Please join us for the 2024 Children Trust Michigan Fall Conference on Thursday and Friday, October 17-18, 2024 at the Mt. Pleasant Comfort Inn & Suites Conference Center. This two-day conference is a wonderful chance for our network of Prevention Partners to come together to share best practices, support, and learning.
This year’s theme, “Beyond Prevention: Cultivating Resilience and Hope in Childhood,” invites us to delve into the crucial work we do to strengthen families thus reducing child abuse and neglect. Together, we’ll celebrate the remarkable resilience we see in our communities and share our vision for a Michigan where every child is happy, supported, and has a bright, safe future.
You don’t want to miss this inspiring opportunity to connect, reflect, and rejuvenate our collective efforts. You do such important work, and we can’t wait to connect with one another!
Presenters
MaryJo Alimena Caruso
TTA Coordinator: FRIENDS National Center for CBCAP
MaryJo Alimena Caruso is a Training and Technical Assistance Coordinator for the FRIENDS National Center for CBCAP. MaryJo brings over 30 years of experience in service delivery and technical assistance for child welfare, human service professionals and families. MaryJo has a Master’s Degree in Counseling and Education with an emphasis in disability issues. Prior to joining FRIENDS, she developed an evidence-based volunteer respite program which been replicated nationally in faith and community organizations. MaryJo has experience in statewide and national initiatives with program planning and design including storytelling as a tool for communicating the importance of child abuse prevention efforts in our families, programs, and communities. She is passionate about parent/practitioner partnerships that utilize co-design strategies and developing parent advisory councils to have a meaningful role and purpose.
Curt Collins
Curt Collins is a multi-generational parent of six. He and his wife Christine of 38 years are Hartland, MI residents and have three biological daughters together ages 26, 28 and 34. Each is married and the oldest with two sons: 2 and 4 years old. When the girls were in their early teens Curt and Christine were influenced by a group of parents at their local church active in fostering and adoption. They became part of the second wave of church families to foster and adopt kids and welcomed Chris at age 20 months and is now a freshman in high school and shortly after Madison at three month of age and now in the eighth grade. A year later Madison’s biological half brother came into the world and needed a foster home. Isaac was part of the Collins family for four years when he was reunited with his biological dad. Isaac continues to have regular visits with the Collins’ and considers them his second family. Curt and Christine have mentored many families through the fostering and adoption process and enjoy supporting and encouraging young parents. Curt is presently beginning his second year of retirement after 30 years of pharmaceutical account management and field marketing and now has plenty of time to devote to raising two teens and playing with the grandkids. Curt volunteers as a CASA (Court Appointed Child Advocate) in Livingston county through LACASA. For fun Curt enjoys golf, fly fishing, running and taking Max the beagle for regular walks.
My why for having a passion as being a family leader:
1. Parenting is hard. It’s the most important job/roll an adult can pursue and it’s challenging as a couple let alone a single parent. I am blessed to have had positive experiences with raising children and feel lead to support and encourage young parents.
2. “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.” James 1:27 NIV
Kederick Davis
Besides my four years of higher education at Madonna University, where I received my Bachelor’s and associate’s degrees while competing as a full-time NAIA Track and Field student-athlete and team captain. I’ve developed a diverse background that spans radio broadcasting, coaching, and content creation.
I’ve recently transitioned to focus more on coaching and family. This move has allowed me to balance my passion for athletics and writing with the importance of family, making me more driven and purposeful in my work, with a role in high school athletics I can continue supporting young athletes and contributing to their success both on and off the field.
WHY: I understand the dynamics of trying to balance a family and work life, giving me unmatched insight into the challenges of both, which are essential for stability in any household. This stems from learning well-rounded skills, experience, and passion; that not only align directly with the needs of my family but are crucial for my own well-being. In short, I want to help families learn adaptable skills to succeed in different environments, from the workplace to home life.
