Explore every episode of the podcast Radio Kempe

Dr. Daniel Kardefelt-Winther leads the Digital Engagement & Protection Team at UNICEF’s Global Office of Research and Foresight in Florence, Italy. He is one of the world’s foremost researchers on the harm to children in the digital world.  

In the Radio Kempe Podcast, Daniel discusses his pioneering Disrupting Harms research and how extensive the risks are to children online today.  He also addresses the adequacy of response of public and private agencies to these exploding problems and explores his exciting work in assessing the real effects on survivors of online child sexual abuse and exploitation. Finally, he explores the broader impacts of digital technology on children and society.  

Join Radio Kempe for an interview with world-leading researcher, Dr. Daniel Kardefelt-Winther of UNICEF, as we address the new risks and harms to children in this digital age, and work toward real practical solutions.  

One of the three drivers of workforce resilience is cultural practices that support well-being and resilience within an organization. Supervisors in child welfare play a pivotal role in creating and sustaining the culture of the organization. Consider that “culture” is the way things are done in an organization, and how it feels to work in that organization. No one has more impact on that than the supervisor. And the foundation of a culture is the level of psychological safety found in teams – and that is largely determined by the supervisor. Discover the pivotal role of supervisors in shaping organizational culture and creating a psychologically safe environment. 

Jacqueline Beauchere is the first Global Head of Platform Safety at Snap. Inc. She heads Snap’s online safety strategy and is working on these issues worldwide. Previously, Jacqueline spent more than 20 years at Microsoft where she was the company’s, and the industry’s, first Chief Online Safety Officer. At Snap she is raising awareness of online risks, advising on Snap’s tools and policies, and engaging with audiences worldwide. 

In this Radio Kempe Podcast, Jacqueline discusses the steps Snap is taking to counter the risks to kids online. She addresses how Snap is engaging young people in the search for solutions, including the new Teen Council for Digital Well-Being. Jacqueline also mentions Snap’s new Digital Well-Being Index which measures the risks to kids country-by-country worldwide. She addresses the growing problem of sextortion and how to approach it. 

Join Radio Kempe for an interview with social media innovator Jacqueline Beauchere, as we address the new risks and harms to children in this digital age, and work toward real practical solutions. 

One of the three drivers of workforce resilience are 5 surprisingly simple behaviors individual staff can practice to support their personal resilience. These research-supported practices; Gratitude, Moving Your Body, Mindfulness, Acts of Kindness, and Building Social Support are simple, yet amazingly impactful ways anyone can do to support their well-being and resilience. And a huge bonus is that they all can be practiced within the workday, which has the added benefit of building connections and a positive culture within an organization. 

Dr. Ethel Quayle is a clinical psychologist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in the United Kingdom.  She is also a world-renowned researcher, who has focused on sexual crimes against children, especially sexual offenses involving the Internet.  A particular priority for her work has been the role of abuse images in the offending process.    

In the Radio Kempe Podcast, Dr. Quayle discusses the vital importance of research on this problem, her work with both sex offenders and their victims, and her development of a therapeutic program for internet sex offenders, including adolescents displaying problematic sexual behavior.  

Join Radio Kempe for an interview with pioneering researcher, Dr. Ethel Quayle, as we open our eyes to the new risks and harms to children in this digital age, and work toward real practical solutions.

Human services organizations are facing unprecedented burnout, turnover, and recruitment challenges. The Kempe Center has developed "Be Well> Do Well> Stay Awhile," an evidence-informed framework to support workforce resilience. This framework targets three key drivers: leadership, workplace culture, and five simple resilience behaviors for staff. In addition, there are five simple behaviors individual staff can practice to support their resilience. Join us monthly for this series, as we explore each aspect of this program throughout the year.

In this podcast, we discuss a recent paper published by Dr. Suzanne Kerns and colleagues from the Kempe Center, Clayton State University and Kaiser. The paper is called “An Equity-Focused Assessment of Evidence-Based Parenting Intervention Research.” It was published in May, 2024 in the journal Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review. The paper describes the extent to which the research studies that are included in assessment of the evidence for parenting programs include different components of equity-related best practices. We discuss the impetus for the study, main findings, and next steps.

Host:  Ernie Allen

Recorded: July 2, 2024 

Julie Inman Grant heads the world’s first government regulatory agency committed to keeping its citizens safer online – particularly its children. She uses civil powers to takedown illegal or harmful content, including child sexual abuse material, pro-terrorist content, image-based abuse, cyberbullying, and others.  Julie describes her approach “Safety by Design” which balances user safety, particularly child safety, with new technology by building safety into their products. What can we learn from Australia’s pioneering efforts and how can we expand this approach worldwide? Join Radio Kempe for an interview with Australia’s dynamic e-Safety Commissioner, Julie Inman Grant, as we open our eyes to the new risks and harms to children in this digital age and work toward real practical solutions.

