A conference that focuses on preventing child abuse and neglect, protecting its victims and networking agencies that help will be held in Wisconsin Rapids, Wednesday, April 14, through Friday, April 16.

"Together for Children: The 17^th Annual Wisconsin Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect" will be held at the Hotel Mead and Conference Center. The goal of the conference is to strengthen prevention, treatment, investigation and prosecution of child abuse and neglect by providing knowledge and skills that address emerging issues, research and public policy in the area of child abuse and neglect.

A national consultant on child welfare issues, Naomi Haines Griffith will present the opening keynote, "The Community as Extended Family," on Thursday, April 15, at 9:15 a.m. Griffith is president of Red Clay and Vinegar in Nashville, Tenn., and the author of numerous books and resources on child well-being.

The closing address, "Who Takes Care of the Caregiver, When the Caregiver Needs Care?" will be presented by Thomas Thibodeau, associate professor of religious studies at Viterbo University in LaCrosse, at 10:15 a.m. on Friday, April 16. The presentation is filled with encouragement for those who work on behalf of children.

Pre-conference Training Institutes offered on Wednesday include sessions on organizational leadership, using mass media, healing the healers, parental alienation syndrome and gender-based treatment. Workshops on Thursday and Friday are organized by tracks that focus on child abuse prevention strategies, strengthening families, child sexual abuse, investigation and prosecution issues, links between child abuse and neglect and other social problems, child abuse and neglect �hot topics,� and making services more inclusive.

To register or for more information, contact the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point Extension Customer Service office at 800-898-9472, then press 3. Discounts are available for agencies sending more than three participants, as well as for full-time students, members of the Wisconsin Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (WIPSAC), and members of Prevent Child Abuse Wisconsin.

Conference sponsors include Prevent Child Abuse Wisconsin; UWSP Extension; the Child Abuse Prevention Fund; Children�s Trust Fund; divisions of the Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services, the Wisconsin Department of Justice, and the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction; the Wisconsin Professional Society on the Abuse of Children; and the Wisconsin School Social Workers Association.

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