AC21 - IIG - Part 1: Infants and Toddlers in Child Welfare: Using Prevention, Policy and Practice to Optimize Outcomes

For more than 35 years, Dr. Jones Harden has focused on the developmental and mental health needs of young children at environmental risk, specifically children who have been maltreated, are in the foster care system, or have been exposed to multiple family risks such as maternal depression, parent substance use, and poverty. She is particularly interested in using this research to inform practice, with respect to preventive interventions to promote positive outcomes for children reared in high-risk circumstances, such as home visitation and Early Head Start.

Dr. Jones Harden is the author/co-author of numerous publications, including the books Infants in the Child Welfare System: A Developmental Framework for Policy and Practice; Child Welfare and Child Well-Being: New Perspectives From the National Survey of Child Adolescent Well-being; and Beyond Common Sense: Child Welfare, Child Well-Being, and the Evidence for Policy Reform. She was a visiting Professor at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education and the Harris Visiting Scholar at the University of Minnesota Institute for Child Development. She has also served as Fellow for the Society for Research in Child Development Policy Fellow for the Administration for Children & Families, USDHHS; and a Fellow of ZERO TO THREE.

Joy D. Osofsky, Ph.D. is a clinical and developmental psychologist, Ramsay Endowed  Chair and Barbara Lemann Professor of Child Welfare at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. She has published widely and authored or edited eight books on trauma in the lives of children. Currently, together with three colleagues, she is editing the two volume WAIMH Handbook of Infant and Early  Childhood Development. Dr. Osofsky is past president of ZERO to THREE and of the World  Association for Infant Mental Health. She has been awarded as an Honorary President of  WAIMH and currently serves on the Board of Zero to Three. She has had much experience  with response to disasters playing a leadership role as Clinical Director for Child and Adolescent Initiatives for Louisiana Spirit, the Crisis Counseling Program following Hurricane Katrina and  Co-Principal Investigator for the Mental Health Capacity  Program following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. She has served as Co-Principal of Centers within the National Child Traumatic Stress Network since 2003 and in 2007 received the  Sarah Haley Award for Clinical Excellence in work with trauma by the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.  In 2010 she was recognized with the Reginald Lourie Award for leadership and outstanding contributions to the health and welfare of children and families. In 2020, she was awarded the Translational Research Award from the International Congress on Infant Studies. In 2021, she received the ZERO TO THREE Lifetime Achievement Award.    

Cristina Galto is a faculty associate in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University. She earned her Masters in Social Work and Bachelors in Psychology from Arizona State University. She has worked more than 15 years in the social service industry in a variety of positions, from case management to providing clinical services to children, youth and families. Cristina has had a variety of clinical training experiences related to trauma, play therapy modalities and early childhood. Through her experience in advocacy centers and the behavioral health field, she has focused her career on the effects of trauma intergenerationally and the importance of early childhood mental health. She has devoted much of her time to non-profit management, community organization, volunteer engagement, trauma training within multiple disciplines and behavioral health.

Darneshia Allen, BS, is a Director of Practice and Field Operations for the National Infant-Toddler Court Program (ITCP) at ZERO TO THREE. Darneshia Allen offers over 29 years of experience working with young children. Her background includes intensive work with families in urban communities, years of experience in Early Care and Education which ultimately led to the development of a Pre-K 4 program. She joined ZERO TO THREE as the Arkansas Community Coordinator for the Pulaski County Safe Babies Court Team Project in 2009. In the continuous leadership of ZERO TO THREE, Mrs. Allen has provided support for communities implementing the Safe Babies Court Team™ approach in many roles. She previously led the work as a Statewide Training and Outreach Coordinator and Quality Improvement Center for Infant Toddler Court Teams Technical Assistance Specialist prior to becoming the Senior Technical Assistance Specialist in 2018. She currently serves the project as the Director of Practice and Field Operations. Over the last 10 years with ZERO TO THREE, Mrs. Allen has presented on the safety and well-being of infants and toddlers in child welfare on local and national levels. She has spoken regularly at state infant mental health and early childhood conferences, including: The National Birth To Three Institute; The Arkansas Early Care and Education Annual Conference; The Arkansas Home Visiting Network Annual Conference; The Arkansas and Oklahoma Children in the Law Annual Conferences; State CASA Conferences for Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Washington State; The Arizona Infant and Toddler Symposium and Arkansas Association for Infant Mental Health Conference ; The ZERO TO THREE: Scientific Meeting for the Board and Staff of ZERO TO THREE; The National Child Abuse and Neglect Conference; The ITCP Annual Cross Sites Meeting; The Maryland Divorce and Separation Roundtable; Arkansas Foster Parent Association Annual Meetings; The American Bar Association Annual Conference; Multiple years for the ZERO TO THREE: National Training Institute; Arizona’s First Thing First Annual Conference; San Diego International Conference on Child and Family Maltreatment, Louisiana’s Together We Can Conference; The Virginia Crimes Against Children’s Conference and The Children’s Defense Fund Annual Conference.