Suzanne Greenberg
Executive Director, Children Trust Michigan
Currently, Suzanne serves as the Executive Director for Children Trust Michigan in Lansing which is the state agency responsible for the prevention of child abuse and neglect through 100+ prevention programs serving the 83 counties across Michigan! As a tireless advocate for the best interests of children and a survivor of childhood physical and sexual abuse, her experience includes leading the CAN Council Great Lakes Bay Region in strategic growth from serving one to three counties as well as expanding prevention, intervention and advocacy programming across the region. This award-winning agency grew from just 2 part time staff to over 25 staff plus a team of active volunteers and interns! Her legacy is the move from the basement of the Westlund Guidance Clinic to the beautiful CAN Council building expanded in 2015. Ms. Greenberg has been honored as the CAN Council’s Child Advocate of the Year 2020, Saginaw Chamber’s Community Impact Award (2018), Michigan Jaycees 10 Outstanding Young Michiganders, United States 10 Outstanding Young Americans, YWCA’s Woman of Distinction (2014) among many others. Suzanne’s greatest joy is her husband of 40 years, Alan and their children Samantha and Ben.
Ashley Ledon
Ashley Lendon is a mother to a 2-year-old daughter and lives in Sparta, MI along with her husband of 7 years. She grew up in Marshall, MI, and attended Michigan State University, majoring in Food Science. Her career has taken her across the United States and Europe, settling back in West Michigan 5 years ago.
Her belief is that everyone has permission to tell their story and that they are not alone. In 2018, she suffered a miscarriage, and through sharing her experience, she learned that numerous women in her “circle” also suffered a miscarriage. This was the first of many times that she learned she was not alone. Other times include infertility, corporate layoffs, the premature birth of her baby, and a stint in the Helen Devos Children’s Hospital NICU.
In 2022, she connected with Family Futures for ASQ’s, which led to volunteering, and ultimately joining the Family Advisory Board. Additionally, she was recently selected to the Policy & Advocacy workgroup with the National Center for Family and Parent Leadership.
Ashley’s experiences are summed up in this story: Recently, her daughter was afraid to walk in the dirt and she wanted someone to hold her hand. As her mom, Ashley stated: “Everyone deserves to have someone hold their hand through the dirt piles in life”
Kristine Licavoli
Kristine Licavoli is a wife and stay-at-home mother who lives in the small village of Otter Lake, Michigan. She has been married to her husband for 7 years and they have a beautiful 3-year-old daughter. She is actively involved with the Great Start of Tuscola County Enrichment Center. There, many playgroups are offered for their family to enjoy and the environment is perfect for her daughter to learn, play, and socialize with others her age. Also at the center, Kristine is a member of the Family Advisory Board (FAB) and works with other parents to organize ways to engage and empower families in the community. She is also a leader in the Homeschool Support Group. Being a homeschooled parent herself, it is a great opportunity to have a place to meet with others and discuss the challenges, find resources, and just lean on other homeschooling parents. Kristine also runs a Parent/Caregiver group on Facebook that shares local free events in the county, and free resources and she also organizes playdates to meet up with others and have some fun with their families. In her spare time, she loves crocheting, watching football, and camping with her family. While navigating motherhood, Kristine hopes to be as involved in her community as possible to help provide positive relationships and build a place where children can flourish.
Why: Being a family leader helps to foster growth and learning which can increase the development of family members. It can also encourage community members, friends, and many others by setting the example. In order for positive growth to happen, I need to set the stage for my family and others.
