Past Archives: 2011 • 2010

PAST EVENTS FOR 2011

Please join us for our 15th Annual Spring Conference
Relationship-Based Approaches for Working with At-Risk
Young Children and Families:
From Research to Real World

Featuring Keynote Speakers:
Beatrice Beebe, PhD
Esther Cohen, PhD

and breakout speakers

Location: The Conference Center
130 East 59th Street, NYC
Date/Time: Friday, May 13, 2011
starting at 8AM.

For more information
and to register

We are pleased to announce that
Barbara Blanchard-Lewis, JD
has been chosen as the recipient of the
2011 Emily Fenichel Leadership Award

BARBARA ("BOBBY") BLANCHARD-LEWIS,
a Research Associate in the Center for Children and Families at Columbia University's School of Nursing, has dedicated her life to helping criminal justice-involved women and their children sustain and even improve their relationship during periods of incarceration. Formerly the Director of the Children's Center at the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, a state maximum security prison for women in Westchester County, she was instrumental in the growth of family services over the years, including major improvements in the functioning and effectiveness of the prison nursery program. In her earlier career as a lawyer, she represented indigent individuals through the Office of the Public Defender and the Legal Aid Society.

A self-described "renegade," Bobby has been a tireless advocate for incarcerated mothers in a system that sees them only as inmates and has long neglected their roles as mothers and the needs of their children Barbara Blanchard-Lewis in the community and that shows little support for those, like her, who do not share the philosophy that incarceration is about punishment, not rehabilitation.

Having joined Columbia's Center for Children and Families this past year, she is utilizing her legal and social welfare knowledge and experience to broaden the center's work with families at risk through consultations, networking and grant-writing. She is currently disseminating the findings of an ongoing Institute of Health study of mothers and infants co-residing in a prison nursery.

Bobby's lifelong work, while grounded in reality, has been marked by creativity in facilitating consultation and outreach. No longer an unsung hero, she has earned public recognition for her years of service to society's highest risk young children and families.

About Emily Fenichel & The Award

The Emily Fenichel Leadership Award is presented each year by New York Zero-to-Three Network to an individual whose contributions to infants and toddlers through practice, research, leadership or advocacy are deemed exemplary by a panel of judges. The award honors the memory of Emily Fenichel, who served as associate director of Zero to Three: The National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families until her tragic death in 2006 in an auto accident. Emily Fenichel was a pioneer in what has become the field of "zero to three," a body of knowledge, a network of people and programs, and a movement dedicated to promoting the well-being of infants and toddlers. She spent 30 years at the National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families, starting in its early days when there were only two employees and growing into her roles as associate director, editor-in-chief of the influential bimonthly journal Zero to Three, staff coordinator of the National Training Institutes, and mentor to leaders all over North America and beyond. Emily Fenichel's openness, patience, capacity to respect others and unparalleled editing skills brought unheard voices to the field's notice and helped create a sense of community for professionals working with infants and toddlers across disciplinary, systemic and national boundaries.