The National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths has recently started a speakers bureau. We are looking for opportunities to present information about child abuse and to enlist allies in our efforts to safeguard children.
The Coalition came together following the release of the report We Can Do Better: Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths in America at the Summit to End Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths, in Washington in October 2009. The report recognized the growing number of American children who die each year as a result of child abuse and neglect, an estimated 2,000 children--5 children a day. Among rich democracies, the United States maltreatment fatality rate is 3 times higher than Canada’s and 11 times higher than Italy’s. This is a disturbing topic that deserves attention. Audiences to whom we speak will learn ways they can help prevent these tragic deaths.
Below you will find a list of potential speakers, all leaders of national organizations, and all with extensive knowledge of the subject.
Presenters
Michael Petit: President, Every Child Matters Education Fund. Mr. Petit served as Commissioner of the Maine Department of Human Service and as the deputy director at the Child Welfare League of America. He has consulted extensively across the United States on a wide number of children’s issue. Mr. Petit was also a delegate to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in Helsinki, Finland. He obtained his Masters in Social Work from Boston College.
Teresa Huizar: Executive Director of National Children’s Alliance, the national association and accrediting body for children’s advocacy centers. National Children’s Alliance is located in Washington, DC. Prior to her tenure with NCA, she served as the Executive Director of the Western Regional Children’s Advocacy Center, a technical assistance and training center for children’s advocacy centers in twelve Western states. Ms. Huizar has served in senior management and executive positions in the non-profit arena for 18 years. She has a special interest in public policy in the child welfare arena, and was instrumental in the passage of four pieces of legislation involving children’s advocacy centers in Colorado prior to coming to Washington. Ms. Huizar obtained her Masters degree in Public Policy from the University of Denver.
Suzanna Tiapula is the Director of NDAA’s National Center for Prosecution of Child Abuse. She coordinates and manages activities and operations of the center and staff. Ms. Tiapula trains child abuse professionals across the country on the investigation and prosecution of child maltreatment and exploitation. In 2004/2005 Ms. Tiapula coordinated the development of two advanced trial advocacy courses for prosecution of online crimes against children (Unsafe Havens I and II) as part of NCPCA’s Child Sexual Exploitation program. Ms. Tiapula has researched and published on a range of child maltreatment topics.
Joan Levy Zlotnik, Ph.D. ACSW is the Director of the Social Work Policy Institute in the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Foundation. She helped to launch this new think tank in October 2009, having previously served for nine years as the Executive Director of the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research (IASWR), She is a nationally recognized expert on child welfare staffing issues, working for more than 20 years on national and state efforts related to recruitment and retention of professional social workers in child welfare agencies. She served as the principal investigator of the Annie E. Casey Foundation -supported examination of research and outcome studies of retention in child welfare workers and was an expert resource to the GAO on their 2003 report on recruitment and retention of child welfare workers. She has examined the history of federal support for child welfare training and regularly consults with states and universities on education and training partnerships and capacity-building efforts to recruit and retain the ‘right’ staff. She has served as a consultant to the U.S. Children’s Bureau and several of its contractors on child welfare workforce and on research and evaluation capacity-building. She is the author of numerous articles and monographs and has been co-editor of several special journals on child welfare workforce issues including the 2009 Special Issue of Child Welfare on recruitment and retention and on Charting the Impacts of University-Child Welfare Collaboration and Evaluation Research in Child Welfare: Improving Outcomes through University-Public Agency Partnerships.
Theresa Covington, MPH, Director, National Center for Child Death Review. which is funded by the U.S. Maternal and Child Health Bureau of HRSA. She provides training and consultation to state and local child death review programs throughout the U.S. and manages the national CDR Case Reporting System. She was the principal investigator of the CDC child maltreatment fatality surveillance project in Michigan. Theresa has participated on numerous federal work groups to develop national standards for child death investigations and has conducted numerous child fatality investigation trainings throughout the U.S. She developed and managed the Michigan Child Death Review Program and the Michigan Fetal and Infant Mortality Review Program for ten years prior to assuming her national responsibilities. She has over thirty years experience in community-based health and human service programs, especially in the areas of maternal and child health, child maltreatment and injury prevention. Ms. Covington has established adolescent school-based health centers, comprehensive teen parenting programs, early childhood intervention services, young father support services, and child abuse and neglect community education programs. She has a Masters in Public Health from the University of Michigan.
