GENERAL SESSION SPEAKERS
2024 FFCA CONFERENCE REGISTRATION IS OPEN
April 22-25, 2024
25th International Families and Fathers Conference
Hilton Los Airport Hotel
5711 West Century Boulevard
Los Angeles, California 90045
MOST REQUESTED INFORMATION AND PAGES
ANNOUNCING OPENING DAY GENERAL SESSION SPEAKER
Commissioner Rebecca Jones Gaston, MSW
Administration on Children, Youth, and Families
Administration for Children and Families U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Washington, D.C.
The Fathers and Families Coalition of America is honored to share the 25th International Families and Fathers Conference Opening Day Keynote on April 23, 2024, at the Hilton LAX Hotel, Los Angeles, California, 90045. It will share insights with attendees at all levels about improving outcomes for children and families. The Administration on Children, Youth, and Families manages the nation’s largest child welfare system with the intent of changing the lives of millions of children and families.
Rebecca Jones Gaston, MSW
Rebecca Jones Gaston is the commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, at the Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Administration on Children, Youth, and Families manages the Children’s Bureau and the Family and Youth Services Bureau.
Before joining the Biden Administration via confirmation by the U.S. Senate in December 2022, Jones Gaston was the child welfare director for the state of Oregon’s Department of Human Services that oversees child protection, foster care, and adoption services, a position she held since 2019. During her time as director, Oregon launched a major transformation built on trauma-informed, family and community-centered, and culturally responsive programs and services.
Prior to joining the Oregon senior management team, Jones Gaston served as the executive director of the Maryland Department of Human Services’ Social Services Administration with oversight of child welfare and adult services. She has worked in the field of human services and child welfare for over 25 years as a social worker, advocate, therapist, consultant, and administrator. Previously, she was a director with Casey Family Programs providing technical assistance to child welfare agencies throughout the United States. She served as the national campaign director for AdoptUsKids, a collaboration with the Children’s Bureau and the National Ad Council. This major campaign, which she now oversees as commissioner of the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, continues to help increase the numbers of foster and adoptive families across the country.
A proud mother of two young adults, Jones Gaston holds a B.A. degree in psychology from Georgetown University and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania.
ANNOUNCING FEATURED GENERAL SESSION SPEAKERS
Tanguler Gray, Commissioner of the Office of Child Support Services commissioner at the Administration for Children and Families within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to her appointment in the Biden Administration in December 2021, Gray was a deputy commissioner in the Georgia Department of Human Services. She previously served as the director of the child support services division in Georgia, with over 26 years of leadership and child support experience there. Gray has served as a member of the board for the National Child Support Enforcement Association, including president and secretary, and is serving a second term as a board member of the Eastern Regional Interstate Child Support Association. Commissioner Gray graduated from Valdosta State University. She has a daughter and a son.
Dr. Josh Coleman is a psychologist in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area and a Senior Fellow with the Council on Contemporary Families, a non-partisan organization of leading sociologists, historians, psychologists, and demographers dedicated to providing the press and public with the latest research and best practice findings about American families. He has written for The New York Times, The Atlantic, NBC THINK, The Behavioral Scientist, CNN, MarketWatch, the San Francisco Chronicle, Greater Good Magazine, AEON, Huffington Post, Psychology Today, Variety, and more. e has given talks to the faculties at Harvard, the Weill Cornell Department of Psychiatry, and other academic institutions.
A frequent guest on the Today Show and NPR h,e has also been featured on Sesame Street, 20/20, Good Morning America, PBS, America Online Coaches, and numerous news programs for FOX, ABC, CNN, and NBC television.
He is the author of numerous articles and chapters and has written four books: The Rules of Estrangement (Random House); The Marriage Makeover: Finding Happiness in Imperfect Harmony (St. Martin's Press); The Lazy Husband: How to Get Men to Do More Parenting and Housework (St. Martin's Press); When Parents Hurt: Compassionate Strategies When You and Your Grown Child Don't Get Along (HarperCollins)
He is the co-editor, along with historian Stephanie Coontz of seven online volumes of Unconventional Wisdom: News You Can Use, a compendium of noteworthy research on the contemporary family, gender, sexuality, poverty, and work-family issues.
His books have been translated into Chinese, Korean, Russian, Polish, and Croatian.
Dr. Coleman is the father of three adult children, has a teenage grandson and, lives with his wife in the San Francisco Bay Area. e also writes music for television which has appeared on Keeping Up With the Kardashians, Lethal Weapon, Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, Pretty Little Liars, Longmire, Shameless, RuPaul's Drag Race, and many other shows.
