AFCC-CA Continuing Education Policies

The AFCC California Chapter (AFCC-CA) is committed to conducting all continuing education activities in conformance with the standards of the American Psychological Association’s Ethical Principles of Psychologists and ethical and professional standards of other disciplines of members, presenters and attendees. AFCC-CA will comply with legal and ethical responsibilities to be non-discriminatory in promotional activities, program content and in the treatment of program participants. The monitoring and assessment of compliance with these standards will be the responsibility of the CPA PAS CE Program Director in consultation with AFCC-CA.

Accessibility
AFCC-CA holds continuing education conferences and programs in venues accessible to individuals with disabilities, according to the requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Our Chapter Administrator will respond to advance requests to make reasonable accommodation for those who have special needs for assistance with registration, access to written materials and/or methods of receiving content during conferences and programs. All of our written materials may be downloaded as PDFs which allows the attendee to use an electronic device to deal with visual impairment and/or have content read aloud.

Diversity
We recruit nationally and internationally known speakers and invite proposals for workshops for our conferences and programs that seek to understand and offer approaches to the multi-faceted issues facing California families. In past conferences we have asked specifically for proposals about special needs children, same-sex parenting, low-income families, international custody, and cultural issues especially for multi-cultural families. We have a multi-ethnic as well as a multi-disciplinary Board of Directors, from whom the Conference Committee and the Continuing Education Committee is chosen.

Grievance
While AFCC-CA works to assure fair treatment for all participants and attempts to anticipate problems, there will be occasional issues, which will require intervention and/or action on the part of AFCC-CA. This procedural description serves as a guideline for handling such complaints. When a participant, either orally or in written format, files a grievance and expects action on the complaint, the following actions will be taken.

  1. If the complaint concerns a speaker, the content presented by the speaker, or the style of presentation, the individual filing the complaint will be asked to put his/her comments in written format. The Conference Chair or his/her designee will then pass on the comments to the speaker, assuring the confidentiality of the grieved individual. The ideas and opinions expressed by AFCC-CA conference presenters do not necessarily reflect the ideas and opinions of the parent organization AFCC, the California Chapter of the AFCC, its employees, volunteers, or board of directors.  As such, appearance on an AFCC conference panel should not be deemed an endorsement as to the skills, abilities, ideas, or opinions of the presenter by the parent organization AFCC, the California Chapter of AFCC, its employees, volunteers, or board of directors.
  2. If the complaint concerns a session offering, its content, level of presentation, or the facilities in which the session was offered during the time of the conference or program, Conference/Program Chair or his/her designee will address the issue. If the participant requests action during a session or conference, Conference/Program Chair or his/her designee will attempt to move the participant to another presentation or provide a credit for a subsequent presentation or provide another remedy.
  3. If the grievance concerns the business practices of AFCC-CA continuing education programs in a specific regard, the Conference/Program Chair or his/her designee will address the issue.

Refunds and Attendance Policy: For live events, written notice of cancellation received by fax/email or postmarked by (date 30 days before first day of conference or day of program) will be issued a credit for the next AFCC-CA Conference or Program of similar length. No credits will be issued for cancellations received after (date 30 days before first day of conference of day of program). No exceptions will be made. IMPORTANT NOTICE: Those who attend each session of the conference or program in full and complete the appropriate evaluation form will receive CE credits. Please note that credit will only be granted to those who attend the entire session. Those arriving more than 15 minutes after the start time or leaving before the session is completed will not receive CE credit.

Security of Materials Presented
Presenters must follow American Psychological Association ethics and guidelines in regard to ensuring the security of psychological testing materials and follow copyright laws for materials printed in books and journals.

Promotional Materials
All promotional materials must include the following statement “AFCC-CA is approved by the California Psychological Association to provide continuing professional education for psychologists. AFCC-CA maintains responsibility for this program and its content,” and use language in compliance with the Administrative Office of the Courts for CE’s approved by them.