To kick off the yearlong celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Family Life Development Center (FLDC) at Cornell University, Nancy Walker, a developmental psychologist and researcher from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, will give two talks on children and the law, Tuesday, Dec. 1.

Walker will present a seminar, "Children as Witnesses: Unanswered Questions," geared to faculty, staff and students, on Tuesday, Dec. 1, at noon in E-405 Martha Van Rensselaer Hall (MVR). Walker will present a public lecture, "Heeding Small Voices: Promoting Children's Participation in Decision Making -- Choices and Challenges for a New Millennium," at 4:30 p.m., also on Dec. 1, in N207 MVR. She will discuss whether and when children should be permitted or encouraged to participate in the legal, medical and practical decisions that affect them and whose rights should prevail when children, parents and the state disagree.

Walker, who holds a doctorate from the University of Nebraska and currently is completing a postdoctoral fellowship in the law/psychology program at the same school, is the founder and former director of the Center for the Study of Children's Issues at Creighton University, where she was a professor of psychology. She is the author of Children's Rights in the United States: In Search of a National Policy (1998) and Child Witness: Legal Issues and Dilemmas (1991). In addition to her scholarly work, Walker trains judges, attorneys, psychologists, social workers and police officers in methods for improving forensic interviews and legal proceedings involving children.

Walker's visit is the first event of several silver anniversary events that will be held throughout 1999 to recognize the work of FLDC, which will be celebrating with the theme "Twenty-Five Years of Strengthening Families and Communities."

The Family Life Development Center was established by New York state in 1974. Its mission is to improve professional and public efforts to understand and deal with risk factors that lead to family violence and neglect in the lives of children, youth, families and communities. It focuses on strategies and programs to help vulnerable children and youth by strengthening families and communities. As an interdisciplinary unit of the Cornell College of Human Ecology, the center accomplishes its mission through research, training, outreach and education. It carries out its mandate through program development, implementation and evaluation projects serving New York state, the nation and the international community. The current areas of special interest are programs to guarantee children's rights, the role of emerging technologies in training and childhood violence prevention.

For further information, contact FLDC at (607) 255-7794 or visit the web page at http://fldc.cornell.edu.