Ex-wife of sniper who terrorized D.C. in 2002 will keynote JSU’s Child Welfare Conference

January 17, 2017

LAW BylineThe former wife of convicted D.C. Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad, who was executed for a number of slayings in 2002, will be the keynote speaker for the 15th Annual Mississippi Child Welfare Institute Conference (MCWIC), Feb. 8-10, sponsored by JSU’s School of Social Work in the College of Public Service. All events will be in the Marriott Hotel, 200 E. Amite Street.

Muhammad
Mildred Muhammad will deliver the keynote address during the 15th Annual Mississippi Child Welfare Institute Conference inside the downtown Marriott Hotel.

Appearing as luncheon speaker on the final day of the conference, Mildred Muhammad, a domestic violence survivor, and her children were frequent targets of abuse by John Allen Muhammad’s control tactics. Eventually, the terror endured by her family escalated to horrific, random attacks by her then-husband on innocent women, children and men throughout the D.C. metro area, with more than two-dozen casualties, including 10 fatalities.

This year’s conference theme is “Rethinking Child Welfare Services: Forging New Direction through Community-Based Partnerships.” According to the School of Social Work, the mission of MCWIC is to “improve the health, safety and well-being of children in Mississippi through competency-based education and training for social workers and other health and human service professionals and consumers.”

John Allen Muhammad was executed for deadly attacks in 2002 on innocent civilians in and surrounding Washington, D.C.
John Allen Muhammad was executed for deadly attacks in 2002 on innocent civilians in and surrounding Washington, D.C.

For nearly 15 years, Mildred Muhammad has journeyed the country to share her riveting account of abuse and the aftermath of the shooting rampage. In Jackson, she will relay the horrors of living in the shadows of those nightmarish acts and how they impacted her life and that of her children.

Over the three-day conference, attendees will hear from three plenary speakers: Wanda F. Rieves is a clinical associate professor and director for the Child Welfare Education Collaborative at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work; Anna McPhatter is dean of the School of Social Work at Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md.; and Kristi Plotner is deputy commissioner of administration for the Mississippi Department of Child Protective Services.

To register by phone, call the School of Social Work at 601-979-8896.

To register online: www.jsums.edu/marketplace.

Cost: For students, fee is $45; Cost for professionals is $150 by Jan. 27 and $200 after that date. One-day only registration cost is $50 by Jan. 25 and $75 after that date; one-day only luncheon cost is $50 by Jan. 27 and $75 after that date.