On the 29th of January 2020, the Post Graduate Department of Counselling, in collaboration with the Post Graduate Department of Criminology and Forensic Science, School of Social Work, organised a lecture as a part of the International Series of Lecture on the topic - "Child Welfare Investigation in Chicago & United States''. The programme was conducted in the Seminar Hall, at 3pm.
The programme began with an welcome speech by Namratha, of first M.Sc. Counselling, who introduced the speaker of the programme. Mr. Stany D’Souza is an alumnus of the College and has 30 years of service in the Department of Children and Family Services of State of Illinois. He spoke about the Child Abuse and Neglect investigations under the Abuse and Neglect Child Reporting Act (ANCRA) of 1969, in the USA.
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He also introduced the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS), an agency which provides oversight for Investigations, Preventive Services, Foster Care Services and Congregate Services. In addition he informed the gathering of allied services like foster care licensing, agency and institution licensing, day-care licensing, agency performance teams, residential monitoring, quality assurance, legal services, clinical services, administrative case review, contracts and grants, central office of licensing, state central register, foster care recruitment, etc; and their importance.
He further spoke about how Child Protective Service (CPS) workers complete the Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP) tool, which asses the risk involved to the children in the case; and the various aspects of child welfare investigation and concluded with an interaction session. The Vice-Principal Dr Jenis Mary expressed her gratitude to the speaker, for ‘bringing knowledge about the system in the United States of America to us’. The HOD of postgraduate Department of Counselling Rosa Mathew and HOD of Postgraduate Department of Criminology and Forensic Science Dr Saritha D’Souza were also present. Rachel of second M.Sc. Criminology & Forensic Science concluded the programme and delivered the vote of thanks.
