Here is the text of the invite from HHS to the 2 PM Eastern, Wed June 20th session, to be held at Hubert H. Humphrey Building, 1st Floor Auditorium, 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, DC 20201:

You are invited to a forum co-sponsored by the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) and the Department of Justice’s Access to Justice Initiative.  Please join a panel of experts on June 20, 2012, for a discussion of the critical messages from Turner v. Rogers.

One year ago, the United States Supreme Court decided Turner v. Rogers, which requires states in civil contempt proceedings to provide procedures that ensure a fundamentally fair determination of whether an unrepresented parent is able to comply with a court order to pay child support.  This forum will include a discussion of setting realistic child support orders, and other promising practices that avoid the build-up of arrears, explore cost-effective strategies for child support compliance, including alternatives to contempt, and, discuss expanding self-help services and access to justice for unrepresented litigants.  The forum will also highlight OCSE policy guidance arising out of Turner.  This forum is appropriate for a wide audience, including everyone in child support and access to justice issues.

Confirmed speakers include George Sheldon, Acting Assistant Secretary Administration for Children and Families; Vicki Turetsky, OCSE Commissioner; Daniel Olmos, Department of Justice Access to Justice Initiative Senior Counsel; Alan Houseman, Center for Law and Social Policy Executive Director; Richard Zorza, Self-Represented Litigation Network; Diane Potts, Illinois Deputy Attorney General; and, Pamela Lowry, Administrator of the Division of Child Support Enforcement for Illinois.

Link to get an in person seat here.

Link to register for streaming here.

I am a speaker, so I hope it is not out of place for me to commend both HHS and DOJ for taking the initiative to make sure that the Turner decision is seized as an opportunity not only to improve child support procedures, but to highlight the due process rights of the self-represented.  I will be talking about these broader issues at the Forum.  Others will be providing fascinating detail about model changes in child support.  It should be made clear that this is about much more than enforcement — it is about minimizing contempt and incarceration, about maximizing appropriate family participation and about due process in courts (including triage) and agencies generally.  I hope that as many as possible can attend, in person or over the Net, including folks from access commissions, and indeed all those committed to access.

See you there!