First, I want to express my sincere gratitude to everyone who made the APA 2023 Convention in Washington, DC so incredibly wonderful. Our preconference advocacy and policy training with APA was extremely informative, we had an outstanding program of highly distinguished speakers and award winners, and record-breaking attendance at our social events including our student breakfast, ECP social hour and Mega social hour. Many of our symposia included cross-divisional, fruitful, and interactive discussions about how to engage with children, families, communities, and policy makers. Personally, it was inspiring to see so many talented researchers, practitioners, and policy makers who are committed to children and families working together in one place. A special thank you to Evan McCracken, PhD, for his leadership as Program Chair, and his essential role in making this year’s program such a great success.
Thank you to Paula Fite, PhD, and Yo Jackson, PhD, for their outstanding “Coffee and a Call to Action” hour on how to apply research to advocacy. Marilyn Sampilo, PhD, will give a talk in December on advocacy to address health disparities. Thank you to Anjali Ferguson, PhD, for giving our first webinar that was eligible for CE credits through the division! This talk on racial discrimination experience during childhood and resulting mental health outcomes was extremely well-attended and we are excited for our next webinar by Charissa Pizzaro, PhD, (see flier in the PDF version of this issue).
Our division recently co-sponsored the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Forum for Children’s Well-being 2-day, virtual workshop on the science of engaging youth in research, practice, and policy aimed at advancing youth well-being. Workshop panelists discussed research on youth engagement outcomes as well as best practices and innovative strategies for engaging youth. Access the workshop agenda and speaker biosopens in new window. A video recording of the workshop will be made available next month. Division representatives are also scheduled to attend the Forum Business Meeting in late October, during which opportunities for division member involvement in Forum activities will be discussed.
We are excited to announce that we have renegotiated our contract with Springer so that our Advances publication will now be a book series. If you have an idea for a potential proposal please email our series editor, Thomas McMahon, PhD. As my presidential year is coming to a close, I want to thank everyone who has supported me along the way. I am grateful to the outgoing members of the board for their dedication to serving children and families. Please see the call in this issue for new board members if you are interested in joining us.
I want to thank all of you who identify as members and who participate in our “small but mighty” division! Thank you for every way in which you contribute, from attending our coffee hours, to reviewing conference submissions, reading these issues, responding to our calls for expertise, donating to fundraisers, nominating colleagues for our various awards, and overall working collaboratively toward our shared mission.
Lastly, as I write this, I cannot help but comment on the world events. Last week, Hamas terrorists kidnapped and murdered over 1000 Jews, including children, in the deadliest day for Jewish people since the Holocaust. Since then, even more innocent Palestinian and Israeli children and their families have been killed and have suffered horrific trauma. These events have impacted families everywhere and have also increased religiously motivated hate crimes against innocent Jews and Muslims globally. Our work as advocates for children remains critical. I started my presidency with a call to action. I am ending it with a plea- that we not sit silently and continue to witness atrocity. It is imperative that we use our skills and resources and truly act to heal our children and our world.
It has been my distinct pleasure and sincere honor to serve this division. I wish you all a peaceful and safe year and am hopeful for a better 2024 for our children globally.
Stephanie D. Block, PhD
2023 President of the Society for Child and Family Policy and Practice, Division 37
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