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About this event
Join the Mississippi State College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Sociology and Social Work program for this panel discussion that will include audience participation. The keynote speaker will be Melissa Carter, who spent 13 years in foster care. At age 15, she was placed with a foster family that she said "chose not to quit on me." She completed high school and went on to earn a bachelor's in social work. Carter describes her foster care experience as "life changing" and "a journey of defiance and soul searching for the true purpose" of her life. Other panelists include Kim Shackelford, former deputy administrator of the Mississippi Department of Human Services who, as an advocate for children and families, is working as a consultant to improve local and global service delivery systems; Natalie Bryant, an MSU social work and women's studies alumna currently working as a therapist at Tallahatchie General Hospital; and Professor of Sociology David May, who holds a doctorate in sociology with an emphasis in criminology and deviant behavior from MSU. Click the "Link" below for more information.