GHOSTS FROM THE NURSERY
A Violence Prevention Conference
The Delaware Community Foundation presented GHOSTS
FROM THE NURSERY - A Violence Prevention Conference Wednesday,
October 20, 1999 at the DuPont Country Club. The day-long conference
was the culminating activity for the DCF’s five-year grantmaking
program,
Violence Prevention: An Investment in
Children from Birth to Age Five was reviewed. It was held during the YWCA’s Week Without
Violence, October 17 – 24.
The purpose of the conference was to define the
roots of violence, explore prevention strategies and encourage
collaboration among professionals and agencies. It served as the
final violence prevention “grant” for the practitioners, policy
makers and funders who are working to prevent violent behavior in
all ages and populations.
The name of the conference was adapted from the
book, Ghosts from the
Nursery: Tracing the Roots of Violence, written by Robin
Karr-Morse and Meredith S. Wiley, the keynote speakers for the
conference. Their book offers a shocking but empowering message for
stemming the epidemic of youth violence: to seek the cure for this
unprecedented violence, we must look back before adolescence, before
grade school, before preschool – to the cradle – to find its source.
Research by Karr-Morse and Wiley links violent
behavior to abuse and neglect from pre-birth through the first two
years of life and shows that infancy is the stage during which the
foundations for trust, empathy and conscience are laid down. Failure
to instill these qualities at this critical juncture can lead to
tragedy. Their presentation at the conference included research
findings, case studies and strategies for the primary prevention of
violence.
Attendees had the opportunity to learn about
successful violence prevention programs in Delaware and exchanged
information with their colleagues at four special interest sessions.
Former State Representative Jane Maroney, an advocate of children’s
rights, spoke about the future of violence prevention in Delaware.
The theme of the Special Interest Sessions was “The
Primary Prevention of Violence: A Continuum of Programs” and
included:
-
Pre-Parenting Training and Comprehensive Pregnancy
Prevention
Programs that educate adolescents about the demands
of parenting and address the underlying factors that often result in
teen pregnancy
-
Prenatal Health Care, Home Visitation and
Parenting Education
Programs that teach parenting skills and conflict
resolution, including programs that reach out to high-risk mothers
and send professionals to their homes for prenatal, perinatal and
postnatal care
-
Education for Parents of High Risk Preschoolers
Programs that promote healthy emotional and
behavioral development in preschoolers to families and children with
special needs and children who display early signs of violent
behavior
-
Education for Day Care and Preschool Professionals
Programs that train childcare professionals to
identify children who are the victims of violence, deal with
aggressive and violent behavior and provide a healthy emotional
foundation for learning
The conference featured displays of programs and
materials related to violence prevention.
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