Last fall, we conducted a survey of the members of the Family Policy Section to learn more about members’ interests and desires. One section of the survey asked about what you would like from the section for the annual NCFR conference. The 2012 conference is shaping up to be a special conference that will address many of the issues shared in the survey. The Family Policy executive committee members took your feedback into consideration and are excited to feature a few conference sessions.

One theme that emerged from the responses is a policy focus on healthcare issues. The FP Section is pleased to co-sponsor the special session, “Womb to Womb: The Persisting Influence of Health Disparities Across the Life Course,” by Glenna Barnes and Debra Coehlo with Anne Farrell as discussant and a follow-up Fireside Chat facilitated by Anne Farrell and Bill Allen.

Bethany Letiecq also is chairing an invited symposium, “Community-Based Participatory Research with Health Disparate Communities: Implications For Health, Policy, and Justice,” to introduce community-based participatory research (CBPR) with vulnerable communities. Given the theme of this year’s conference, we are sure that members will find many sessions that are exciting, challenging, and informative and speak to your desire to have a healthcare policy focus.

Many members of the Family Policy Section are involved in teaching family policy and in the survey spoke to the desire to have  ongoing resources to assist them in their work as educators, scholars, and practitioners. Members will be pleased to learn that the Family Policy Section is sponsoring a special symposium, “Improving Family Policy and Practice: Innovations in Evidence-Based Family Strengthening Approaches,” chaired by Karen Bogenschneider and Olivia Little, with Theodora Ooms serving as discussant and Abel Ortiz, director of the Evidence-Based Practice Group with Annie E. Casey Family Foundation as a presenter. These symposia should provide excellent dialogues and resources for those engaged in family policy.

A special section of the survey asked about FP members’ level of involvement in the section. Another theme that emerged is that many members indicated they did not know how to become involved in the section’s business. The FP executive committee wants to address this by offering an open invitation to become more involved in the section. In the previous NCFR Report, a number of ave-nues in which members can become involved in some of the business of the section were shared. For more information on these committees or other ways of becoming involved, feel free to contact Tammy Henderson, FP Chair, at tammy.henderson@okstate.edu or 405-744-8350.

The Family Policy Membership Survey provided a wealth of information on what members want from the section and NCFR as practitioners, researchers, and educators. Among the many things shared in the survey, we learned that members who are engaged in research are looking for training on methodologies and analytical strategies used in policy research and evaluation. For the members who are primarily educators, we learned that you are looking for new and exciting ways of bringing critiques of policies and proposals into the classrooms. For practitioners, we learned that you are looking for resources on how to translate policy research and evaluation into useful tools to facilitate your work with families. For professionals in general, we learned that you are looking for ways to connect with each other to learn from one another and to facilitate and support each other’s work. We have a lot of work ahead and wel-come your involvement as we move forward.