Dear Colleague

It is both my pleasure and privilege to have been elected to serve as the new President of the International Forum for Child Welfare (IFCW). IFCW has begun its 20th year and making the rights of children a reality remains the fundamental reason for IFCW’s existence. We will continue to advocate for children all over the world.

It is through education, public awareness and research that we can make a difference, which is why IFCW holds a WorldForum each year. This year the WorldForum will take place from Wednesday 21st October, (registration starts) until Saturday 24th October at the Millennium Hotel, Jakarta, Indonesia co-hosted by the Indonesian Child Welfare Foundation. In response to current economic challenges and to allow greater focus at increasing the participation and success of our WorldForum 2009, the conference has been moved from Bali to Jakarta. The theme of the conference will be:

“Toward a Safer and Better World by Realizing the Rights of the Child”

We would formally like to invite you to attend this event, which is being designed to bring together senior and influential individuals from across the world to share their opinions and experiences on current thinking, policy and practice on children’s rights. As well as hearing from keynote speakers, there will be parallel workshop sessions and an area dedicated to displaying training materials and good practice examples. Delegates will be able to contribute their own experiences and provide exemplars from their own countries. The conference format will include plenty of opportunities for networking and a large number of delegates from different parts of the world are expected to participate in this event. Don’t miss this excellent learning and networking opportunity!

IFCW members can expect to pay a special discounted conference rate and those who book by (insert date) can also look forward to paying a reduced rate. A call for papers for the conference will be made shortly and more information will follow.

I very much hope to meet you in Jakarta in October 2009.

Yours sincerely,

Catriona Williams
President IFCW