and communicate their own feelings and improve coping skills to help them adjust to changes in the family.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.7, Effects of separation and divorce on children and families

Cultural Diversity & Supervised Access

Suzanne Mardon , Director, Supervised Access, Social Enterprise for Canada

This workshop will focus on practical ways to consider cultural diversity within your practice of providing service. Discussions will center around why culture matters, consideration of cultural diversity within your team, consideration for creating an inclusive environment for clients, considerations for practice and a cultural lens model for a practical framework.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.9, Cultural Sensitivity and diversity

Effects of Domestic Violence and Early Trauma on Brain Development: Implications for Safe Visitation

Jean Dunbar ,Director of Family Violence Prevention, YWCA of Calgary

Current research describes the negative impact of childhood trauma on the physical, behavioural, cognitive, social, and emotonal functioning of children (Perry & Pollard, 1998; Anda et al., 2006). We now know that children exposed to violence have increased neuropsychiatric problems (e.g. PTSD, depression, dissociation, and conduct disorders). Many of these children also have difficulty with school and criminal involvement,drug and alcohol use and other antisocial behaviours.The impact of early trauma is so profound because it occurs during those critical periods when the brain is most rapidly developing and organizing. This workshop will describe how we have incorporated the research of Bruce Perry on the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT), to address early childhood trauma as it relates to supervised visitation. Interactive assessment tools and evidence-based practices will also be shared.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.10, Family Violence, including domestic violence and the effects of domestic violence on children

Examining our Intervention Practices

Melissa Scaia, Executive Director, Advocates for Family Peace, Grand Rapids, MN Laura Connelly, Program Director, Advocates for Family Peace, Grand Rapids, MN

Supervised visitation center staff often "intervene" during a supervised visit. This will be a highly interactive workshop in which the audience will "intervene" during a role-play of a supervised visit. Participants will be challenged to examine their own belief systems and those of their agency when they "intervene" during a supervised visit.

This workshop may possibly be used to meet SVN Training Standard 12.3.17, How and when to Intervene during visits or exchanges to maintain safety of all participants