A free symposium, open to the public, on child welfare and child protective policies over the past 50 years is slated for Saturday, May 5, at Cornell University. The symposium celebrates Child Abuse Prevention Month and the career of James Cameron, a long-time leader in the field of child protection and child welfare in New York state.

Sponsored by the Family Life Development Center (FLDC) at Cornell, the program will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the amphitheater (Room 265) of Martha Van Rensselaer Hall on the Cornell campus. It will feature presentations from Cornell professors of human development John Eckenrode, chair of the department of human development, and James Garbarino, director of FLDC; Deborah Daro of the Chapin Hall Center for Children at the University of Chicago; and Karen Schimke, president and chief executive of the Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy in Albany, N.Y.

The presenters will examine post-World War II child-welfare and child-protective policies and programs, addressing legislative, policy, research and program promises of the past 50 years. They will look at what has been promised, what has been delivered, what promises have been broken, what has been learned and what is the commitment to the future.

Cameron was the founding executive director of Prevent Child Abuse New York, a nonprofit organization with a mission to prevent child abuse in all its forms; promote and initiate efforts to develop, improve and expand quality services and effective policies to prevent child abuse and neglect; and to protect all children. Cameron has worked professionally in the field of child abuse and neglect for over 40 years at all levels of practice: as a clinician, supervisor, administrator, consultant, planner, teacher and adviser. He was the first director of the New York State Child Protective Services and worked with the New York Legislature to develop the state's comprehensive child-protective legislation and implement the law throughout the state, including the development of the statewide hotline.

Although the program at Cornell is free and includes lunch, attendees are required to register in advance by calling Lisa Rose at (607) 255-1242.