San Diego, CA – The Chadwick Center for Children and Families at Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego is recognized around the world as a leader in the prevention, detection, assessment, diagnosis and treatment of child abuse and family violence. For 26 years, The Chadwick Center has sponsored the San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment Conference. From January 24-26, 2012, nearly 2,000 professionals, from across the United States and 30 nations around the world will be part of the conference at the Town and Country Resort & Convention Center in Mission Valley.
On Tuesday, January 24th at 10 a.m., Bryan Samuels, Commissioner, Administration of Children, Youth and Families with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be the keynote speaker and welcome the attendees. The conference focuses on multi-disciplinary best-practice efforts to prevent, investigate, treat and prosecute child and family maltreatment including child abduction. The objective is to develop and enhance professional skills and knowledge in the prevention, recognition, investigation, assessment, prosecution and treatment of all forms of maltreatment. Leadership and policy making and translating the latest research into action are also addressed.
There will be more than 200 workshops that vary in topics from medicine, criminal investigation, mental health treatment, trauma therapy, child welfare, prevention, domestic violence, forensic interviewing, research, child abduction, child sexual exploitation and internet crimes against children.
“This conference seeks to find and spread the very best scientifically supported practice in San Diego and around the globe,” said Charles Wilson, Executive Director, Chadwick Center for Children and Families. “We have some of the brightest minds from around the world gathered in San Diego for a week to share and inspire one another. That will translate into improved outcomes of abused and traumatized children and their families on six continents and in our own backyard.”
In fiscal year 2011, the Chadwick Center served almost 9,200 children, families and professionals. The Center offers a variety of programs and services for children and families, including trauma counseling, forensic and medical services, and Kids and Teens in Court, a countywide program to reduce the fear of children testifying in against people who hurt them. For more information about the Chadwick Center, visit: www.chadwickcenter.org.
About Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego:
Rady Children’s Hospital-San Diego, the largest children’s hospital in California, is a 442-bed pediatric care facility providing the largest source of comprehensive pediatric medical services in San Diego, Southern Riverside and Imperial counties. Rady Children’s is the only hospital in the San Diego area dedicated exclusively to pediatric healthcare and is the region’s only designated pediatric trauma center. On October 10, 2010, Rady Children’s opened the Acute Care Pavilion, a LEED-Certified (green) building that is home to the incredible Peckham Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, the state-of-the-art Warren Family Surgical Center, and a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit that cares for our community’s most fragile newborns. In May 2011, U.S. News & World Report ranked Rady Children’s among the best children’s hospitals in the nation in all ten pediatric specialties the magazine surveyed. For more information, visit www.rchsd.org and find us on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.