Save the Date for A Call to Action 2021: October 4 - 7, 2021

The Kempe Center is excited to host the second international virtual conference—A Call to Action to Change Child Welfare— we will reconvene and expand the international community of practice brought together during the groundbreaking 2020 event. Join this space to re-envision and rethink child welfare by mobilizing child, family, community partnerships, and leadership. We believe that together we can illuminate new ideas, innovative ways, necessary disruptions, and transformative changes that inspire thinking and local action. Join us over the course of 4 days and 70 hours to create and mobilize change in child welfare, to envision how you can be a change agent in your nations and communities!

The Inaugural 2020 A Call to Action: Building an International Community of Practice to Change Child Welfare

Early this October in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuring global protests, the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect hosted its first international virtual conference, A Call to Action to Change Child Welfare. Over 1,400 people attended this groundbreaking event joining from 20 countries around the world. This diverse international community of practice convened to address issues of justice, social inequality, race equity, family leadership and oppression in the child welfare and allied systems and begin to discuss, debate and solution build on how systems, communities and individuals can begin the process of fundamentally changing the structure of these systems. It was a New York Times Opinion piece by David Brooks that planted the seed with the event organizers—he suggested—from studying pandemics from a historic perspective—that we have an opportunity to create a redemptive narrative to improve society and encouraged everyday citizens to innovate their work and use the pandemic as a motivator for change.

 A Kempe Team of 10 faculty and staff collaborated over 5 months to create a highly ambitious conference agenda: 270 unique sessions were offered over this 4-day event that spanned 17 hours each day, promoting new thinking, new behaviors and new decision-making advocating that children, family, and community need to be the driving force in changing child welfare systems. Major foundations, two consulting and research firms and a large State child welfare agency also co-sponsored the conference. The event welcomed those with lived experience—parents, youth alumni and kinship care providers; child welfare practitioners, supervisors, administrators; legal, mental health, and medical professionals; community and neighborhood leaders; researchers; policymakers; advocates; and other thought leaders from around the world. Kempe believes that each of us—no matter our role—can make micro and macro changes in practice, policy, research, training, systems, and law to create an improved, socially just and fair child welfare system.

What are People Saying About A Call to Action 2020?

Over 1,400 people attended this groundbreaking event joining from 20 countries around the world. This diverse international community of practice convened to address issues of justice, social inequality, race equity, lack of family leadership and oppression in the child welfare and allied systems and begin to discuss, debate and solution build on how systems, communities and individuals can begin the process of fundamentally changing the structure of these systems. What did they have to say?

• Team WEstchester welcomed the opportunity to learn, unlearn and relearn with you and our constellation of allies worldwide. And I appreciated being able learn from last night’s workshop highlighting the how the rhetoric we use can create new and improved “un-systems”, language matters. Congratulations again to you and your dynamic team for facilitating possibly the most innovative inclusive virtual conference ever… ~ Tara Linh Leaman, JD, Program Director, Westchester Building Futures, Westchester County Department of Social Services, White Plains, NY

• I have been so energized by hearing great, inspiring ways to be different with children and families. Although the others on my team have not been able to attend, I just signed off from a meeting with Directors and others, where we spent 2 hours talking about some of the ways we would like to be working. Definitely a move forward. We are feeling uncomfortable and messy and I am really happy about that! ~ Jill Barkhouse, Nova Scotia, Canada

• It’s been an amazing 4 days during which I made new connections, learnt a phenomenal amount and challenged my personal and professional values and beliefs. This will really help me turn the volume up on the work I’m doing. Thank you for knowledge, challenge and opportunities it made a real difference to me. ~ Mike Hayward, Lead For Restorative Practice, Children’s Workforce Development Team, Children’s Services, UK

• The conference has been really amazing! I have been catching up and watching some of the recorded sessions and the information, experience and stories that have been shared are just invaluable. I’m enjoying listening to key speakers and hearing about the importance of working with families in partnership. Hearing about what this means and looks like in child welfare systems has been such a wonderful learning experience. It’s so great to hear about the use of more participatory and family-led approaches and the significance of valuing child and family voice in this space. This is such important and interesting work. ~ Naomi Steiner, Australia

• The Kempe team was simply awesome, and I am sure we all learnt so much from each other. The meeting was interactive, lively, engaging. I am sure it was a great learning experience for all of us, as we plan and launch our own events. ~ Dr. Rajeev Seth, MD, Medical Director, Child Health & Development Center, New Delhi, President Elect, International Society for Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect (ISPCAN), Past Chairperson, Indian Child Abuse Neglect & Child Labour (ICANCL) Group, Executive Board Member, Indian  Academy of Pediatrics ( 2015 & 2018)