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How Faith Communities Can Keep Kids Safe and Support Families

May 4, 2023

May 4, 8:30am – 2:00pm CDT

OU-Tulsa Learning Center (Room 231) 4502 E 41st Street, Tulsa, OK 74135

CEUs available for LCSW and LPC: $20 for 4 credit hours

Workshop description:

Faith communities play a pivotal role in providing support for families and children in their communities and thus, in helping to prevent child abuse and neglect. To that end, we want to recognize, support, and encourage faith leaders’ efforts to nurture families and children.

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Presenters’ bios

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).

Michael A Baxter, DO, DPH is an Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, OU-TU SCHOOL OF COMMUNITY MEDICINE, TULSA, OK. He received his Doctor of Osteopathy from Oklahoma State University. Dr. Baxter completed his Pediatric Residency with the Department of Pediatrics, University of Oklahoma in Tulsa as well as doing his Fellowship in Child Abuse Pediatrics. Currently, Dr. Baxter is Program Director for the Child Abuse Fellowship and Medical Director of the Children’s Advocacy Center. He is a diplomate of the American Board of Pediatrics, a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics section on child abuse and neglect. He received the Crimson Apple Teaching Award during his residency and was a finalist for the OU Aesculapion. Dr, Baxter is board certified in General Pediatrics and Child Abuse Pediatrics.

Dr. Kathy LaFortune is a licensed Oklahoma clinical psychologist and attorney and currently works at the Tulsa County Public Defender’s office. She previously worked for eight years at the Tulsa County Family Center for Juvenile Justice coordinating psychological services in delinquency and deprived cases. She graduated from Duke University in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and the University of Tulsa with her JD and PhD. She has taught as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Tulsa College of Law and the Department of Clinical Psychology, OSU Health Sciences Center in the master’s program for forensic sciences, and also taught for five years as an adjunct instructor in the New York Law School mental disability law program. She is presently on the Courtwatch Committee for APA, serves as a Judicial Notebook author for the American Psychological Association Monitor, and was a member of the APA Committee on Legal Issues. She received the outstanding volunteer award from Volunteers of America, the Fern Holland Award from TU Women’s Law Caucus, the Distinguished Professional Services Citation from the Oklahoma Psychological Association, Tulsa Press Club Headliners Award, and Holland Hall Distinguished Alumni. She was Chair of the Oklahoma Bar Association Criminal Law Section and is a member of the Oklahoma Juvenile Competency work group for the Oklahoma Commission on Children and Youth. Kathy is one of Tulsa’s former first ladies and is married to former Tulsa Mayor and District Judge Bill LaFortune.

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