The National Summit for Childrens Safety and Well-being, throughout the Interconnected Systems. - Has Ended
DO Details
A collaboration of leading family violence, abuse and trauma experts with solutions for protective system reform.
International Keynote Speaker;
Mr Barry Goldstein; practiced as a barrister in New York for 30 years, and is the world leading family violence and child safety interconnected system analyst, researcher, author and highly sought after expert.
Barry has developed The Safe Child Act. This employs evidenced based methodology which prioritises child health and safety and promotes best practice and safeguards, to congruently protect children within the interconnected court and justice systems.
He is arriving from the USA to share his evidence-based research to help Australia understand complex family violence matters, child safety, and management within the court and justice system to facilitate protective reform.
Key Speakers include;
Ms Lee Barnett (USA). Pending Immigration approval
Protective mum, author, speaker.
Lee fled her home in Charleston with her daughter, and headed to Europe, where she spent time in Germany, France, then Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Botswana and Australia. The disappearance launched a 20 year international search that ended when she was arrested in Mountain Creek, on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland, (2013). Lee’s daughter, now in her early 20’s, stated to the Judge that "I was loved beyond belief," Lee was sentenced to 21 months in prison followed by two years of supervised parole. Lee has returned to Australia to share her story, and insight on how children may be better protected through family court proceedings.
Mr Keith Schafferius,(Qld), world leading private detective who is renowned for specialist expertise in the retrieval of abducted children and his book The Retriever. His documentary may be viewed at http://www.keithschafferius.com and a movie about his brilliant life is in the works.
Mr Tony Tonkin; The Child Protection Party, A focus on equitable, fair and transparent outcomes for children (SA)
Mrs Nadia Bergineti ; Child Protection Advocacy (SA)
Nadia will discuss issues within the child protection system and propose solutions which facilitate best practice and protective outcomes.
Mr Charles Pragnell; Dip.SW.,LRRC {U.K home office} Children’s rights advocate/social policy (Vic) Children’s rights advocate, Vice Chairman of the National Child Protection Alliance of Australia. Charles has dedicated his life work to the rights and welfare of children. He is an independent expert witness for Child Protection and has provided evidence to courts in England Scotland and New Zealand. Charles has 40 yrs of social work and senior social service management experience, working directly with children and young people. He has contributed research for the National Children’s Bureau and other educational, social and health services. He has appeared at national and international conferences presenting on child protection and social policy issues. He has lectured at English and Australian Universities and contributes to regular global journal publications. Charles worked with the Federation Internationale de Communite’ Educative to produce an international code of ethical conduct and practice principles for social workers across the globe. Charles will discuss protective reform.
Ms Nicolette Norris; The National Child Protection Alliance , (NCPA) Order of Australia, Abuse expert, Social policy, Youth resilience and leadership, (NSW),
Niki is the Chair of the National Child Protection Alliance and in 2017 was invested as a Member of the Order of Australia for significant service to the community particularly to the rights protection and welfare of children. Nikki is a social policy, youth resilience, trauma and leadership expert. 'Niki's work in NSW has saved many children from ongoing violence and sexual abuse, after the Family Court ordered they must live with or spend time with their abusive parent. Those children are now young adults and Niki is now mentoring these young survivors to speak with State and Federal leaders to explain the damaging aftermath and ongoing trauma which was forced upon them by order of the Family Court.' Niki’s brilliant capacity with helping children leave abusive situations has led to her leadership of the youth group; Young Survivors Against Child Abuse (YSACA).
She will discuss the current status of affected youth and the system response to the effects of trauma on children.
Dr Meg Perkins, (NSW), is a psychologist, researcher and writer. Adjunct research fellow at Griffith Criminology Institute, Griffith University
Dr Meg Perkins has worked with people involved in the criminal justice system since 1991, as a prison psychologist, and then through writing presentencing reports for Legal Aid, ATSILS and private legal firms. Her PhD studies were in criminology, community psychology and cultural studies. Meg still sees people suffering from the after-effects of trauma in her private practice. Meg has worked extensively with Australia's First Nations people and is aware of the massive overrepresentation of Indigenous people in prison. She is interested in finding effective ways to reduce the gap between the incarceration rate of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. Meg studied risk and cultural resilience in the South Pacific Islands from 2011 to 2014. She is now an adjunct research fellow at the Griffith Criminology Institute. Meg will discuss the effects of trauma, including the loss of self and culture caused by separation from the primary parent.
Mrs Annie Kelly; Family Report Analytical Expert (Vic)
Annie will discuss ways to improve expertise, transparency, verification and accountability throughout the investigative process which will facilitate more accurate reports and promote safety throughout protective decision making.
Mrs Amanda Gearing; Walkley-Award winning Investigative journalist, author and broadcaster, (Qld) her work has led to law reform and various inquiries in Australia and Britain
Ms Mishka Hudson Bsc., M.ed; Family violence and trauma Researcher/Analyst, (Vic)
Mishka will share solutions for an improved management of children who have experienced high conflict contested court cases, and related trauma, to facilitate aspects of connectivity, well being, resilience, recovery and optimal development within the educational system and court environment. She will also discuss improvements to interconnected systems to facilitate this with improved investigative methodology and responses to family violence and trauma with a promotion of UNCRC in State legislation.
Mr Danny Jovica, National Accredited Mediator, Chairman of the Australian Paralegal Foundation.
Will speak to the underrated benefits and use of private mediation in high conflict cases using modern techniques and technology to enable a facitilitative mediation to be invoked so protective parents can regain some control when the system is not providing the protection that is needed.
This event includes a lovely dinner and insightful solution focused discussion. This will be documented into a summary report a provided to the Attorney General’s Family Law Office for legislative review.
Ticket sales and accommodation
This will be held at the Coolaroo Hotel, Melbourne on August 3rd 2018.
There is limited accommodation available at the venue if required. Please book directly through the venue and mention the summit to access the corporate discount rate. We would greatly appreciate your RSVP and the number of tickets you may require by April 7th.
Thank-you for helping to create a safer world for our children!
DO Organiser