Amy Tattrie Loepp, MSA
Board Chair, Children Trust Michigan
Amy Tattrie Loepp is the Chair of Children Trust Michigan, a statewide organization that helps prevent child abuse and neglect. Named to this role by gubanatorial appointment in 2020, she also serves as chair of the executive committee. Amy is also the Co-Founder, Past President and Board Member of Impact100 Oakland County, a women’s organization that assists residents of Oakland County, Michigan through impactful, large-scale grants to community nonprofits. Since its inception in 2015 the organization has provided over $2 million to local organizations selected by its membership. It is part of an international movement made up of over 70 other Impact100 chapters. Since 2014, Amy serves on the Board of Trustees and is the current Past President at Eton Academy, an independent school for children who learn differently. Active throughout Southeastern Michigan, In 2019 the Community House Foundation named Amy as a Bates Street Society Pillar Inductee in the Philanthropy category. In 2019, Amy and her husband, Daniel J. Loepp served as the executive chairs for the Everybody vs. Parkinson’s fundraiser in partnership with the Kirk Gibson and Michigan Parkinson Foundations. In 2016 Amy and Dan were honored with the Edward H. McNamara Award Goodfellow of the Year Award by The Old Newsboys’ Goodfellow Fund of Detroit for their efforts to improve Detroit and the surrounding region, as well as for their charitable work. Amy and Dan have also chaired the Capuchin Soup Kitchen’s annual SOCK Dinner and have contributed to the Soup Kitchen. Additionally, in 2016, Amy was recognized as a WJR radio station “Women Who Lead” honoree. Amy founded Tattrie Strategies in 2010, a business strategy consulting business. Prior to that, Amy worked for a Detroit-based consulting firm and held various corporate leadership positions focusing on strategic planning, business planning, communications and governmental affairs. She earned her undergraduate degree in Social Work from Michigan State University and MSA graduate degree from Central Michigan University.
Katherine Logan-Dinco, MS
Family Coordinator, Children Trust Michigan
Katie Logan-Dinco, MS, is the Family Coordinator at Children Trust Michigan. Prior to her role as a Family Coordinator, she was a kinship caregiver for three years and an active family leader in her community as well as with the Home Visiting department in MDHHS. She is actively working with community-based organizations throughout Michigan to address the needs and barriers that they face when elevating family engagement and family leadership. To better serve Michigan communities and families Katie is currently in her second year at Michigan State University earning her Master’s in Social Work for Organizational and Community Leadership. Katie approached all of her work with organizations, families, and even state-level systems through a strength-based lens as she is a firm believer and trainer in the HOPE framework and Strengthening Families Protective Factors Framework ®.
Bill Mattson
Program Director, Family Support Center of Barry County
Bill Mattson currently serves as the Program Director of the Family Support Center of Barry County, the state’s designated Primary Prevention Partner in Barry County. Bill has spent 39 years working in the non-profit realm with 35 of those years in senior or executive leadership positions. Throughout his career, he has developed a keen understanding of the importance of maintaining a connection with the people being supported and served. Mattson believes that community leadership is most effective when it remains connected to the day-to-day realities of those we aim to help, and he is committed to ensuring that supports and services provided are not only effective but also empathetic and responsive to the needs of our community.
Brandon T. McDaniel, PhD
Senior Research Scientist, Mirro Center for Research and Innovation
Dr. Brandon T. McDaniel is a Senior Research Scientist at the Parkview Mirro Center for Research and Innovation, Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Indiana University School of Medicine Fort Wayne, and internationally recognized expert on the impacts of technology use on relationships, families, and children. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, and he has published more than 80 scholarly articles related to technology use, parenting, family relationships, and more. Also, as a father he has personal experiences with the complexities of real life with technology use and parent-child interaction and relationships. Through his research and community education, he assists individuals and families with the development of healthy digital habits.
Christina Pocklington
Christina Pocklington is a parent from Kent County. Her children, Riley (7), and Amy (3), are what inspired her to become a parent leader and advocate. Both children received services from Early On. Amy received services from Infant Mental Health, Moms Bloom, and Healthy Families America. Christina is a former Preschool and Kindergarten teacher and has her masters in Early Childhood Education with her capstone being focused on home visiting. She has been a member of the Local Leadership Group as a Parent Representative since 2020, in addition to being a member of Family Future’s Family Advisory Board since 2023. Christina has been in the Michigan Parent Impact Network since 2022. She is a 2022 Parent Partnering for Change certificate holder. In 2022, she was on the committee that revised the Core Knowledge Framework for Home Visiting. Her vision for the future includes universal home visiting and Pre-K for all children.
