CFFP Conference 2014 Schedule

This presentation centers around the 1991 measles epidemic in Philadelphia in which the faith healing-related beliefs of two fundamentalist churches led to the largest single outbreak of measles in the post-vaccine era in U.S. history. Dr. Offit addresses the debate over compulsory vaccination of children in light of the city’s struggle of wanting to both respect the faith of those who had chosen to forgo vaccination and medical care and protect children and the surrounding community from disease.

Latino families often struggle mightily when they become involved in the legal and child welfare systems for child sexual abuse. Cultural issues related to family dynamics, shame, attitudes toward authorities, and taboos, often impede investigations and interventions. This talk provides practical advice to help attorneys and social workers improve their investigations and interventions with Latino families who are caught in the crisis of child sexual abuse.

Communicating about child maltreatment in general can be challenging. The topic can be even trickier in faith communities, especially when the maltreatment being discussed has a religious component. This presentation covers the barriers faith communities experience when discussing child maltreatment, the risks to survivors and religious institutions of not having those conversations, and the benefits to having those conversations. Most importantly, it provides tools and talking points to members of faith communities to help them with such discussions, as well as a case study of a faith community that held such a conversation with a survivor present.

Female genital cutting (FGC) is illegal in the United States, yet many girls have had the procedure done or are at risk for undergoing it. Furthermore, the ritual is still performed on over ninety percent of girls in much of Africa. FGC, especially in its more severe forms, can cause excruciating pain and long-term physical damage. Most approaches to stopping this practice have had little effect, however, one organization has had success. Midwives on Missions of Service (MOMS) works with midwives who perform the practice in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Rev. Ross, who co-founded MOMS, explains how the organization’s educational efforts have empowered the midwives to choose to stop performing FGC. This presentation describes the practice of FGC, the practitioners, and a healthy approach to making change.

Therapy is an essential part of the healing process for those who have suffered the trauma of childhood sexual abuse. Yet many survivors don’t know where to turn to find those services. David Pittman—a survivor himself—founded Together We Heal for that very purpose. Its mission is to pair survivors with mental health services through partnerships with therapists in private practice, religious organizations, and governmental agencies. Mr. Pittman explains how such a model of collaboration has helped survivors overcome trauma and achieve recovery, healing, and hope.

Most cases of abuse involve one or more persons exerting power over others. Therefore, it’s essential that therapists, attorneys (including human rights, estate, family, and child welfare attorneys), as well as those investigating abuse cases, understand how a power dynamic manifests itself in cults and high-control, authoritarian relationships and groups. In this presentation, Mr. Hassan describes how people are recruited into a wide range of cult groups, including those that engage in human trafficking, and how they are indoctrinated with different techniques of undue influence, such as covert hypnosis and phobia programming. He discusses how to evaluate victims using his BITE model of control (Behavior, Information, Thought and Emotion.) His method to help people to begin reclaim their personal power and decision-making, the Strategic Interactive Approach, is also described.

The faith community and child protection services often find it difficult to partner in meaningful ways to help children and families impacted by child maltreatment. Mr. Singer has worked with these two groups in Minnesota since 2005 to develop techniques to bridge this gap. In this presentation, he discusses strategies that he employs to help the faith and child protection communities work together to help children and families struggling with issues of abuse and neglect.