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Keynote speakers
"Fostering Resilience in Children and Families in Child Welfare Systems"
Judge Martin will speak on the importance of nurturing resilience in children and families, and ways in which courts and child welfare may impede that process. She will provide a national perspective on issues such as overrepresentation and psychological first aid.
Judge Patricia M. Martin is the Presiding Judge of the Child Protection Division of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges. She has chaired the Supreme Court of Illinois Judicial Conference Study Committee on Juvenile Justice, and has been a member of other Illinois Supreme Court committees. In addition, Judge Martin has presented at local, national, and international conferences on child abuse/neglect topics and has received numerous awards for her work.
Judge Martin was elected to the bench in 1996, retained in 2002 and retained in 2008. From 1986 to 1996, Judge Martin was an assistant Cook County Public Defender and where she rose to Deputy Chief, Fifth District. Judge Martin has a Juris Doctorate from Northern Illinois University College of Law in Dekalb, Illinois and a Bachelors of Arts with honors from Middlebury College in Middlebury, Vermont. She also studied at and received honors from the University of Nairobi in Kenya, East Africa.
Shay Bilchik "Working Across Systems to Meet the Needs of Our Children, Youth and Families"
This presentation provides an overview of research that speaks to the need to work with our most disadvantaged children, youth and families through a multi-system approach. It provides examples of cross system policies and programs that better meet the needs of this special population. Mr. Bilchik presents a framework to realize improved outcomes through a comprehensive approach.
Shay Bilchik is the founder and Director of the Center for Juvenile Justice Reform at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute. The Center’s purpose is to focus the nation’s leaders, across systems of care and levels of government, on the key components of a strong juvenile justice reform agenda. This work is carried out through the dissemination of papers on key topics, the sponsorship of symposia, and a Certificate Program at Georgetown providing leaders with short, but intensive study, and ongoing support in their reform efforts.
Prior to joining the Institute on March 1, 2007, Mr. Bilchik was the President and CEO of the Child Welfare League of America, a position he held from February of 2000. Shay led CWLA in its advocacy on behalf of children through his public speaking, testimony and published articles, as well as collaborative work with other organizations. Prior to his tenure at CWLA, Shay headed up the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) in the U.S. Department of Justice, where he advocated for and supported a balanced and multi-systems approach to attacking juvenile crime and addressing child victimization. Before coming to the nation's capital, Mr. Bilchik was an Assistant State Attorney in Miami, Florida from 1977-1993, where he served as a trial lawyer, juvenile division chief, and Chief Assistant State Attorney.
Mr. Bilchik earned his B.S. and J.D. degrees from the University of Florida. He and his wife Susan are the proud parents of two young adults, Melissa and Zach.
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