Online Trainings and Presentations:

 

Webinars

  • Judicial Council of California Trainings:

    • A Deep Dive into Due Diligence: Kin-first and Relative Placement Preference (2024)

      • This webinar intersects conversations and a presentation about the legal Due Diligence requirements by Kelly Lynn Beck, attorney and senior permanency trainer, with information on due diligence and SenecaSearch provided by Clif Venable. It also features an interview with Kaiulu Ramirez, Family Finding Supervisor with Seneca, about the supervision of practice, along with Judge Denine Guy with the Superior Court of Santa Cruz County about the responsibility and opportunity for the bench to oversee and support the work. Director Bob Friend facilitates the conversation, which includes Mike Mertz who has participated, supervised, trained coached and consulted on this practice nationally and internationally for almost 2 decades. 

    • Legal and Emotional Permanence training for the Judicial Council of California (2023)

      • Trainers: Bob Friend, Mike Mertz, and Kelly Lynn Beck (NIPFC) and Marymichael Smrdeli (Judicial Council of California)

  • California Child Welfare Council (June 14, 2023)

    • System Alignment Work in Santa Cruz County presentation with Bob Friend, Judges Denine Guy, Timothy Schmal, and Jerry Vinluan from Santa Cruz County, Marymichael Smrdeli (Supervising Attorney from the Judicial Council of California (JCC)), Rob Doty (former Division Director of Santa Cruz County Probation), and Kelli Kopeck (Program Manager from Santa Cruz County Family and Children Services)

  • Webinar: Celebrating the Fostering Connections Act

  • Relatives Matter Online Training

    • Relatives Matter - Meeting Child Welfare System Mandates to Locate and Notice Family, introduces participants to Federal and California standards for notification.

  • Webinar: Family Finding - What Have We Learned?

    • Supporting Documents

    • This webinar, held on August 15, 2013, examined current research results and ongoing research on Family Finding, reviewed what is working and assessed the implications for practice, fidelity and implementation, and considered the ramifications for future research design.

           Panelists:
           Karin Malm, MS, Director for Child Welfare and Senior Research Scientist at Child Trends
           Melissa Mollard, PhD, Director of Research at Seneca Family of Agencies
           Kevin Campbell, Expert Consultant/Trainer and Author of the Family Finding Model with Seneca Family of Agencies

           Moderator:
           Bob Friend, Director of NIPFC at Seneca Family of Agencies

PowerPoint Training Tools

Family Finding PowerPoints

  • Family Search and Engagement: Creating Lifetime Connections
    Introduction to Family Finding and engagement presented by Mardith L. Louisell and Linda Librizzi to Casey Family Services staff

  • Emergency Response Training
    In June 2006, Orange County held a training focusing on the role of the Emergency Response (ER) Senior Social Worker in creating lifelong connections for dependent youth. This training incorporated permanency related concepts which included finding the names, addresses and telephone numbers for family members and important others at the beginning phases of a case.

Introduction to Permanency PowerPoints