Within the world of court-involved families, too few practitioners are adequately trained in the unique needs of babies and toddlers. With pre-verbal children, assessing needs requires picking up on potentially subtle clues. Too often, these clues are overlooked, and the practitioners (mental health professionals, attorneys, judges) fall back on generalizations and presumptions that may be invalid and inappropriate to the case. Through this panel, experts in the field of infant and early child development will discuss assessment tools with infants and toddlers and address culturally and economically appropriate ways to assure that we aren’t overlooking the needs of society’s littlest members.
Learning Objectives:
- Participants will develop/expand knowledge of infant mental health and attachment and its importance in providing competent interventions in custody cases involving children under three.
- Participants will be able to identify appropriate, affordable and culturally sound legal and clinical interventions for children under three and their families.
- Participants will understand the legal context for making age-appropriate and culturally appropriate custody recommendations for children 0-3