Beyond the Bench 2019

Beyond the Bench 25: Joining Forces for a Better Future for Children & Families occurred at the Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego on December 17–18, 2019, with pre-conference events on December 16, 2019.

Beyond the Bench 25 Logo and link to registration page

The landscape of child welfare and juvenile justice is changing rapidly. Attendees depend on Beyond the Bench’s tradition of multi-disciplinary learning and collaboration to provide innovative solutions for adapting to new policies and practices and improving outcomes for children, youth, and families.

This statewide conference brings together judges, court professionals, attorneys, social workers, probation officers, agency leaders, students, volunteers, advocates and subject matter experts, mental and behavioral health specialists, educators, and other system partners to transform practice. The conference strives to provide attendees opportunities to:

  • Build multidisciplinary collaborations to implement policy changes at the federal, state, and local levels;
  • Participate in an interactive environment that explores practical and effective approaches spanning case types and disciplines;
  • Receive training on current core, collateral, and crossover juvenile law issues;
  • Understand the practice implications of the latest knowledge about the impact of trauma, mental and behavioral health issues on outcomes for children, youth and families;
  • Learn leading edge approaches to addressing issues of race, disproportionality, poverty, and bias; and
  • Listen to youth perspectives.

Questions:  E-mail questions to beyondthebench@jud.ca.gov or by phone 415-865-7599.

Beyond the Bench Materials

This conference provided 81 educational sessions focusing on multi-disciplinary learning and collaboration among juvenile law stakeholders to improve outcomes for children, youth, and families. If provided by faculty, content is available via the links below. The links will continue to be updated as we receive materials. To find materials for each session select the day the training was offered, and the title will be listed as in the program.

MONDAY, DECEMBER 16, 2019

Featured preconference courses addressing advanced trial skills, juvenile dependency law and process, the epigenetics of racial and historical trauma, and children with an incarcerated parent. One course, open to judges only, covered risk assessment in domestic violence cases. Evaluations for these courses can be found here.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2019

Featured preconference courses with topics including newcomer immigrant youth, trauma-informed adjudication of youth, permanency for high needs youth, a poverty roleplaying workshop, a session for judges on the top ethical issues for juvenile and family court judges, and a meeting of court-appointed dependency counsel. Featured over 30 conference courses addressing topics including adverse childhood experiences, foster care, juvenile law, education, gun violence, implicit bias, and mental health. Evaluations for these courses can be found here.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2019

Featured over 35 conference courses addressing topics including immigration, addiction, domestic violence, tribal youth, technology, Commercially Sexually Exploited Children (CSEC), juvenile justice reform, and LGBTQ youth. Evaluations for these courses can be found here.