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Child Welfare Law Specialist Certification - Child Welfare Law Specialist (CWLS) certification is a professional achievement that signifies an attorney’s specialized knowledge, skill, and verified expertise in the field of child welfare law. The specialization area is defined as “the practice of law representing children, parents … Read More
Louisiana CINC Benchbook - The Court Improvement Program of the Louisiana Supreme Court, Louisiana Judicial College, and Pelican Center for Children and Families is delighted to announce the publication of the Louisiana Child in Need of Care Benchbook for Juvenile Judges. The Benchbook project is a … Read More
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CWLA is pleased to present the three-part virtual training series that features the publication Working with Traumatized Children – A Handbook for Healing. Now in its third edition, Working with Traumatized Children has been updated to include new strategies and approaches for caregivers and others responsible for meeting the needs of children who are vulnerable.
Participants will gain a strengthened capacity to:
- Define what trauma is and differentiate it from stress
- Provide examples of trauma symptoms in children and adults
- Describe how trauma can impact children’s brains
- Advocate for the provision of safe environments when working with children and adults who have been affected by trauma
- Provide examples of how systems can be traumatizing or retraumatize people
- Explain the importance of understanding the vagus nerve when working with families and children who have been affected by trauma
- Express why self-reflective practices and supervision are important when working with this population
Training registrants will receive an electronic copy of Working with Traumatized Children, Companion Workbook which supplements the virtual training sessions. Training registrants are also eligible to receive a 30% discount on the purchase of hard copies of Working with Traumatized Children – A Handbook for Healing, Third Edition and Working with Traumatized Children, Companion Workbook. Use promo code WWTC-30 in CWLA’s Bookstore.

CWLA is pleased to present the three-part virtual training series that features the publication Working with Traumatized Children – A Handbook for Healing. Now in its third edition, Working with Traumatized Children has been updated to include new strategies and approaches for caregivers and others responsible for meeting the needs of children who are vulnerable.
Participants will gain a strengthened capacity to:
- Define what trauma is and differentiate it from stress
- Provide examples of trauma symptoms in children and adults
- Describe how trauma can impact children’s brains
- Advocate for the provision of safe environments when working with children and adults who have been affected by trauma
- Provide examples of how systems can be traumatizing or retraumatize people
- Explain the importance of understanding the vagus nerve when working with families and children who have been affected by trauma
- Express why self-reflective practices and supervision are important when working with this population
Training registrants will receive an electronic copy of Working with Traumatized Children, Companion Workbook which supplements the virtual training sessions. Training registrants are also eligible to receive a 30% discount on the purchase of hard copies of Working with Traumatized Children – A Handbook for Healing, Third Edition and Working with Traumatized Children, Companion Workbook. Use promo code WWTC-30 in CWLA’s Bookstore.

The presentation and discussion will highlight how Family Spirit, a Casey-funded program of the Center for Indigenous Health at Johns Hopkins University, provides evidence-based maternal home-visiting services to mothers with babies and toddlers up to age 3. The program serves mothers in 170 tribal communities in 28 states. It includes partnerships with public health, tribal health and child welfare systems and addresses both physical and behavioral health.
The webinar is part of the Foundation’s Leading With Evidence series, which promotes effective and equitable evidence-based approaches in a variety of settings.
Why Is This Important?
- Communities and systems interested in supporting maternal well-being through culturally affirming evidence-based practice can learn from the Family Spirit example.
- Service providers can learn how Family Spirit incorporated multiple federal funding streams to offset the cost of implementing this program.

Child welfare system responses to families experiencing domestic violence (DV) and child maltreatment are based largely on the premise that children need to be rescued from the parent(s) who have “failed to protect” them. This understanding of the problem justifies “solutions” such as surveillance of families and mandated reporting, family separation, and coercive service and treatment plans. Well-documented race, class, and gender inequities are inherent in child welfare and its intersections with the criminal legal system, juvenile justice, immigration, and other systems of carceral control.
Given the history of child welfare and current mindsets and practices, it can be difficult to envision possibilities for transformation toward what many people around the U.S. are calling for – a child and family well-being system in which ALL children and families are valued. Yet some organizations are successfully re-imagining the system landscape and actualizing new ways of seeing, thinking, and doing! In this critical conversation, leaders from Safe & Sound, the Young Women’s Freedom Center, and Futures Without Violence will share their learnings.
Objectives:
This webinar will aim to:
- Energize activists, organizers, and systems actors & leaders to create a bold vision for supporting and empowering families and comm-unities to end family violence.
- Identify active ingredients & critical touchpoints for innovation within the child welfare ecosystem.
- Learn from the histories two long-established organizations who have evolved to meet the needs of impacted people.

In partnership with the Louisiana Department of Education, Agenda for Children, and Women United of Southeast Louisiana, LPIC conducted this annual survey of Louisiana parents and guardians with children under age 5. The survey focused on the child care arrangements of surveyed families, including their needs and experiences related to child care.

If your agency, organization, or business offers a product, service, or support that can help meet a need in the Foster Care community, JOIN US!!
- Connect & network with community partners Learn what’s needed
- Explore how you can be part of the solution Help build a supportive network
- Create a brighter tomorrow for our children

This session will provide an in-depth look at the role of legal advocacy in child protection, presented by an experienced attorney. Participants will gain valuable insights into how the legal system can be leveraged to protect children from abuse and neglect. The session will cover the legal rights of children, the responsibilities of child welfare agencies, and how attorneys advocate for the best interests of children in court. Attendees will also explore the legal challenges and opportunities in child protection cases, including the importance of collaboration between legal professionals, social workers, and other advocates. This session aims to equip participants with knowledge of the legal tools and processes available to safeguard vulnerable children.
This two-part training session offers participants an opportunity to examine the issue of implicit bias to recognize individual implicit biases and their impact on professional practice in child welfare. Discussion will occur on the issue of privilege and its impact on professional and personal relationships with people of color.
The session will invite courageous dialogue on the highly sensitive issues related to racial disparity and disproportionality of children in the child welfare system. Through the topics of white privilege and implicit bias, the trainers will help participants contextualize how these are some of the root causes of these disparities. This discussion will encourage participants to recognize and develop a deeper understanding of their role as professionals to work as effectively as possible with families and children of color.

Civil legal services can be a powerful tool in preventing family separation and children from entering foster care. Since 2023, the Louisiana Bar Foundation (LBF) has funded the My Community Cares (MCC) Civil Legal Network in five locations to accomplish this very goal. The types of cases handled by the MCC civil legal attorneys include domestic violence, family law, public benefits, housing, and consumer health and protection.
MCC is a community-driven, neighborhood-based approach to reducing the number of children who experience abuse or neglect, keeping children and parents together, and connecting families to available resources and support. The aim is to ensure that every neighborhood in Louisiana has access to the services and supports they need to be healthy and safe. Beginning as a pilot in four parishes in 2019 as part of the Child and Family Services Review Program Improvement Plan, MCC now exists in every Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) region in Louisiana. The Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI) provides state oversight for MCC and partners with the DCFS who funds the program.
Our speakers will provide information about MCC generally, the MCC civil legal network, and how civil legal aid can stabilize families and help keep them together.
Speakers:
- Emily Aucoin, Staff Attorney, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
- Claire Edwards, MCC Attorney, The Extra Mile
Objectives:
- Learn about the My Community Cares civil legal attorney network
- Understand how the provision of civil legal services can help keep families together and prevent children from entering foster care.