Dear AFCC Members and Friends,

I hope that for each of you 2017 is promising great things and much excitement.  AFCC California is tremendously excited about and proud to present our up-­coming AFCC California Conference in Costa Mesa, California February 10-12, 2017.  This year’s conference theme is Custody Complexities: Hard Decisions” Our conference co-chairs, Judith Forman and Angus Strachan, have been working extremely hard with their very able committee to put together our best program yet.  Among the featured speakers at the Conference will be nationally renowned experts such as Marsha Kline Pruett, Ph.D.; David Martindale, Ph.D. APBB; Robin Deutsch, Ph.D., APBB; MIchael A Saini, MSW, Ph.D. as well as a host of California Judges and our own distinguished California-based experts from the fields of mental health and law.

Here are just a few of the topics to be covered at the Conference:

“The Slippery Slope from Research to Advocacy”

“Ethical Issues and Challenges  for Consultants and Expert Witnesses”

“Creative Solutions for Complex Custody Cases”

“Assessment of Intimate Partner Violence: Using the New AFCC Guidelines for Examining the Effects of Intimate Partner Violence”

“It Takes as Village: Addressing Children’s Attachments to Multiple Parents and Grandparents”

“Streamlining Family Courts and Custody Evaluations: What Needs to Change”

As was the case in 2015, our Conference this year will be held at the Westin South Coast Plaza.  The accommodations are fabulous and the chance to come meet and spend time with so many experts and your colleagues engaged in the work we do for families shouldn’t be missed.

Please see the attached link (below) to our 2017 California Conference brochure for more detailed information about the conference and how to register.

If you are not a member yet of AFCC, please take this opportunity to join today.  Dues to be come a member of AFCC International and the California Chapter are $225.00.  For  this annual membership fee you have access to more than 6,000 members who share your interests in the work we do in and out  of our Courts and communities to improve the lives of our children and families.  You will receive the prestigious quarterly publication, “Family Court Review”, our California Newsletter, discounts to our California programs as well as regional and International AFCC conferences and programs.  For lawyers, compared to up to $600.00 plus many of pay for bar association dues, AFCC membership is one of the truly great bargains and the professional benefits you will get from contacts and information from your AFCC membership will pay back your dues many times over.

I look forward to seeing all of you at the conference February 10-­12, 2017 in Costa Mesa!

Mike Kretzmer President, AFCC California Chapter