|
Through the work of the CATS staff, PAAM received a Governor's
Award in August 2000 for its contribution, in conjunction with the Michigan
Department of Human Services, in developing and training
forensic interviewing of children.
The CATS Staff
| Julie A. Welch is the CATS Training Coordinator. Ms. Welch
joined the CATS staff in 1998. She studied at the Olympic College of
Washington
Business School, and brings a wealth of experience in finance, contracting,
marketing, training and management to the program. Ms. Welch is an active
member of the forensic interviewing training team, and has also trained
on personnel management. She is the proud mother of a newborn son, Fisher
Welch. |
 |
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. |