Why: I want to live in a world where all families have access to the support and resources they need. Children deserve to be set up for success, eliminating barriers for families. We need universal home visiting and paid parental/sick leave to best support families. My goal is for Michigan to have universal home visiting by the time my kids are having children.
Robert Sege, MD, PhD
Director of the HOPE National Resource Center, Tufts University School of Medicine
Robert Sege, MD, PhD is a Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, where he directs the Center for Community-engaged Medicine and is a core faculty member of the Tufts Clinical and Translational Science Institute. He has received several national awards for his work, including the prestigious 2019 Ray E. Helfer award from the Alliance of Children’s Trusts and the American Academy of Pediatrics. Parent-centered interventions begin with recognizing the strengths and stamina that families bring to raising their children. He leads projects that develop practical approaches that improve the systems support families, including a new model for primary care for infants in low-income communities (DULCE) and a new framework for working with children and families, (HOPE). His extensive speaking and publication list include contributions to the prevention and treatment of child maltreatment and youth violence. He is a graduate of Yale College, received his PhD in Biology from MIT and his MD from Harvard Medical School. Bob lives in the Boston area, where he and his wife Karen have raised three young adult children.
N. Debra Simms, MD
Child Abuse and Neglect Pediatrician, Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital
Debra Simms, MD has been with the CAC since November 2001. Dr. Simms graduated from the MSU college of Human Medicine and did her general pediatric training at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital. She is board certified in General Pediatrics and the specialty of Child Abuse Pediatrics. She is a woman with a deep and abiding faith, loves children, has several cats, and really likes the color purple.
Cara Sutliffe
Cara has four children, whom she describes as “my precious pride and joys (pp&j), all have strong unique independent awesome personalities.” Some of her children were born with special needs their own superpowers” while others were born neurotypical, and she is proud to advocate for all four of them and help teach them to voice their needs to win the race with whatever “crutches” they need or don’t need in life.
Cara has been a parent leader since August 2018, but she feels that once you become a mother you immediately step into a family leadership role. Cara is especially proud of one presentation she took part in with WIC, which prompted the organization to include actual parents on their board of directors so that they would have an actual voice and opinions of the people who use their services.
Cara gets excited for any project that involves working with other parents and families finding out what programs work or don’t work, where they need more resources, and trying to find ways to help find them. She strongly believes in “Nothing for Us without Us!”
Cara’s unwavering devotion to her children, community, and fellow parent leaders has garnered recognition throughout Michigan’s early childhood system. Her exceptional commitment has propelled her into leadership roles at the local, state, and national levels. Cara’s voice resonates as an inspiration, motivating others with her advocacy and making a positive impact on the lives of families and programs in the early childhood arena.
Why: “I have seen and been a part of the impactful change parent voice has made and can make. I stay committed to uplifting my community voice and advocating for change, without our lived experience how can we fix a broken system.”
Deb Timmerman, RN, DAIS, HMCT
Child Resilience Officer, Less Stress in Life
Deb Timmerman RN, DAIS, HMCT serves as the Chief Resilience Officer at Less Stress in Life, an organization dedicated to empowering individuals with the skills and resources needed to navigate through periods of significant change and high stress. Timmerman spent 15 years developing and leading healthcare teams. Since 2015, her company mission has been promoting awareness of the impact of stress on health and well-being, and helping individuals and organizations integrate strategies to manage and reduce stress in their lives. Timmerman holds multiple certifications in mind-body practices (reflexology, Taichi Easy, mindfulness and meditation, HeartMath Coherence Advantage, HeartMath Stress and Wellbeing Assessment, HeartMath Certified Trauma Practitioner, and stress education) and leadership development (HeartMath for Teams) tools. She was awarded Diplomate status from the American Institute of Stress in 2017 for her commitment to continuing education in the field of stress education and continues to hold that designation. She is Certified Master Trainer for the MI ACE Initiative and served as Co-Chair of the Barry County Trauma-Informed Workgroup, a collaboration of healthcare providers, educators, and community agencies working to break the intergenerational cycle of childhood trauma and its life altering effects on the physical and mental wellness of Barry County citizens.
