Foster Care Workshop: De-Escalation and Child Safety

Agenda

8:30am - 9:00am Registration

9:00am - 11:00am De-escalation & Crisis Management, Megan Sowinski, Marathon County Sheriff's Department & David Bertram, Wausau Police Department

This session will discuss signs and symptoms of mental health issues in youth and how to manage them.

11:15am - 12:15pm Lunch Session: Internet Safety, Jeff Stefonek, Marathon County Sheriff's Department

This session will discuss how to keep kids safe online, how to monitor internet use, and tips for parents and kids for staying safe online. Topics will include: social media apps, online relationships and dating, online predators, location sharing and more.

12:30pm - 2:30pm Preventing Child Sexual Assault, Jeff Stefonek, Marathon County Sheriff's Department

In this session participants will learn the most common types of crimes, how to have proactive conversations with kids, how to recognize grooming behaviors, signs of abuse and risk factors, and what to expect from law enforcement.

2:30pm-2:45pm Wrap Up

Speakers

Megan S Megan Sowinski, Marathon County Sheriff's Department

Megan was born and raised in the Wausau, WI. Megan obtained an Associate Degree in Criminal Justice where she graduated with Honors and attended the Law Enforcement Academy at NTC as well. Megan worked a short time on patrol for the Marathon City Police Department before getting full-time with the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office. Megan started with Marathon County in 2012 and worked night shift patrol until December 2017. January 2018, CART (Crisis Assessment Response Team) was formed by the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office and Megan took the Deputy position on CART. Megan has several other duties with the Sheriff’s Office including Crash Reconstructionist, Field Training Officer and an instructor.

Dave B David Bertam, Wausau Police Department

Dave was born and raised in West Bend, WI. He joined the US Marine Corps right out of high school in 2003 and deployed for a combat tour to Iraq in 2004 and 2008. He left the military in 2010 and entered law enforcement as a Corrections Officer with the Department of Corrections in Wisconsin. He joined the Wisconsin State Patrol in 2013 and became a State Trooper and was stationed in Marathon County. He transferred to the Wausau Police department in 2015 where he is presently employed. In 2018, the Marathon County Sheriff’s office, Wausau Police Department, and North Central Healthcare Center initiated a new program called the Crisis Assessment Response Team (CART). Dave took on a role as the first officer in the program to be paired up with a mental health professional and respond to mental health calls in Marathon County.

Jeff S Jeffrey Stefonek, Marathon County Sheriff's Department

Jeff Stefonek is the Detectives Lieutenant at the Marathon County Sheriff’s Office. Jeff has been a law enforcement officer for 15 years, starting in the patrol division before being promoted to detective in 2010. As a detective, Jeff was assigned to the sensitive crimes unit and specialized in digital forensics. Jeff was promoted to a supervisory position in 2015 and now oversees the general investigations, sensitive crimes, evidence, and civil process units. In addition to his regular duties, Jeff is commander of the Marathon County SWAT Team.

Cost

$20 - Foster Parents

$35 - Professionals in Foster Care (5 CEUs)

Locations

Speakers will present live at our NTC Wausau campus and will be broadcast to our Antigo and Phillips campuses.

Cancellation Policy

If for any reason you are unable to attend your scheduled course, please contact us prior to the start date of the course. This will ensure that we can provide a full refund of your course fees. If there are extenuating circumstances that prevented you from attending a course, please contact our office as soon as possible. If we do not receive any correspondence from you, you will be responsible for full payment of course fees.