Innovative Pathways in Child Welfare Practice
Watch Conference Recordings and Resources - Child Maltreatment Solutions Network at this link.
Allen Slides
Brian Allen, PsyD
Professor Department of Pediatrics, Center for the Protection of Children and Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health; CMSN Co-fund
Brian is a professor of Pediatrics and Psychiatry & Behavioral Health at the Penn State College of Medicine. His research focuses on the developmental impact of childhood trauma and maltreatment, including the efficacy of mental health interventions in ameliorating that impact. More specifically, he investigates the role of attachment processes in post-maltreatment development and treatment outcome, the etiology and treatment of problematic sexual behavior in pre-teen children, and the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based treatments. He is responsible for directing the provision of clinical services at the Stine Foundation TLC Research and Treatment Center, an outpatient mental health program serving maltreated children and their families.
Cordisco Steele Slides
Linda Cordisco-Steele
Director of Forensic Interview Training and Services, NCAC
Linda Cordisco-Steele is a child forensic interview specialist, multi-disciplinary team facilitator, and senior trainer for the National Children’s Advocacy Center (NCAC) in Huntsville, AL. She has conducted more than 500 trainings for the NCAC across the U.S. and abroad. She has presented workshops at local, regional, state, national, and international child abuse conferences.
Her areas of expertise include child forensic interviewing, child development, and working within the multidisciplinary team setting. Linda provides supervision and consultation on forensic interviews locally and nationally. She previously conducted forensic interviews at four other children’s advocacy centers (CACs): Prescott House CAC in Birmingham, AL, The Safehouse in Albuquerque, NM, the CAC of the Bluegrass in Lexington, KY, and Gateway CAC in Morehead, KY.
In addition to providing forensic interviews, Linda served as clinical director for the Prescott House, NCAC, and The Safehouse. While in New Mexico, Linda was the project director of the Mobile Interviewing Project, which serves the Navajo Nation and Zuni Pueblo, as a program of All Faiths Receiving Home in Albuquerque. She has also served as clinical director, director of victim services, and acting executive director of the Crisis Center of Jefferson County in Alabama.
She has over 30 years of experience in therapy and advocacy work with victims and extensive training experience regionally, nationally, and internationally. Linda received her master’s degree in education from the University of Pittsburgh and is a licensed professional counselor.
Cowan Slides
The Honorable Alyssa B. Cowan
Judge at the Fifth Judicial District Court of Common Pleas
Appointed to the Court of Common Pleas by Governor Shapiro and assigned to the Family Division, Judge Cowan’s career has been focused on serving the legal needs of children and families. In addition to holding a law degree from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, Judge Cowan holds a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania. Judge Cowan teaches child and family advocacy courses at the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Social Work, and previously served as supervisory Assistant County Solicitor in the Allegheny County Law Department. Prior to joining the Allegheny County Law Department, Judge Cowan worked as a Legal Services Training Specialist for the Pennsylvania Statewide Adoption and Permanency Network (SWAN). In this role, she developed and delivered numerous legal trainings for child welfare professionals across Pennsylvania. Additionally, Judge Cowan previously worked as a Staff Attorney for KidsVoice where she acted as traditional Guardian ad litem and a medical and educational decision-maker for dependent children. Earlier in her career, Judge Cowan served as an Assistant Attorney General in the Child Protection Section of Washington, D.C.’s Office of the Attorney General. Judge Cowan also worked at the American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law, as part of the Center’s Court Improvement Project. Judge Cowan has published articles addressing the adoption of older children from foster care, violence in families, and interdisciplinary approaches to child welfare.
Jackson Slides
Kasey Jackson, LCSW-S
Vice President of Programs, Children’s Advocacy Centers of Texas
Kasey is the Vice President of Programs for CAC TX, an organization committed to achieving justice and healing for children and families in the case of child abuse or victimization. She is responsible for leading the development of program strategies, programs, and activities to improve and advance CACTX’s and the network of CAC’s work to effectively respond to crimes against children.
Kasey has over 20 years of experience in the non-profit sector, including 12 years overseeing programs and strategic initiatives. She mentors high-performing, self-directed teams and has expertise in strategy development and partnership management.