Joseph T. Jones, Jr. is founder/CEO of the Center for Urban Families (CFUF), a Baltimore, Maryland nonprofit service organization established to empower low-income families by enhancing both the ability of women and men to contribute to their families as wage earners and of men to fulfill their roles as fathers. Mr. Jones is a national leader in workforce development, fatherhood, family services programming, and through his professional and civic involvement influencing policy direction nationwide.
Mr. Jones’ civic engagements include service on several boards including the Open Society Institute-Baltimore, and My Brother’s Keeper-Baltimore. Mr. Jones has also served as a White House advisor on fatherhood and community engagement. He has received numerous awards and honors for his leadership and programming including the Johns Hopkins University Leadership Development Program’s Distinguished Leadership Award, an honorary Doctorate in Public Service from Morgan State University, the Walter Sondheim Public Service Award and the White House Champion of Change. He was a 2004 Weinberg Fellow, a 2013 CNN Hero, and 2018 Aspen Institute Ascend Fellow.
Mr. Jones is a graduate of the University of Maryland Baltimore County. He is happily married and has three children. Follow him on Twitter @Joe_dad_Joe
Antrell Tyson, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Regional Director, Region 4
Mr. Antrell Tyson previously served as the Director of Business Services and Policy for the city of Atlanta’s Workforce Development Agency. In this role, Tyson re-established the city’s federally-funded work-based training programs to help build a highly skilled and responsive workforce. Additionally, Tyson was the agency’s top legal advisor to ensure compliance with local, state, and federal laws and regulations. Tyson previously served as the District Director for Representative Lucy McBath (D-GA-06). As the Congresswoman’s top District advisor, Tyson oversaw the daily operations of the district office. Tyson also helped to advance many of the Congresswoman’s policy priorities, including expanding access to affordable healthcare, lowering prescription drug costs, and decreasing maternal mortality rates.
Tyson laid a strong foundation as a public policy professional while working on and off Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. He has served as Counsel for a Member of Congress and a U.S. Senate committee, as well as Assistant General Counsel for the National Association of Broadcasters. Tyson holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Colgate University and a Juris Doctor from the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond. He is a native of Decatur, Georgia, and resides in Atlanta with his wife Laurie and their son Dorian.
Region 4 serves Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Rachel Birnbaum, Ph.D., RSW, LL.M., King’s University College at Western, London, Ontario, Canada, Distinguished University Professor Emerita, King’s University College School of Social Work at Western Canada. Dr. Birnbaum cross-appointed between Childhood (Interdisciplinary Studies) and Social Work. My expertise lies in conducting interdisciplinary research and teaching on topics like Childhood and the Justice System, Human Rights and Child Advocacy, Seen and Heard: Child Participation in Separation and Divorce, and Social Work Ethics and the Law. Dr. Birnbaum is a Member of The Royal Society of Canada, College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists. She was the President of the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers (OCSWSSW) from 2005-2009, the President of the Canadian Council of Social Work Regulators (CCSWR) from 2012-2014, and the President of the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts-Ontario (AFCC-O) for 2014-2015. She was also a Board Member of the Canadian Research Institute for Law & The Family in Calgary, Alberta. Rachel received the inaugural Distinguished University Professor Designation on April 27, 2023.
Her research areas are interdisciplinary and collaborative with social work, law, medicine, psychology, and sociology colleagues. the following are current research projects led by Dr. Brinbaum:
I am currently involved in various research projects, one of which is funded by CIHR. As one of the co-investigators in this project, I am examining the policy implications for parents with children having neurodevelopmental disorders, including access to respite care, case management services, and financial support across Canada. Our team has created a website for parents and a policy that outlines the services available in a single location. Additionally, I am studying the impact of parental separation on children with special needs, specifically from a financial, emotional, and medical perspective. My colleagues and I have already published several chapters, and more articles are forthcoming. I work closely with graduate students on these projects, who have either authored them or contributed to the publication. The second research project is based on an SSHRC grant and has resulted in several articles related to family justice since 2009. The initial project involved creating an instrument that clinicians can use to differentiate between various levels and types of post-separation conflict. This instrument is used in several other research projects in the family justice system in Quebec City and Montreal. We have presented our work nationally and internationally with colleagues in law and psychology on post-separation disputes and pathways through the family justice system. These presentations have led to many international and national publications on children's participation post-separation, the impact of self-representation in the family justice system, and judicial interviewing of children in family-related disputes. The third research project is ongoing and involves evaluating the Integrated Domestic Violence Court, which is the only court in Canada that hears both criminal and family matters sequentially. Our team has presented preliminary qualitative results at the domestic violence conference in London, Ontario, and a publication is forthcoming based on the court's implementation and themes found.