• How should we address the situation of children living in homes with intimate partner violence?
• Even if children are not directly harmed, we know they suffer poor outcomes from these environments. Should this be considered a form of maltreatment?
• Does this situation fall under our obligation to report to child protective services?

This is a common dilemma faced by many mandated reporters, with compelling arguments on both sides of the issue. To shed light on these complexities, we organized a debate featuring four highly qualified national experts who argued for and against the resolution: "Intimate Partner Violence in a Child’s Home is a Form of Maltreatment and Should Generally be Reported." Initially presented at the national meeting of the Helfer Society, we hope this debate advances the discussion on these challenging situations.

The Host: Dan Lindberg is a member of Kempe’s Child Protection Team and an Emergency Physician 

The Debaters: 

FOR The Resolution: Dr. John Melville is the Director of the Division of Child Abuse Pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina, where the law mandates reporting of IPV exposure.  

Dr. Antonia Chiesa is the Director of Integrated Healthcare Services at the Kempe Center and the Principal Investigator of the Kempe Care Network, which improves the care of potentially abused children across Colorado.    

AGAINST The Resolution: Dr. Gunjan Tiyyagura is a pediatric emergency physician in New Haven, where she helped develop an integrated care model of care for IPV survivors and their children. 

 Dr. Nina Livingston is a Child Abuse Pediatrician in Hartford, where she partners with her state coalition against domestic violence and is a co-author of the AAP clinical report on IPV and the Pediatrician 

For decades, professionals striving to promote equity across various disciplines and systems have focused on cultural competency, cultural humility, and cultural awareness training. However, these efforts often fall short of bridging the gap between theory and practice, and from practice to transformation. 

An article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, "Stop Raising Awareness Already," emphasizes the need to break free from conventional norms for genuine progress to occur. While training is valuable, it's not the solution for internal and systemic transformation; it's a foundational step. True transformation arises from personal impact and making conscious choices to be different by focusing on building empathy, understanding impact, and most significantly, the dynamics of our relationships to bring about systemic change.

In the past year, the Center faced scrutiny due to misconceptions surrounding the "Kempe Protocol." A narrative circulated about the Center, which did not reflect our perspective. In this discussion, Steve Berkowitz, MD, with CU’s Department of Psychiatry, and Kathi Wells, MD, Executive Director at the Kempe Center, share what they seek and gain from one another. They emphasize the significance of tackling challenges and impacts by delving deeply and adopting a big-picture perspective. Additionally, they explore the need to lean into the complexity of the issues and tackle the challenges of child maltreatment in a meaningful way.

Dr. Kathi Wells is the Executive Director at the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect. In this brief yet insightful conversation, we discover Kathi's vision for the Kempe Center, joined by Michelle Davis, Director of JEDI (Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion) at Kempe. Kathi shares her goals to further the Center's mission and discusses how her leadership aims to create a meaningful impact on the safety and well-being of children, youth, and families. She also delves into her guiding principles and the values that illuminate her work at the Kempe Center.

Ernie Allen was the founder and longtime leader of both the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and its international counterpart, and he now leads the WeProtect Global Alliance.  Recently, he has shaped child protection legislation in both the United Kingdom and United States.  What is 21st Century Child Abuse, and what can we do about it?  Is it possible to protect free speech and the open exchange of information on the internet, while still protecting children and youth from sexual exploitation and even trafficking?  Join Radio Kempe for an interview with Ernie Allen as we open our eyes both to new, devastating harms to children and to practical, achievable solutions.

Read more about Ernie Allen at https://www.weprotect.org/bio/ernie-allen/.

Did you know that international human rights began in 1924 with the recognition of the inherent rights of children by the League of Nations? In this episode of Radio Kempe, Kendall Marlowe interviews Warren Binford about the history of international children’s rights, how it advanced over the last 100 years, and what it means for children today, including those in the child welfare system. The episode celebrates the 100th anniversary of international children’s rights and is dedicated to the memory of Gary B. Melton.

Lauren McCarthy, PhD, LCSW shares a brief history of working with youth and families in Philadelphia and how that inspired her to learn more about increasing mental health care access equity. She identifies that we could provide all foster and kinship care providers with the same specialized training that therapeutic foster parents receive to improve placement stability for youth in out-of-home care. Lauren wraps up the conversation by talking about the many challenges that caregivers experience when navigating the mental health care system, particularly when youth enter acute crisis settings and the benefits of investing in better access to early mental health care.

