Seniors in the Chadron State College social work program hold a conference each year on a major topic of pulic importance, and this year’s conference is today from 8-5 in the CSC Student Center and focuses on child welfare.

Conference publicity committee member Mustapha Barry says the goal of the conference, which is free and open to the public, is to ensure the well-being of children by educating and empowering community members and service providers.

The keynote speaker during lunch will be Corey Steel, who became Nebraska’s new state court administrator in May.

Before that, he was deputy probation administrator for juvenile services and was one of the architects of juvenile justice reform efforts in Nebraska.

Steel’s talk will center on LB-561…which calls for changing the Nebraska juvenile justice system from a punitive system based on punishment to a treatment-based model.

Steel’s presentation will be followed by a panel of professionals will follow the keynote. The panelists include District Judge Susan Bazis of Omaha, County Judge Jamie Worden of Scottsbluff, clinical psychologist Dr Shannon Black of Lincoln, and Chadron Public Schools Superintendent Dr Caroline Winchester.

There will be other speakers in breakout sessions throughout the day addressing a wide range of topics dealing with child welfare and social work.