Bonnie Armstrong

SUMMARY
Educator and nonprofit professional with over 27 years of teaching experience including 21 years training MDT professionals in the medical, investigative, and legal aspects of child maltreatment and infant death investigations. National conference speaker and trainer.
Founder and Executive Director of the Shaken Baby Alliance, non-profit organization that supports families who have experienced child physical abuse, produces top rated forensic investigative training for multidisciplinary professionals, provides technical support through Case Consultation Services to investigative and legal professionals and provides prevention education to prevent the abuse of vulnerable victims including children, the elderly, and people with disabilities.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
The Shaken Baby Alliance, Fort Worth, Texas Executive Director (1998 – present)
Co-Founded new 501-C-3 nonprofit organization in 1996 dedicated to child abuse prevention. Grew agency from start on a kitchen table with volunteers to a $650,000/year agency whose mission is to provide support for victim families and professionals, to prevent child abuse, and to provide justice for the innocent victims. The Shaken Baby Alliance focuses on three areas of programming: Victim Family Support, Professional Support (Training and Case Consultation), and Prevention Education.

Provides leadership to staff, Advisory Council, Youth Advisory Council, Training Faculty/Case Consultation Team, and volunteers to implement all areas of programming, administration, and financial management of the agency. Develops and implements child abuse prevention curriculums including When Babies Cry...We COPE targeted to new parents, students, and community members to prevent child physical abuse.
Develops and leads curriculum/training development teams to produce educational and training programs for a multi-disciplinary team of professionals including medical practitioners law enforcement, child and adult protection staff, child-care licensing staff, civil investigators, first responders, mental health professionals, legal personnel, and other child and elder adult welfare professionals:

TRAINING PROGRAMS DEVELOPED
  •   Serious Physical Child Abuse and SIDS Advanced Investigation Program and
    Regional Training Institutes (partnership with Tarrant County College Criminal Justice/Police Academy) (2000-2007)
  •   Bites, Burns, Breaks & Beyond: Recognizing and Treating Child Physical Abuse (A Physician and Advanced Health Care Practitioners Program) (2002-2003)
  •   Infant Mortality Prevention Education Program (2006-2009)
  •   Advanced Techniques in Joint Child Abuse Investigations (2007-2017)
  •   CCL – Child Care Licensing Ethics (2011-2012)
  •   CCL/CPS – Effects of Trauma and Neglect on Brain Development (2011-2012)
  •   APS – Advanced Forensic Investigations Training (2011-2020)
  •   Mental Health and Physical Conditions and the APS Population (formerly APS – Etiology of Mental and
    Physical Conditions for APS In-Home and Facility Specialists) (2013-2020)
  •   The Forensic Investigation in Child Physical Abuse/Neglect, and Child Death Cases (2017-2020)
  •   From Cradle to Cane: The Forensic Investigation of Crimes Against Vulnerable Victims (2017-2020)

CASE CONSULTATION SERVICES
Developed and leads the implementation of The Shaken Baby Alliance Case Consultation Services:
 Provided consultation on over 2,000 cases involving physical abuse of children, the elderly, and people
with disabilities.
 Provides investigative and legal professionals with case analysis and review, development of evidence,
scene investigation planning and implementation, timeline development, interview & interrogation question and theme development, the development of visual demonstrative evidence.
Tarrant County Child Fatality Review Team (1999-Present) Member
Certified Law Enforcement Instructor, Arkansas (2009)
International Advisory Board on Shaken Baby Syndrome - (2000-2005) Board Member
Tarrant County College – Dept. of Criminal Justice (2000-2006) Adjunct Faculty
Lake Worth Independent School District (1999-2000) Special Education Teacher
Texas Department of Criminal Justice Victims Advisory Council (1999-2003) Child Abuse Representative National Brain Injury Association – Violence and Brain Injury Institution (1999-2002) Brain Injury and Violence Prevention Regional Trainer
Tarrant County Juvenile Violence Task Force (1997-2003) Member – Child Abuse Representative
Azle Independent School District (1992-1995) – Teacher
Wichita Unified School District (Kansas) (1990-1991) - Teacher
White Settlement Independent School District (1991-1992) - Teacher
Granbury Independent School District (1990-1991) - Teacher

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
Summit for Children – Clackamas County, Oregon (2000, 2007, 2019) Dallas Crimes Against Children (2005, 2006, 2007, 2017, 2018) International Conference on Shaken Baby Syndrome (2002, 2018) Texas District and County Attorneys Association (2007)
Texas Homicide Investigators Conference (2007)
Minnesota Summit for Children (2019)
Krimes Against Kids – Orlando, FL (2019)
American Academy of Forensic Sciences – Key Note Speaker (2019)
American Academy of Forensic Sciences - 8 hour Advanced Program workshop ”Primer on Multidisciplinary Investigation of Pediatric Injuries and Deaths” (2020)

PUBLICATIONS
Lead Author, Chapter, “The Grieving Process and Family Support” in Child Fatality Review, An Interdisciplinary Guide and Photographic Reference, Randell Alexander, M.D., PhD., FAAP.

AWARDS
2003 – United States Department of Justice – Victim Advocacy Award
2003 – Department of Children and Families
2019 – Lifetime Achievement Award – Gunderson National Child Protection Training Center (Zero Abuse Project) 2020 – D Magazine – Best of Big D Heroes Addition “The Protector” Award

EDUCATION 
Tarleton State University, Stephenville, TX
Bachelor of Science – Elementary Education – May 1990, Magna Cum Laude