A mother who lost her child during the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting rampage will be the featured speaker at the 13th Annual Mississippi Child Welfare Institute Conference hosted by the Jackson State University College of Public Service’s School of Social Work.
To be held Feb. 11-13 at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Jackson, the conference’s closing luncheon speaker is Scarlett Lewis. She is founder of the Jesse Lewis Choose Love Foundation named in honor of her son Jesse who lost his life at the Newtown, Conn., school Dec. 14, 2012.
The purpose of conference is to “engage interested persons in dialogue on best and promising practices in the field of child welfare,” said Dr. Theresia Ratliff, conference co-chair and director of Field Education in the School of Social Work.
A principle tenet of the Lewis foundation is the belief that teaching children how to effectively deal with anger is crucial to a healthy society, Lewis says.
She is author of the book Nurturing Healing Love, A Mother’s Journey of Hope and Forgiveness, arising from the tragedy at the hands of gunman Adam Lanza, who killed his mother at home and then at the school, killed 20 first-graders, six educators and himself.
“Jesse was the little boy known for saving nine of his friends’ lives,” Lewis said of her 6-year-old son. “When the gunman entered Jesse’s classroom he ran out of bullets, and in the short delay Jesse stood his ground, shouting for his friends to run, to run as fast as they could, to run now!”
Nine terrified first graders fled the classroom before 20-year-old Adam Lanza reloaded, took aim at Jesse and shot him in the forehead. Jesse had been trying to protect Ms. Soto, the teacher he had so loved.
The title of the conference is “Child Welfare: Using Cross-Cutting Strategies to Empower Families and Communities.” Cost is $135 for professionals, $45 for students, if registered before Jan. 27. To register, and for more information, see: www.jsums.edu/marketplace
Other speakers include: Michael A. Lindsey, associate professor at the Silver School of Social Work, New York University; Paolo del Vecchio, director of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Center for Mental Health Services; and Fred Wulczyn, a senior faculty fellow, Chapin Hall, University of Chicago, and director of the Center for Foster Care and Adoption Data, in collaboration with the American Public Human Services Association, among others.
“It is imperative that students, faculty, administrators, social workers, educators, researchers, human service workers, politicians, community organizers, faith-based members and other disciplines understand the core values of child welfare and how those values help empower families and communities,” Ratliff said.
For more information, call Ratliff at 601.432.6818 or 601.432.6828 or email childwelfare@jsums.edu.
For more about the Foundation, see: www.jesselewischooselove.org