April 3, 2025, 1-3pm CDT on Zoom

Rarely a Simple Story: examining how drug, set, and setting influence parenting behaviors during periods of addiction and recovery with Nancy Jo Williams, PhD, LMSW

• Defining drug, cognitive set, and setting as if relates to parenting behaviors
• Hypothesized nexus between substance use and problematic parenting behaviors, including variation observed across types of psychotropic drugs.
• Understanding trajectories of use and healing
• Influence of social policy and social context on substance-related harms
• Promising interventions

Presenter’s Bio:  Nancy Jo Williams, PhD, LMSW  (formerly Kepple) is an Associate Professor at the University of Kansas, School of Social Welfare and affiliate faculty at the Cofrin Logan Center for Addiction Research and Treatment. She earned her MSW and PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Kepple’s research broadly examines the social consequences of the availability, distribution, and use of psychoactive substances. Her research focuses on the interplay between parent substance use, neuropsychological functioning, and the social environment and how these interactions may influence parenting behaviors. Currently, she is exploring how parenting populations navigate recovery experiences after previously experiencing substance-related challenges.

April 10, 2025, 1-3pm CDT on Zoom
The Prevention of Online Sexual Abuse of Children and Youth with Prof. David Finkelhor

This talk will make these points about online child sexual abuse:

• Current stereotypes of the problem are misleading.
• An unfortunate overwhelming primary emphasis is being placed on stranger danger
• There is considerable unrecognized diversity to the problem
• Victim perspective yields insights missed by police perspective
• Prevention of this problem needs new ideas

Presenter’s Bio: David Finkelhor is the Director of Crimes against Children Research Center, Co-Director of the Family Research Laboratory, Professor of Sociology, and University Professor, at the University of New Hampshire. He has been studying the problems of child victimization, child maltreatment and family violence since 1977. David is best known for his conceptual and empirical work on the problem of child sexual abuse, reflected in publications such as Sourcebook on Child Sexual Abuse (Sage, 1986) and Nursery Crimes (Sage, 1988). He has also written about child homicide, missing and abducted children, children exposed to domestic and peer violence, commercial sexual exploitation and internet victimization. David is the co-founder of several large national data collection efforts including the National Survey of Children Exposed to Violence (NatSCEV) and the National Incidence Study of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway Children (NISMART). In his recent work, for example, his book, Child Victimization (Oxford University Press, 2008), he has tried to unify and integrate knowledge about all the diverse forms of child victimization in a field he has termed Developmental Victimology. This book received the Daniel Schneider Child Welfare Book of the Year award in 2009. Altogether, he is the editor and author of 12 books and over 250 journal articles and book chapters. David has received grants from the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect, and the US Department of Justice, and a variety of other sources.

April 17, 2025, 1-3pm CDT on Zoom
The Spiritual Impact of Child Abuse with Victor Vieth, J.D.

We may never be able to prevent all cases of child abuse. We can, though, make sure we respond with excellence to the cases that come to light. To this end, we can no longer ignore the large body of research on the spiritual impact of child abuse. We must be proactive in educating our communities about this research and responding in a more culturally sensitive manner.

Presenter’s bio: Victor Vieth, J.D. has trained thousands of child-protection professionals from all 50 states, two U.S. Territories, and 17 countries on numerous topics pertaining to child abuse investigations, prosecutions and prevention. Victor gained national recognition for his work in addressing child abuse in small communities as a prosecutor in rural Minnesota, and has been named to the President’s Honor Roll of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children. In 2012, Victor was awarded the Pro Humanitate Award from the North American Resource Center for Child Welfare.

Victor is the Chief Program Officer, Education and Research of the Zero Abuse Project, a 501©(3) public charity based in St Paul, MN, committed to education, training, and survivor support in order to eradicate child sex abuse and remedy its resulting harms. He is the 2018 President of the Academy on Violence & Abuse, and founder of the National Child Protection Training Center. With NCPTC and its partners, Victor has been instrumental in implementing 22 state and international forensic interview training programs and dozens of undergraduate and graduate programs on child maltreatment.

Mr. Vieth graduated magna cum laude from WSU and earned his Juris Doctor from Hamline University School of Law (HUSL). In 2017, Victor earned an MA in theology from Wartburg Seminary. Mr. Vieth has published countless articles related to the investigation, prosecution and prevention of child abuse and neglect. He is author of Unto the Third Generation, a bold initiative that outlines the necessary steps we must all take to eliminate child abuse in America in three generations, and On This Rock: A Call to Center the Christian Response to Child Abuse on the Life and Works of Jesus (Wiff & Stock 2018).

April 24, 2025, 9-11am CDT on Zoom
“He is my everything” – Siblings in the Context of Child Abuse with Prof. Carmit Katz

The dynamics among siblings within the context of child abuse are crucially important. This presentation sheds light on a comprehensive investigation led by Katz and her team, spanning several research years. It delves into key findings concerning sibling relationships from childhood through adulthood, even during periods of ” black holes”. The research encompassed 150 abused children, 83 interviews with adults who experienced childhood abuse, and 48 interviews with professionals, complemented by statistics from the Israeli welfare office. Beyond presenting key findings, the session will discuss a theoretical framework highlighting pivotal concepts essential for understanding sibling dynamics. These include sibling camaraderie, sibling abuse, parentified siblings, and sibling cut-off, exploring their interplay and fluidity. Additionally, the presentation will offer valuable insights derived from the study’s findings, enriching understanding in this critical area.

Presenter’s Bio: Carmit Katz is a Full Professor of Social Work at Tel Aviv University. Katz is also the Director of Haruv Institute. With a profound focus on combating child maltreatment, Katz champions the belief that preventing such abuses stands as a paramount moral duty. Katz ardently advocates for interdisciplinary dialogue, stressing the imperative of engaging directly with children within the contexts of their lives—an ethos that underpins her entire professional ethos. Katz is committed to policy change and works both in the national and international arenas in order to promote the rights of all children to a life without violence. Katz is the founder and director of The Israeli Independent Public Inquiry into Child Abuse. Katz is also the founder and director of the International Group of Scholars Protecting Children from Maltreatment During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Katz is the Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Child Maltreatment and Associate Editor in Child Abuse and Neglect. Following the Swords of Iron war that began after the October 7th (2023) massacre, Katz had been leading, together with the Israeli Welfare office, all the work with children who were directly affected by the war and had been leading the intervention with children who returned from captivity.