PHILADELPHIA — The Field Center for Children’s Policy, Practice and Research at the University of Pennsylvania will host its third biennial conference, “One Child, Many Hands: A Multidisciplinary Conference on Child Welfare,” June 3-5 at Penn’s Wharton School.

This year’s theme is “A Time for Change,” and topics to be covered include preventing intergenerational transmission of trauma; early childhood sexual abuse; cultural dynamics and competence; evaluating best practices in child welfare; health disparities among children in foster care; housing solutions; child maltreatment and mental health; courtroom issues surrounding child abuse investigations; responding to the needs of children and families of incarcerated parents; and permanency for adolescents in foster care.

Named in honor of Joseph and Marie Field, its founding benefactors, the Field Center is the only university-based child-welfare center in the nation that takes a multidisciplinary approach to improving the child-welfare system.

Guided by the schools of Social Policy & Practice, Law and Medicine and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, the Field Center brings together the resources of the University of Pennsylvania to enhance and assure the well being of abused and neglected children and those at risk of maltreatment.