NATCHEZ — Giving people who touch troubled children’s lives every day the tools to succeed is the drive of the 800-person conference in town this week.

The Lookin’ to the Future Conference is in full swing all over the city and so far things are going well.

The conference is hosted by the Southern Christian Services for Children and Youth, Inc. Executive director of the organization Sue Cherney said the message of this conference is very important — fully equipping foster parents, clinicians, social workers and more with the skills to raise, treat and understand children who are troubled.

Without these kinds of skills, handling these youth is next to impossible.

“It’s essential,” she said of having these skills. “It’s really life and death.”

She said these skills are understanding child development, being able to distinguish typical behavior versus troubled behavior and dealing with their anger.

With 48 conferences going on in the community center, Country Inn & Suites and the convention center, the attendees have plenty of opportunity to learn.

On Friday, the closing luncheon will have a speaker from NASA, Terry Morris.

“He grew up in the foster care system in Mississippi,” Cherney said.

She said he’s an exemplary model of growing up in foster care.

She said the state’s foster care system isn’t perfect, however.

“It’s got it’s challenges, but it’s working,” Cherney said.

Conferences such as this one help bolster the system.

Director of the Convention Center Walter Tipton said he is pleased with how the convention is running so far.

“The start of the conference was so well attended we had to bring in more chairs,” he said.

He expects for the conference to run smoothly and strongly throughout the remainder of the week.