Seth Chamberlain is a Division Director in the Department of Health and Human Services’ Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF’s) Office of Family Assistance (OFA), with oversight of the Healthy Marriage (HM) and Responsible Fatherhood (RF) programs. Before working at OFA, he was a Senior Social Science Research Analyst in ACF’s Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE). He has spent nearly twenty years working on federal HM and RF programs and evaluations, as well as evaluations of federal sexual risk avoidance education and teen pregnancy prevention programs. Before joining ACF, Mr. Chamberlain taught middle school Spanish in Chicago, interned at a program for men convicted of domestic battery, and interned as a clinical social worker at the University of Chicago Hospital. Mr. Chamberlain holds a B.A. from Goshen College and an M.A. from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration.
We are excited to introduce the keynote speakers for the 25th International Families and Fathers Conference Gala: Dr. Philip A. Cowan and Dr. Carolyn Pape Cowan. They are both distinguished professors of psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, USA, with expertise in strengthening families and promoting global fatherhood initiatives.
Their research offers valuable insights into ways that parents can prioritize their own needs and those of their children, leading to healthier and more fulfilling lives for everyone. They believe that by improving family dynamics, we can have a positive impact on our communities as a whole. We are honored to have them speak at the conference and share their knowledge with attendees and participants of the conference gala.
The Cowans have conducted three longitudinal studies of families. The first study, Becoming a Family, followed families from late pregnancy until their child completed the first year of elementary school. It aimed to understand the effects of having a first child on couple relationships and how the couple's relationship quality affects the child's development.
The Cowans conducted a study on the effect of childbirth on couples and individuals. Despite the changes, they found that there was still a sense of continuity and predictability from before the baby arrived. They designed an intervention that positively impacts individuals and family relationships during the first three years after childbirth.
The results of their study are inspiring. Couples in the intervention group maintained marital satisfaction over 5 1/2 years, even after their children had transitioned to kindergarten. This finding has been replicated in more than 50 subsequent studies. It's amazing to think that data obtained during pregnancy can be used to identify individuals and couples at risk for distress in the early family years. Thanks to the Cowans' work, we now better understand how to support new parents during this important time.
Following the results of a study, the Cowans were granted NIMH funding to track the progress of 100 new families from the pre-kindergarten years of their first child until the end of grade 1. During this study, known as the Schoolchildren and Their Families Project, the effects of couples groups focused on marriage and parenting were examined on the family unit. The findings indicated that there were strong positive changes in parents who participated in the interventions, which in turn had a positive impact on their children's cognitive and social adaptation during their kindergarten and first-grade years.
Parenting-focused couples groups led to significant improvement in the observed quality of the parent-child relationship, while couples groups focused on marriage had a positive effect on both parenting and marital quality. However, the latter did not significantly impact the observed couple interaction.
Upon conducting a 10-year follow-up study, it was observed that the positive effects of the intervention remained. Specifically, according to their teachers, there were 6-year positive intervention effects on observed couple interaction and 10-year positive effects on parents' marital satisfaction and their children's adaptation to high school.
The Cowans' groundbreaking research reveals that targeted interventions can transform family dynamics, with benefits that endure for years. Their work on the "Supporting Father Involvement" project demonstrated that even the most vulnerable families can build stronger relationships, leading to better outcomes for parents and children alike. Their findings offer hope and practical solutions to families everywhere, showing that positive change is within reach.
Participants in the fathers groups showed significant increases in father involvement, but their couple relationship satisfaction declined. The couples group participants showed even more positive changes than those in the fathers-only groups, including that their relationship satisfaction was maintained over time. A replication of the original SFI study with 270 new families showed positive results equal to or better than those described in the study's first phase. A third trial included families referred to the Child Welfare System because of child abuse, neglect, or domestic violence. The SFI intervention produced positive shifts in Child-Welfare-referred parents' symptoms of alcohol use, couple conflict and violence, and harsh parenting and family income. Also, it prevented a rise in behavior problems in the children.
The SFI study has been replicated with published studies of the samples in Canada and England. SFI groups are now being conducted throughout California, Connecticut, Alberta, Canada, England, and Malta.
The Cowans are concerned about "getting the word out" about family research and intervention findings to those engaged in discussions of government and workplace policies that affect families.