Protecting Cross Border Families at our “Beyond Separation” Conference and Training Day
International Social Service, USA (ISS-USA) hosted their 7thAnnual Conference, Beyond Separation: Protecting Cross Border Families, on October 17 th and 18 th , 2019 at the University of Maryland Baltimore. The conference drew participants and speakers from the fields of social work, international child protection, family and immigration law, human rights and public policy, among others. The two day event highlighted the need for legal, judicial, social service, and advocacy professionals to work together to protect the long term safety and well-being of children separated from their families.
Thursday’s training session provided skill-building workshops that covered four key stages in managing cross border cases, from identifying family, engaging with them domestically and internationally, assessing their caregiving capacity and preparing them for reunification. Friday’s panel sessions built off these themes and were titled, Children on the Move: A Big Picture Look at International Family Separation, Finding Common Ground: Legal and Social Work Cooperation in the Best Interest of Children, Partners in Protection: The Role of Public and Private Partners in Supporting and Reuniting Families and Lessons from the Field: Best Practices in Repatriation and Reintegration.
Throughout workshops on Thursday and panel sessions on Friday, conference attendees were reminded of challenges facing children and families separated by borders, as well as those faced by the systems and service providers working to support them. Participants were also presented with opportunities for collaboration to help overcome those barriers. Speakers referenced the need for more training with social service and legal providers on what services are available and how to access them, better tracking and data management to prevent children from getting lost as they enter and move through protection systems, and more robust policy solutions to hold public entities accountable to all children in their care, regardless of family background or circumstance of separation. Improving long term outcomes for children requires a holistic approach to child welfare challenges that build on collaboration and partnerships.
If you would like more information on the 2019 conference, or how your agency can work with ISS-USA , please contact fnorthcott@iss-usa.org . If you are interested in participating in future training opportunities, please contact eweisman@iss-usa.org .
