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The CATS Team

Julie A. Welch is the CATS Training Coordinator. Ms. Welch joined the CATS program in 1998. She studied at Olympic College of Washington in the field of business and brings a wealth of experience in contracting, marketing and training to the program. Ms. Welch also attended Solano College in California where she studied Early Childhood Education. While living in Washington State, Ms. Welch was director of an early childhood preparation program where she worked on a daily basis with children of all ages. Ms. Welch is an active member of the forensic interviewing training team and also trains regularly on personnel management. Ms. Welch recently completed training with the Child Trauma Academy in the fields of 'Human Brain Develoment' and 'Trauma Impact on Survivors'.

 

Jennifer Doerr joined the CATS program in 2002 as the program's conference coordinator. She received her degree in Audiology and Speech Pathology from Michigan State University. Ms. Doerr has extensive experience in conference coordination and works with a diverse group of Michigan facilities to assure that only exceptional trainings are offered through this program. Ms. Doerr also has an expansive knowledge of Domestic Violence and brings a wealth of information pertaining to the effects of children in domestic violence situations.
 


  The The CATS program began in 1995 when the Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan was selected to provide cross-professional training in the area of child abuse investigation, focusing on effective interviewing of children. The Governor's Task Force on Children's Justice originally allocated funding under the Children's Justice Act to provide this training. CATS, through the auspices of PAAM, currently provides training to prosecutors, law enforcement, DHS employees, Victim Advocates and others on topics of child abuse investigation and prosecution. CATS performs this mission through the generous funding of both the Governor's Task Force on Children's Justice and the Michigan State Court Administrative Office.
   
  PAAM is a voluntary association of Michigan's 83 elected prosecutors and their staffs, comprising over 700 prosecutors in Michigan. PAAM's mission is to provide services to the state's prosecuting attorneys in order to make local enforcement of state law more uniform and efficient statewide.