Public Forum September 14th

Cuyahoga County residents have a clear and understandable concern about the many tragic incidents of child maltreatment and domestic violence that occur in our community.

Earlier this year, Phillip Morris, columnist for The Plain Dealer, wrote “[W]e cannot keep bringing children into the world to be abused and killed. Zealously reproductive unfit ‘parents’ should be financially encouraged not to reproduce. I don't know how to make the decision about fitness. All I know is the conversation is worth having.”*

Is there a relationship between family violence and the use of family planning? Is family planning an effective tool to combat family violence? Should it be?

You are invited to a public forum to explore these and related questions on:

DATE: Tuesday, September 14, 2010

TIME: 2:30-4:30 p.m. (Reception: 4:30-5 p.m.)

PLACE: Cleveland Sight Center, 1909 East 101 St. (Free parking)

MODERATOR:Phillip Morris
Phillip Morris is a columnist for The Plain Dealer. His focus centers primarily on city governments, city neighborhoods, public schools, and crime. He also has written extensively about family – especially parenting issues. Morris has received a number of journalism awards, including recognition as a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Commentary.

PRESENTERS: Judge Ronald B. Adrine
Judge Adrine was first elected to the bench of the Cleveland (Ohio) Municipal Court in 1981. The Judge has lectured extensively on domestic violence issues for a host of organizations, associations, and governmental agencies and is the co-author of Ohio Domestic Violence Law part of Thompson/West Group Publishing's Ohio Handbook Series.

Lillian Williams
Lillian Williams, BS, MHA has nearly 20 years experience in the field of family planning and reproductive health care. Ms. Williams has extensive knowledge and background in operations management and program evaluation. She currently employed by Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio as Regional Director of Health Center Operations.

Timothy Boehnlein
Tim Boehnlein has over 14 years’ experience in the field of domestic violence, and speaks and trains on topics including offender treatment and stalking. He is the Associate Director of the Domestic Violence Center of Greater Cleveland, where he was responsible for establishing the Batterer Treatment Program and the Gender Violence Prevention Project, focused on middle school and high school students.

Rebecca Cline
Rebecca Cline, MSW, LISW is Prevention Program Director for the Ohio Domestic Violence Network (ODVN). She provides training and technical assistance about domestic and family violence prevention to Ohio communities. Her background includes domestic violence shelter work, domestic violence related healthcare training and community education, community organizing and coalition building.

This forum is presented in partnership by the Northeast Ohio Family Health Program of The Center for Community Solutions and Planned Parenthood of Northeast Ohio.

It is free to attend, but reservations are requested by September 10. Please RSVP to Pam Williams at 216-781-2944 ext 203 or _pwilliams@CommunitySolutions.com_

*Phillip Morris’ original column can be found at: http://www.cleveland.com/morris/index.ssf/2010/02/saving_abused_children_sometim.html

A related follow-up column is at: http://www.cleveland.com/morris/index.ssf/2010/07/keeping_kids_away_from_unfit_p.html