Bethany Van Delft Moffi
Parent Advocate and Storyteller
Bethany Van Delft Moffi is a comedian, storyteller, emcee, and Parent Advocate who has been active in the special needs community since the birth of her daughter Lulu in 2011. She’s completed leadership and advocacy trainings through Mass Families Organizing for Change, Interaction Institute for Social Change, and Federation for Children with Special Needs Parent Consultant Institute. She was awarded the FCSN Patricia Blake Parent Advocacy Award in 2017, given to an individual who exemplifies the belief in the potential of all children with disabilities to achieve, and earned a certificate from the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress in supporting best practices for educating students with intellectual disabilities. She is a regular host for “The MOTH” live events. Her Mainstage story sharing her post partum experience after the birth of her first child garnered 15+ million views, and is also included in The MOTH’s 2nd book “All These Wonders.” In the comedy world, Bethany has performed at the prestigious JFL Festival, SF Sketchfest, All Jane Festival, and on 2 Dope Queens podcast. She was named Boston Magazine “Best Comic 2019”, produces comedy shows in her hometown of Boston, all the while keeping her kids and husband alive, and very not unhappy.
Cole Williams
Co-Founder and Executive Director of the Delta Project
Cole Williams is a passionate advocate and community leader dedicated to breaking the generational cycle of incarceration and empowering underserved communities. As the Co-founder & Executive Director of the Delta Project, Cole’s mission is to reconnect youth of color and their families to community relationships through mentorship, coaching, and storytelling.In addition to his work with the Delta Project, Cole provides supportive parenting classes for families receiving Juvenile Justice Services through the 17th District Family Court Division in Kent County and the 20th Judicial Circuit Court in Ottawa County. His dedication to supporting families in crisis is evident in his commitment to providing practical and empowering resources.As a Keynote Speaker & Trainer, Cole shares his expertise and insights with organizations and agencies in the Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice, and Educational Systems. Through his company, Cole Williams Media, LLC, he delivers professional speaking services and produces trainings that support and empower family serving professionals who provide support and resources to underserved communities and families.Cole is also a curriculum developer, having created programs that explore the journey of Fatherhood for incarcerated fathers, teen fathers, and fathers in re-entry programs. His work at the Kent County Jail, the Kent County Juvenile Detention Center, and the Ottawa County Juvenile Justice Services Center in Holland, Michigan, has had a profound impact on fathers seeking support and guidance during challenging times. Through his dedication, expertise, and unwavering passion, Cole Williams continues to make a positive impact in the lives of youth and families in Michigan and beyond.
Holly Wingard
Facilitator, Trainer and Consultant, Wingard Consulting, LLC
Holly Wingard is a private consultant, specializing in family engagement and leadership development, systems building, community organizing and facilitation. Her passion for family leadership was sparked by her personal experiences as the parent of a child with Autism, advocating for inclusionary practices and improved partnerships between families and service providers. During the past fifteen years, Ms. Wingard has had the privilege of working in partnership with multiple state and local agencies inside and outside Michigan on a broad variety of projects, where she developed and provided trainings and coaching to those working to authentically engage families in system level work. She holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology, with a minor in sociology from The College of Wooster, and is a skilled trainer, certified in Strengthening Families™, Parents Partnering for Change and as a HOPE Facilitator and Champion.