DOCTORS, NURSES, SOCIAL WORKERS TO EXAMINE
FAMILY VIOLENCE AT U.VA. CONFERENCE

Go ahead and cry for your damn daddy she got in my face and said to
me.
Go ahead and cry.  Just make sure you cry more than you did for your
mamma.
Why did she say that to me?  I wondered and reached up to catch a tear
I felt had
  just rolled over my eye ledge.
But she grabbed my shaking hand with her hand shaking and said to let
that be
  the last tear I ever shed.

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., March 25 -- A dramatic monologue of
excerpts from a heart wrenching novel, "Ellen Foster:  The Voice of An
Abused Child," will be performed at a national conference at the
University of Virginia on Friday, April 4, at the McLeod Hall
Auditorium. 
	The conference will examine a wide range of ethical problems,
including family violence. Titled "Beyond Green: Ethical Values in
Environmental Conflicts," it has been organized by all nine
degree-granting schools at U.Va. to bring together nationally
respected leaders in ethics. 
	"Ethics and the Social Environment -- Clinicians Respond to
Family Violence" will be discussed at a 1:30- to-5 p.m. session
sponsored by the School of Medicine and the School of Nursing. 
	Doctors, nurses and social workers will explore the clinical,
ethical and legal issues they face in their responsibilities in family
violence situations, such as the years of abuse depicted in Kaye
Gibbons' award-winning 1987 novel, "Ellen Foster."
Program highlights:
	¥ 1:30-2:30 p.m., "Ethical Perspectives on Family
Violence," MaryBeth Hendricks Mathews, psychologist and family
violence consultant at the Medical College of Virginia.
	¥ 2:30-3:15 p.m., "Ellen Foster: The Voice of an Abused
Child," a dramatic monologue performed by Barbara Bates Smith, a
professional actress from North Carolina.
	¥ 3:45-5 p.m. Workshops on family violence, including elder
abuse, child abuse and abuse during in pregnancy. 
	Questions and answers will follow each session. Chair of the
University-wide steering committee for the "Beyond Green" ethical
values conference is James F. Childress, professor of religious
studies and a member of President Clinton's National Bioethics
Advisory Committee.
	The conference Web site is at:
http://www.Virginia.edu/`urelat/ethics/
###
March 24, 1997
	For additional information or to arrange interviews please
call Katherine Jackson or Bob Brickhouse at U.Va. News Services at
(804) 924-7116.  Television reporters should call our TV News Office
at (804) 924-7550.