Safe Babies, A Program of ZERO TO THREE, hosts the 18th annual Cross Sites Meeting, August 20-22, 2024.
The Cross Sites annual meeting brings together child welfare professionals, judges, court personnel, service providers, community coordinators, parent leaders, and partners actively implementing and exploring the team-based Safe Babies approach. It serves as a national learning community where attendees can share ideas, innovative approaches, and the latest scientific practices in child welfare, particularly focusing on infants, toddlers, and their families who are in or at-risk of entering the child welfare system.
This year, participants will be able to learn from each other, share innovative practices, network, forge new connections, and discover common ground.
The theme, Rooted In, underscores the strengths of the Safe Babies approach that prioritizes the well-being of children and families. Through emphasizing relationships, mental health, science, equity, parent voice, and compassion, we can foster a culture of support and resilience, laying the foundation for brighter futures for all children.
Registration
Registration to attend the in-person Cross Sites 2024 event will open in May for Human Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Infant-Toddler Court Program (ITCP) Grantees and states/sites actively implementing and exploring the Safe Babies approach.
- Any questions? Please email CrossSites@zerotothree.org.
At-a-Glance Agenda
The agenda is filled with 2.5 days of dynamic content designed for judges, attorneys, child welfare professionals, community coordinators, statewide coordinators, mental health clinicians, parent leaders, and more.
Tuesday, August 20
- HRSA Infant-Toddler Court Program Grantee Meeting
- Judges’ full day of sessions and programming
- Role-specific sessions
- Networking event
Wednesday, August 21
- Tribal welcome and opening plenary
- Full day of sessions and programming
Thursday, August 22
- Half-day of sessions and programming
- Team meetings and closing plenary
Featured Speakers
Chandra Ghosh Ippen, PhD
Chandra Ghosh Ippen, PhD, is a child trauma psychologist specializing in working with families with children under age 6. She is co-developer of Child-Parent Psychotherapy and the associate director of the Child Trauma Research Program at the University of California, San Francisco. She has spent over 30 years conducting clinical work, research, and training in childhood trauma and diversity-informed practice. She is also an award-winning children’s book author and has written five children’s books as well as the free Trinka and Sam disaster series, which has been translated and distributed to over 400,000 families around the world.
Jessica Pryce, PhD
For the past 15 years, Dr. Jessica Pryce has been involved in child welfare, at multiple angles (direct practice, teaching + training & policy and research). She has published on child welfare related topics, such as, training and education, racial disparity and anti-poverty practices. She has presented at over 200 virtual and in-person conferences both nationally and internationally. She is the author of several op-eds focused on racial disparity and effective strategies to impact racial disproportionality within child welfare. Her TED Talk on Implicit Racial Bias in Decision Making has since been viewed over 1.3 million times. Dr. Pryce has worked on the frontlines of child welfare, conducted primary research, worked on policy with Florida’s legislature and taught graduate level courses in child welfare. Previously holding the positions of Child Protective Caseworker with the Department of Children and Families, the Deputy Director of the New York State Education Consortium and the Director of the Florida Institute for Child Welfare. She has maintained and cultivated a commitment to the wellbeing of vulnerable children and families, the sustainability of the child welfare workforce, and effectively addressing inequity.
2024 Sponsors and Partners
This meeting is hosted by ZERO TO THREE and the HRSA-funded Infant-Toddler Court Program National Resource Center and in partnership with Help Me Grow; National Indian Child Welfare Association; Family Voices; American Academy of Pediatrics; Center for the Study of Social Policy; American Bar Association, Center on Children and the Law; the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges; and an independent evaluation team at James Bell Associates.
The National Infant-Toddler Court Program was made possible through the support of the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of an award totaling $8,820,368 with 0 percent financed from non-governmental sources. The contents are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by, HRSA, HHS, or the U.S. Government. For more information, please visit HRSA.gov.
ZERO TO THREE deeply appreciates Ballmer Group for its generous support of our work to scale the Safe Babies approach. We’d like to especially thank Connie Ballmer for her vision and commitment to transforming the child welfare system so that all babies thrive. Ballmer Group is committed to improving economic mobility for children and families in the United States, funding leaders and organizations that have demonstrated the ability to reshape opportunity and reduce systemic inequities.
