Child-Centered Practices for the Courtroom and Community: A Guide to Working Effectively with Young Children and Their Families in the Child Welfare System

Dr. Katz is Director of the University of Miamia€?s Linda Ray Intervention Center anda research assistant professor in the department of Psychology with a secondary appointment in Pediatrics. Since 1993, she hasbeen Director of the early intervention service and research project at the Center forchildren at risk due to prenatal cocaine exposure. In her leadership role as an earlyintervention specialist, she has worked to create linkages with community stakeholdersserving high-risk young children in the child welfare system. She has servedas Principal Investigator of the Miami Safe Start Promising Approaches site, providingearly intervention clinical services for children exposed to violence and maltreatmentat community domestic violence and homeless shelters where young childrenand their families reside. Dr. Katz has coordinated the Strengthening Families andAges and Stages programs for the Juvenile Courta€?s Dependency Drug CourtInitiatives. She was Director of the Miami site of the Florida Infant and YoungChildrena€?s Mental Health Project, funded by the state legislature through the FloridaDepartment of Children and Families. She was an active collaborative partner in thedevelopment of the Miami Juvenile Dependency Court Parenting Initiative. Dr. Katzhas served as Co-Chair of the Community-Based Care Alliance of Miami-Dade andMonroe Counties. She is a recipient of the Wall of Honor Award presented by theMiami Juvenile Court for her contributions to the development of quality programsfor young children in foster care. She has also received awards at both the State ofFlorida and regional Dependency Court summits for her service to children and familiesin her community.

Judge Cindy S. Lederman is a Circuit Court Judge in the State of Florida's Eleventh Judicial Circuit. Judge Lederman has served in the Miami-Dade Juvenile Court since 1994, including10 years as the Courta€?s Presiding Judge. Elected to the Miami-Dade County Court in1988, before her elevation to Circuit Court in 1994, she was a leader of the team thatcreated the Dade County Domestic Violence Court and served as that Courta€?s firstPresiding Judge. Judge Ledermana€?s interest in bringing science and research into the courtroomresults from her 10-year involvement with the National Research Council (NRC) andInstitute of Medicine (IOM) at the National Academy of Sciences. Judge Ledermanwas a member of the NRCa€?s Committee on the Assessment of Family ViolenceInterventions and panel on Juvenile Crime, Treatment, and Control and served from1996 to 2004 on the Board on Children, Youth, and Families of the NRC and IOM. In1999, Judge Lederman was awarded a fellowship from ZERO TO THREE: TheNational Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families in their Leaders of the 21stCentury program. She served as the former president of the National Association ofWomen Judges, faculty member of The National Judicial College, and former memberof the American Bar Association House of Delegates. In addition, JudgeLederman was a 6-year member of the Board of Trustees of the National Council ofJuvenile and Family Court Judges.

Judge Lederman graduated with high honors from the University of Florida in1976 and with departmental honors in Political Science, and received her Juris Doctordegree from the University of Miami School of Law in 1979. She is licensed to practicelaw in the states of Florida and New York.

Dr. Osofsky is a psychologist and psychoanalyst and Professor of Pediatrics andPsychiatry at Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC). She isHead of the Division of Pediatric Mental Health. She is also an adjunct professor ofPsychology at the University of New Orleans. Dr. Osofsky is Co-Director of theLouisiana Rural Trauma Services Center, a center in the National Child TraumaticStress Network, and Director of the Harris Center for Infant Mental Health atLSUHSC. She is editor of