The issues facing troubled youth today have become so severe and numerous that new, bold and creative paradigms are needed to address them, presenters at Jackson State University’s Mississippi Child Welfare Institute conference told social work scholars and practitioners last week.
“This conference brings together social work scholars, faculty, administrators, students and practitioners,” said Dr. Gwendolyn Spencer Prater, conference organizer and Dean Emerita of the Jackson State University School of Social Work.
Prater also told Diverse that the conference includes adolescents who are in group homes and preparing to transition out of the foster care system. “That’s why we bring in speakers who have had some clear adversity in their lives. Many of them have been in the system, and they talk about how they were able to move forward with their lives.”
“Transformation” was the overarching theme as the presenters from around the nation explored ways of improving child welfare services in Mississippi, the state with the highest poverty rate, obesity rate and infant mortality rate in the nation.
Dr. Terry Morris, a NASA engineer with a Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, was one of those inspirational presenters. Morris described his childhood as an extended nightmare so disturbing the audience gasped when he provided the details.
“I was abused, abandoned and neglected by my biological family and my community,” he said, “but I knew there were things I had to do to change from what I used to be to what I am today.”
He took advantage of “every opportunity available” including scholarships, science camps and mentors, and, most importantly, he said, he turned his back on the negative influences in his life.
