Trauma Responsive Child Welfare Systems

Virginia C. Strand, DSW, is Professor and Founding Director of Children FIRST, a research and training institute within the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service. Her research interests are in child welfare and children’s mental health and she has published most recently in the areas trauma assessment for children and transfer of learning programs for child welfare workforce development. Currently, she is PI representing Fordham on a new federal institutive, the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute.Ginny Sprang, PhD, is a Professor in the College of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, at the University of Kentucky. Dr. Sprang is a Principal Investigator and Executive Director of the Center on Trauma and Children at the University of Kentucky. She has served as a member of the National Steering Committee of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) , is the current Co-Chair of the Secondary Traumatic Stress Committee, and is the Chairof the Terrorism and Disaster Special Interest Group of the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies. Her scholarship focuses on the clinical, forensic, and empirical aspects of traumatic stress and the efficacy and effectiveness of treatments to address the biopsychosocial impact of violence against children. Dr. Sprang has published extensively in the leading journals focusing on trauma, maltreatment, and treatment efficacy in adults and children.