Safe Children Coalition Presents 13th Annual SCC Conference

May 1, 2024 | Sarasota

On April 25-26, Safe Children Coalition presented its annual SCC Conference, which convened hundreds of child welfare and mental health experts and practitioners, and foster parents at the Hyatt Regency Sarasota. The 400 attendees heard from numerous topic matter experts as well as enjoyed the opportunity to network with peers working in the field.

The event opened with a keynote address by Dr. Amelia Franck Meyer, EdD, LISW. Dr. Meyer is the founder and CEO of the national nonprofit, Alia Innovations, for people and systems impacted by childhood trauma. Dr. Meyer, and her team, work with parents as well as child welfare leaders who are innovators and early adopters in jurisdictions around the country to create a national movement to keep children safe with – not from – their families.

Dr. Meyer discussed how people – especially children – are meant to be attached to other human beings. Unlike ducklings, which can and will attach themselves to a substitute caregiver to receive the care they need, human children are helpless and will perish if they are not protected. Thus, they attach themselves to the nearest human being, whether that person is good to them or not. And what children want most – no matter the kind of home they come from – is to be with their parents. She also spoke about the fact that when a child has a lack of attachment, which may happen if a child is removed and placed in several foster care situations without allowing time for a sense of attachment to form, this inability to form an attachment affects their brain development. In closing, she challenged the child welfare industry to shift its thinking and provide innovative tools to families to keep children in their homes.

Conference sessions addressed topics including the foster care transition into adulthood, behavioral impacts of autism, understanding the cycle of domestic violence, fatherhood engagement, the link between human trafficking and substance abuse, trauma screening and assessment, the science behind self-care, worker safety, trauma informed care, fostering safe spaces for LGBTQ+ youth in child welfare, and many more.

The 2024 conference event would not have been possible without major sponsors, including Gulf Coast Community Foundation, Sunshine Health, and the University of South Florida as well as a host of other sponsorships. Many thanks to the Manatee Community Foundation for its Scholarship Sponsorship, which allowed more than 30 child welfare professionals to attend the event.

This year, SCC partnered with University of South Florida School of Social Work and Duvall Family Studies Foundation to provide a one-day pre-conference event the day prior to the SCC Conference. “Listening to Connect” focused on telling collective stories of child welfare’s work with children, youth, families, and the community. The event included a variety of storytellers, listeners, leaders, and lived experience panels who shared their stories and emphasized the importance of listening to better understand how the system of care works well and how it can be improved. Panels included former foster youth, system-involved caregivers and parents, frontline workers, funders, and policy makers all focused on sharing their stories, experiences, and recommendations for change.

“While this is a rigorous program to plan and implement, the conference gives us a true sense of community; with all of the different agencies coming together, we feel a real sense of kinship and understanding that the cause is bigger than just us,” said SCC President and CEO Brena Slater. “We are proud to bring together child welfare professionals from near and far to share best practices, learn new research-based strategies, and to gather more resources to help children and their families.”

For more about SCC, visit sccfl.org.