Blog
CWLA 2022 National Conference: Call for Proposals
The Fierce Urgency of Now: Collective Action to Ensure Children and Families Flourish
SAVE THE DATES!
April 27-29, 2022
Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill
Washington, DC
Submit by August 16
CWLA is now accepting proposal submissions for their 2022 National Conference, The Fierce Urgency of Now: Collective Action to Ensure Children and Families Flourish.
We are living in challenging times. There is a fierce sense of urgency and demand for institutions to make bold changes to better serve all children and families, especially those who are Black, Brown, and Indigenous. Child welfare is not exempt from these calls for change. As professionals and volunteers working in a high-stakes field, we have learned from the events of this past year that we can and must do business differently.
However, child welfare cannot do this alone. We must work hands-on with families, communities, and other systems, as well as federal, state, and local leadership, to eliminate the many barriers to achieving our vision. The CWLA 2022 Conference will be an opportunity to acknowledge transformation: awareness, acknowledgment, action, and accountability. This will be an awesome time to welcoming back friends, colleagues, and partners to connect, recharge, and make decisions about how we collectively and as individuals, agencies, the child welfare system, and society as a whole can and must take action to achieve a better world for all children and families.
The conference will create awareness; acknowledge where we have not gotten it right; highlight successful strategies, research, practices, and much more to improve supports and services; and identify what must be done to hold accountability in order to address today’s critical child welfare issues. There will be longer sessions for in-depth learning and discussion focused on several topics.
The conference will provide an opportunity for everyone to recommit to our collective work and advocacy to advance quality services and a continuum of care, create communities of support, and take action to ensure that all children and families flourish.
The CWLA are seeking proposal submissions that present evidence-informed/evidence-based programs and practices, research, and projects that:
- Advance the critical issue areas of focus for the conference to strengthen families and protect children.
- Detail efforts related to Family First implementation and how they demonstrate doing business differently by addressing some or all critical issue areas (listed above), as well as kinship care, substance use treatment, congregate care, etc.
- Provide examples of cross-system, cross-state/county, and other collaborations that aim to eradicate barriers to support and enhance child and family well-being.
- Provide examples of best practices in the implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) and support of American Indian children and families.
- Provide examples of training programs and other human resources-related approaches to having a qualified and quality child welfare workforce for the future.
- Provide participants with actionable information they can apply in their agencies.
- Provide action and advocacy for the successful implementation of the National Blueprint to ensure that all children and families flourish.
CWLA is accepting a limited number of proposals to present the Action Lab sessions. Priority will be given to presentations by CWLA members and partner organizations.
Click here for online proposal submissions, which are due no later than Monday, August 16, 2021. Email CWLA2022@cwla.org for assistance.