Child welfare conference comes to Chadron State

Social Work 435 class hosted the Child Welfare Conference yesterday in the Student Center to fulfill their capstone requirement.

The class started planning in January for the project and had help from the court system and others to make contact with speakers, according to Felicia Cummings, 22, senior of Casper, Wyoming.

The conference hosted 13 speakers on topics such as child advocacy and forensic interview, Internet sex crimes against children, and mental health of children, to name a few.

Beginning at 8 a.m., Wednesday, the program lasted until 4:30 p.m. There were four breakout sessions throughout the day, breaks and vendors, lunch, a panel of speakers, and a closing.

Speakers included Judge Susan Bazis of Omaha, Judge James Worden of Scottsbluff, Shannon Black of Lincoln, Julie Hamberger, Box Butte County probation officer of Alliance, and Caroline Winchester, Chadron Public Schools superintendent, and others.

Chadron State students, faculty, community members, and members of the surrounding area filled the Student Center to listen to speakers. Vendors were available in the hallway outside of the cafeteria during breaks.

Every year the class puts on a different capstone project; last year was a Post traumatic Stress Disorder capstone. Each capstone is worked on for two semesters to plan and arrange for  speakers.