Event Information
On Friday, April 28, in observance of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, the Indiana University Northwest School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA), and its community partners, will host the 33rd Annual Forum on Child Abuse and Neglect, one of the state’s largest and longest-running conferences on the topic.
This year’s theme is “Together Again,” a nod to the fact that the annual conference has not been held in-person since 2019.
The conference will take place from 8:30 a.m. until 12:15 p.m. on the IU Northwest campus in the Bergland Auditorium (located in Savannah Center).
Keynote
This year's forum will feature a keynote address by Dr. Stacey Patton, a nationally recognized child advocate whose work focuses on the intersection of race and childhood.
Patton, who was the Forum’s 2012 keynote, returns to continue the dialogue on race and child-rearing issues in her presentation entitled, “Let’s Talk about Race and Corporal Punishment.” Her speaking and training engagements focus on combatting racial disparities in child welfare services and corporal punishment in schools, diversion, and restorative justice programs.
Patton, a research associate professor at Morgan State University, is also an adoptee, child abuse survivor, and former foster child. She is the author of That Mean Old Yesterday – A Memoir; Spare the Kids: Why Whupping Children Won’t Save Black America; and the forthcoming book, Strung Up: The Lynching of Black Children and Teenagers in America, 1880-1968.
Workshops
The forum will include five concurrent workshops, covering a variety of topics:
- How Corporal Punishment Changes the Brain and Body
- Lake County DCS and Juvenile Court Issues: Update
- NWI’s Immigrants: Legal and Social Services Issues
- LGBTQIA+ Issues for Children and Families
- Lake County Framework Project: Planning for Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention
Closing Plenary
The event will conclude with the presentation of Prevent Child Abuse Lake County's annual Cherish the Children Award.
Because seating is limited, early registration is encouraged and can be completed here: https://tinyurl.com/IUN2023.
Walk-ins are welcome; however, they are not guaranteed seating.
Social Work CEUs and Certificates of Attendance will be available.
Free parking is available in the main IU Northwest parking lot on 33rd Avenue just west of Broadway and just north of the Savannah Center.
Partners for the 2023 IU Northwest Forum on Child Abuse and Neglect include IU Northwest’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs, the Schools of Nursing and Social Work, and the Center for Urban and Regional Excellence; as well as Prevent Child Abuse Lake County; Mental Health America of Northwest Indiana; The Villages of Indiana; Early Learning Partnership of Northwest Indiana; Indiana Department of Child Services; Calumet College of St. Joseph; Geminus Community Partners; The Indiana Kids First Trust Fund; and the Lake County CASA Program.
