CAFCA’s 2020 Conference: Stronger Together
November 18th 9:00 am – 2:30 pm Virtual Event
Join us to learn from experts in child welfare, mental health, and policy advocacy to explore all that can be done for children and families when we find strength with each other.

Keynote Speaker
Dr. Phil Fisher DD

Dr. Fisher is Philip H. Knight Chair and Professor of Psychology at the University of Oregon, where he serves as Founding Director of the Center for Translational Neuroscience. He is also a Senior Fellow at the Center on the Developing Child and a member of the National Scientific Council on the Developing Child, both based at Harvard University. His research, which has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health since 1999, focuses on developing and evaluating early childhood interventions in socially and economically marginalized communities, and on translating scientific knowledge regarding healthy development under conditions of adversity for use in social policy and programs. He is particularly interested in the effects of early stressful experiences on children’s neurobiological and psychological development, and in prevention and treatment programs for improving maltreated children’s functioning in areas such as attachment to caregivers, relationships with peers, and functioning in school. He is also interested in the brain’s plasticity in the context of therapeutic interventions. Dr. Fisher is the developer of a number of widely implemented evidence-based interventions for supporting healthy child development in the context of social and economic adversity, including Treatment Foster Care Oregon for Preschoolers (TFCO-P), Kids in Transition to School (KITS), and Filming Interactions to Nurture Development (FIND). He has published over 200 scientific papers in peer reviewed journals. He is the recipient of the 2012 Society for Prevention Research Translational Science Award, and a 2019 Fellow of the American Psychological Society.
Workshop Topics
The Stronger Together conference serves professionals and stakeholders in child welfare, human services, state and county government, foster care and child policy advocacy. Topics are open-ended as long as relevant to child welfare stakeholders.
While topics are unlimited, we are especially interested in the following:
Racial Justice, Equity and or Implicit Bias
Impacts of COVID Era
Trauma Informed Care and Culture
Trafficking in CO
Implications of Family First Act
Creative Collaboration
Legal Advocacy for Children, Youth and Families
Preventing, De-Escalating, and Addressing Youth on the Run
Staff Recruitment and Retention
