CLOSED 

Agenda: 

• 8:00 - 8:15 am: Registration

• 8:15 - 8:30 am:  Welcome & Opening Remarks

• 8:30 - 11:45 am: Ethical and Risk Management Challenges in School Social Work: Essential Knowledge for Today's Practitioners, with Frederic Reamer, Ph.D. (3 CEs in Professional Ethics) 15 min break

• 11:45 - 12:30 pm: Lunch

• 12:30 - 3:30 pm: Office of the Child Advocate 101 and More! with Katelyn Medeiros, Esquire and Kara A. Foley, MSW (3 CEs in General) 

• 3:30 pm: Conference Ends and Certificates of Attendance will be distributed. 

Morning Workshop: Ethical and Risk Management Challenges in School Social Work: Essential Knowledge for Today's Practitioners, with Frederic Reamer, Ph.D.

This training will provide participants with a comprehensive overview of ethical, malpractice, and risk-management issues pertaining to school social work and the delivery of services to minors and their families.  Using extensive case material, participants will learn how to handle complex practice-based ethical dilemmas, prevent professional malpractice, and avoid liability.  Emphasis will be on practical strategies designed to protect children, professionals, and other school personnel and administrators. 

Key topics will include the concepts of confidentiality, privacy, and privileged communication; limits to minors’ right to confidentiality; disclosures to parents and guardians; responding to subpoenas in child custody disputes, divorce proceedings, and other litigation; parents’ access to minors’ confidential records; protecting third parties; practitioners' use of digital and other technology; and relevant statutes, regulations, court orders, and Constitutional issues. 

At the conclusion of this workshop participants will be able to:  

1. Identify common ethical dilemmas pertaining to school social work 

2. Implement ethical decision-making frameworks and protocols 

3. Apply relevant ethical standards 

Frederic Reamer has been on the faculty of the School of Social Work, Rhode Island College since 1983. His teaching and research focus on professional ethics, criminal justice, mental health, health care, and public policy. Dr. Reamer received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago and has served as a social worker in correctional and mental health settings. He chaired the national task force that wrote the Code of Ethics adopted by the National Association of Social Workers and served on the code revision task force. Dr. Reamer also chaired the national task force sponsored by NASW, the Association of Social Work Boards, Council on Social Work Education, and Clinical Social Work Association that developed standards governing social workers’ use of technology in professional practice. He has lectured nationally and internationally on social work and professional ethics, including in India, China, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and in various European nations. His books include Risk Management in the Behavioral Health Professions: A Practical Guide to Preventing Malpractice and Licensing-Board Complaints; The Philosophical Foundations of Social Work; Social Work Values and Ethics; Risk Management in Social Work; The Social Work Ethics Casebook; Ethical Standards in Social Work; Boundary Issues and Dual Relationships in the Human Services; Ethics and Risk Management in Online and Distance Social Work; Moral Distress and Injury in Human Services; Heinous Crime: Cases, Causes, and Consequences; On the Parole Board: Reflections on Crime, Punishment, Redemption, and Justice: and The Social Work Ethics Audit, among others. Dr. Reamer has served as an expert witness in many court and licensing board cases throughout the United States. In 2016 Dr. Reamer was named a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers for his "commitment and dedication to the social work profession and to the improvement of social and human conditions at the local, state, national, and international levels." 

Afternoon Workshop: Office of the Child Advocate 101 and More! with Katelyn Medeiros, Esquire and Kara A. Foley, MSW

The Office of the Child Advocate (OCA) is the independent state agency that oversees the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF). We will provide an overview of the responsibilities of the OCA as the oversight agency to DCYF, and how the OCA is a resource to the Rhode Island community. The OCA will also discuss how the office intervenes on individual cases and how the OCA monitors the children served by the child welfare, children’s behavioral health, and juvenile justice systems in Rhode Island.

By the end of this training, attendees will:

1. Develop a deeper working knowledge of the OCA and the role of the office.

2. Be able to share information and refer colleagues, families, and students to the OCA.

3. Put into practice, through case studies and small group discussion, best practices to best help students and families.

Speakers Bios:

Katelyn Medeiros, Esquire

Child Advocate

Ms. Medeiros started her career with the Office of the Child Advocate in May 2014 as a Staff Attorney III. In February 2017, Ms. Medeiros was promoted to serve as the Assistant Child Advocate. In July 2022, Ms. Medeiros was appointed to serve as the Acting Child Advocate. In May 2024, Ms. Medeiros was appointed by Governor Daniel J. McKee as the Child Advocate for a five-year term. Ms. Medeiros graduated summa cum laude from Rhode Island College in 2010 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Justice Studies and Sociology. She then pursued her Juris Doctorate at Roger Williams School of Law, graduating magna cum laude in 2013. She was a member of Roger Williams School of the Law Honors Program, Public Interest Law Program and served as a Research Assistant. While participating in the Public Interest Law Program, Ms. Medeiros worked for the OCA as a Rule 9 intern from 2012-2013. She was admitted to the Rhode Island Bar and the Massachusetts Bar in November 2013 and the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island in 2014. Ms. Medeiros serves as a member of several committees including but not limited to, the OCA Child Fatality Review Panel, OCA Advisory Committee, Children’s Cabinet, the Special Legislative Study Commission on Mandated Safety Protocols for Rhode Island Schools, and RI Trauma Informed Schools Commission. Prior to working for the OCA, Ms. Medeiros worked in private practice.

Kara A. Foley, MSW

Public Education and Information Coordinator

Kara Foley is the Public Education and Information Coordinator at the OCA. Ms. Foley earned a Master of Social Work Degree with a Macro Concentration from Rhode Island College and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Sociology with a minor in Psychology from Simmons University. She also completed a policy fellowship through The Women’s Fund of Rhode Island’s Women’s Policy Institute in 2012. Prior to joining the OCA staff in 2019, Ms. Foley served as a Policy Analyst at Rhode Island KIDS COUNT where she was responsible for policy analysis, research, and writing on issues related to child welfare, child abuse and neglect, children in care of DCYF, adoption and permanency, youth involved in the juvenile justice system, youth referred to Rhode Island Family Court, youth at the RITS, alternatives to incarceration, and others. Prior to her role with Rhode Island KIDS COUNT, Ms. Foley was the Community Program Consultant for Adoption Rhode Island where she worked on foster care and adoption programming, research, development, and community outreach, and worked for the Providence VA Medical Center as a Research Health Science Specialist. Ms. Foley was instrumental in the passage of legislation to grant adult adoptees born in Rhode Island access to non-certified copies of original birth certificates at the age of 25 and the passage of legislation in 2021 to decrease the age to age 18. In 2022, Ms. Foley received an Angel in Adoption Award from Congressman Cicilline. Ms. Foley serves as a member of the OCA Advisory Committee, a member of the Juvenile Detention Alternatives Initiative (JDAI) Steering Committee and Education Subcommittee, a member of the Community Engagement and Education and Employment subcommittees of the Coalition to Support Rhode Island Youth, a member of the American Adoption Congress, and for more than ten years has volunteered as a guest speaker at foster/adoptive parent licensing trainings.