Discussing suspected maltreatment with children and families can be difficult and painstaking. Conversations often become more complicated when the professional and family come from different cultural groups. This workshop led by Dr. Lisa Fontes provides concrete examples and advice for conducting child abuse interviews in ways that welcome diverse families, and elicit the most accurate information possible. This workshop is relevant for all professionals in the field, whatever your context. Examples will be included from diverse cultures.

Lisa Aronson Fotes, PhD, works to make mental health, social service, and criminal justice systems more responsive to culturally diverse people.  She is the author of the books: Invisible Chains: Overcoming Coercive Control in Your Intimate Relationship, Interviewing Clients Across Cultures: A Practitioner’s Guide, and Maltreatment and Violence Against Women.  She has worked as a family, individual, and group psychotherapist, and has conducted research in Santiago, Chile, and with diverse people in the United States.  Dr. Fontes is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.  She is a popular conference speaker and workshop facilitator, and blogs for publications including The Huffington Post and PsychologyToday.com.  Dr. Fontes completed a Fulbright Foundation Grant in Buenos Aires, Argentina.  As a volunter, Dr. Fontes has worked with Somali refugees and with homeless children in Massachusetts.