A Conversation with Amnoni (pronounced Ah-mon-knee) Myers

In this special three-part series, Where the Light Beams, Kempe's Virtual Village is excited to bring you two Radio Kempe podcast episodes followed by an interactive virtual Café on September, 23rd at 10 AM (Mountain Time). Join us throughout the month as we introduce you to Amnoni Myers, an advocate for elevating the voice of those with lived experience in child welfare. 

In the last podcast episode of Where the Light Beams, Kempe's Virtual Village introduced you to Amnoni and her journey as she transitioned from the foster care system to a career inspired by her experiences advocating for children. Join us for this second episode and be inspired by her call to action to act from a place of dignity and respect by actively listening to young people's voices and utilizing their individual experiences to fuel change in the child welfare system. We know that there is no one path to success for children. Amnoni calls us to meet young people where they are to determine the actions that are right for them. What if we acknowledged that we do not have all of the answers? What if we decided that the people we are trying to save have the ability to save themselves? What would it look like to co-create with these communities, and how would this perspective help us serve with dignity and respect? 

Tune in to be inspired by these provocative questions, and then join us on September 23rd, when we will convene to put these questions to the child welfare community to co-create and reimagine a better child welfare together. 

Get curious, tune in, and join us on the journey to prevent child abuse and neglect every month of the year!

Is there a story you would like to hear from Radio Kempe? Go to the Elevate My Voice Form to let us know @ https://www.custominsight.com/box/?cb28325wrbb!

A Conversation with Amnoni (pronounced Ah-mon-knee) Myers

In this special three-part series, Where the Light Beams, Kempe's Virtual Village is excited to bring you two Radio Kempe podcast episodes followed by an interactive virtual Café on September, 23rd at 10 AM (Mountain Time). Join us throughout the month as we introduce you to Amnoni Myers, an advocate for elevating the voice of those with lived experience in child welfare. 

In this first Radio Kempe podcast episode, we will discover Amnoni's journey through the foster care system from the beginning of her life as a ward of the state through her transition from kinship care to foster care. We will discuss the long-term impact of her separation from her siblings and how she fought to overcome personal hurdles caused by exposure to secondary substance abuse. Follow us on this journey that inspired her to advocate for all children to have a voice by pursuing reform in child welfare first academically and then as a White House intern under the Obama administration. Experience her realization that she, and all children like her, are the prize! Be inspired by that experience to fuel a lasting change for all children. 

As professionals, we talk about trauma and how it connects to behavior. However, we do not always have the chance to reflect and understand from the child's perspective. Listen now to learn more! We will shed light on the numerous sources of trauma inflicted by the separation of children from families and the resulting developmental impact that is not uncommon for many children placed in the foster care system, and we will question our assumptions of what it means for a child to be "successful."

Get curious, tune in, and join us on the journey to prevent child abuse and neglect every month of the year!

Is there a story you would like to hear from Radio Kempe? Go to the Elevate My Voice Form to let us know @ https://www.custominsight.com/box/?cb28325wrbb!

To Trouble the Comfortable and Comfort the Troubled: Championing the Voices of Families
A Conversation with Progressive Legal Advocate Vivek Sankaran.
Hosted by Kendall Marlowe

This past Child Abuse Prevention Month we were inspired to have a conversation with this community to rethink the roles that support children and families. We discussed what real help might look like for families; we worked to identify opportunities where each of us could step up to promote prevention regardless of our disciplines every day all year. We know this is a 12-month problem, and we want to make it a 12-month conversation. So, to continue the discussion, we have launched a podcast to bring you relevant topics that you can listen to on your own time that you do not want to miss!

 In this first episode of Radio Kempe, join us as we have a conversation with Vivek Sankaran, Clinical Professor of Law at The University of Michigan Law School and a leading advocate for child welfare reform. Listen to his experience developing a new approach to helping families that focuses on preventative interventions instead of reactions. What if lawyers could intervene before a separation is made? What does it mean to be a champion for the voices of those who are in the system? What could cases look like if families had the opportunity to assert their rights? Accept the call to be bold and listen now to learn more! 

Get curious, tune in, and join us on the journey to prevent child abuse and neglect every month of the year!

Is there a story you would like to hear from Radio Kempe? Go to the Elevate My Voice Form to let us know @ https://www.custominsight.com/box/?cb28325wrbb!