Sheridan Miyamoto, PhD, FNP, RN, FAAN
Director and Principal Investigator of the SAFE-T Center
Professor Ross and Carol Nese College of Nursing
Sheridan Miyamoto is an Associate Professor of Nursing, a Family Nurse Practitioner, and former SANE who received her Ph.D. in Nursing Science and Healthcare Leadership in 2014. In 2015 she joined the Child Maltreatment Solutions Network and PSU College of Nursing. Dr. Miyamoto is an expert in pediatric, adolescent, and adult sexual assault. She provided live telehealth consultations to six rural California sites to conduct quality forensic sexual assault exams for eight years before taking a position at Penn State University.
Miyamoto was a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) for 14 years at the UC Davis Child and Adolescent Abuse and Resource and Evaluation Center. In this role, she conducted over 3,000 forensic sexual abuse examinations and provided expert testimony in over 60 criminal court cases. Miyamoto has over 20 years of experience in the development and dissemination of telehealth to enhance access to high-quality forensic SA care. Miyamoto has engaged an interdisciplinary team to ensure the SAFE-T Center continues to advance the field by improving technology, enhancing access, and generating research to demonstrate the effectiveness of these efforts.
Miyamoto has pioneered the conceptualization, implementation, and evaluation of the nurse-led SAFE-T System to support and sustain local nurses in rural communities to develop and deliver the expertise required to allow survivors of sexual assault to receive quality care in their own communities.
McCormack Slides
Seán McCormack
District Attorney, Cumberland County
Seán served as the Chief of the Child Abuse Prosecution Unit in the Dauphin County District Attorney’s Office for close to 25 years. In January 2022, Seán was sworn in as the District Attorney of Cumberland County, PA. Seán serves on the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association's (PDAA) Executive Committee and is the Chair PDAA’s Education and Training Committee. He previously served as the longtime Chair of PDAA’s Special Victims Prosecutors Network. He also currently serves on various state-wide committees including the Victim Services Advisory Committee (VSAC) and the Children's Advocacy Centers Advisory Committee (CACAC) at the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency.
Putnam-Hornstein Slides
Emily Putnam-Hornstein
John A. Tate Distinguished Professor for Children in Need, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Emily Putnam-Hornstein is the John A. Tate Distinguished Professor for Children in Need at the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and faculty co-director of the Children’s Data Network. She also maintains appointments as a distinguished scholar at the University of Southern California and as a research specialist with the California Child Welfare Indicators Project at UC Berkeley.
For nearly two decades, Putnam-Hornstein has partnered with public agencies to carry out applied research to inform child welfare policy and practice. Her analysis of large-scale, linked administrative data has provided insight into where scarce resources may be most effectively targeted and informs understanding of maltreated children within a broader, population-based context. Her research has been used to develop risk stratification tools, including those implemented in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and Los Angeles County, California. These tools support caseworkers and supervisors in reviewing hundreds of factors relevant to a child’s risk and safety when making initial screening and triaging decisions.
Ralston Slides
Elizabeth “Libby” Ralston, PhD
NCA Mental Health Institute Consultant and Director Emeritus, Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center
Dr. Ralston served as the founding director of the Dee Norton Child Advocacy Center, located in Charleston, SC for 22 years and now serves as their Director Emeritus. She has also served as faculty in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science at the Medical University of South Carolina.
The focus of Dr. Ralston’s work has been on the delivery of mental health services to support victim and family healing. In support of this work, she served on the National Children’s Alliance (NCA) Board of Directors and the NCA mental health standard revision committee, Mental Health Implementation committee and co-chaired the NCA collaboration to develop the CAC Director’s Guide to Mental Health Services. Libby served as a consultant with NCA to develop curriculum and provide training, in partnership with the University of Oklahoma, on the NIMH Family Navigator Enhancing Early Engagement (E3) research grant. As a consultant to the NCA MH Institute she provides the E3 training for CAC Victim Advocates with the goal of increasing the number of child victims seen at CACs who receive the MH treatment they need to heal and MH training for the NCA ED/CEO Mental Health Academy.
Dr. Ralston was the co-director and is currently faculty for Project BEST, a Duke Endowment funded long term project to “Bring Evidence Supported Treatment” to ensure that any South Carolina child who experiences trauma from maltreatment has access mental health treatment to support healing. She provides training regarding her work in support of victim healing at state, national and international conferences
Libby currently serves as the co-chair of the NCA Mental Health workgroup of mental health experts who considered/identified options to increasing the mental health resources available to meet the needs of child victims and their families seen at CACs.