OSWEGO — SUNY Oswego’s Division of Extended Learning on Nov. 18 will present a workshop on preventing filicide, the deliberate act of parents killing their own son or daughter. The workshop will be in Sheldon Hall from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Since 1950 child homicide rates have tripled. Homicide is now one of the top five causes of death for children from 1 to 14 years old. Between 1976 and 2004, 61 percent of all children murdered under the age of 5 were killed by their parents, 30 percent by their mothers and 31 percent by their fathers.

It is statistics such as these that have child protective care workers, teachers, school administrators, psychologists, law enforcement and others involved with children trying to find ways to do more to prevent problems and help children who are in troublesome situations.

In the “How to Keep Our Children Safe” workshop at SUNY Oswego, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Paul Martin will examine in-depth some of the more common reasons why parents kill their children. He will identify the strongest risk factors associated with parents who have killed their children and will then review the signs and systems that would alert individuals to impending tragedy. He will also discuss intervention strategies.

The workshop fee is $89 and lunch is included. Advance registration is required by Nov. 13. To register, contact the SUNY Oswego Phoenix Center at 934-4900 or visit www.oswego.edu/phoenix

Martin, who has been trained as a forensic psychiatrist, serves as a mental health consultant to businesses, social service, police, parole, probation and a number of other agencies. He is certified in mediation and arbitration and has experience with vision casting and solving conflict in the workplace. He received his medical degree from the University of Des Moines, served his residency at Case Western University and completed a fellowship in psychiatry at Syracuse University.

Parents: Get your social life back on track! Go out “guilt-free” and have fun knowing that your children are not just waiting for you by the TV — but are having fun too!

The story of the play concerns four affluent couples who gather for a dinner party celebrating their host’s tenth wedding anniversary. So, The Players plan to allow the audience to participate in the anniversary celebration by inviting patrons to attend a wine, and cheese, party before the curtain and sampling a anniversary cake at intermission.

Happy New Year to all of our readers in the tri-county region!
While our Richland facility is closed until April, the society is still active with Friday afternoon hours at the Barclay Court House in Pulaski (2nd floor over DMV, 2pm until 5) or by appointment. We got off to a rocky start following our [...]