Trauma-informed recovery foundation sponsors landmark Vatican-area convening with World Vision International, the Society for Global Flourishing, Harvard, Baylor, and Gallup

ROME, June 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — STAR Network Foundation today announced its sponsorship of the Global Summit 2026: Fostering Hope for Children, convening June 3–5, 2026, at the Pontificium Patristicum Augustinianum in Rome. Co-hosted by World Vision International and the Society for Global Flourishing, with founding partners at Harvard University, Baylor University, Claremont Graduate University, and Gallup, the Summit unites scholars, faith leaders, and policymakers around one question: what does it take for children — and the families that raise them — to flourish?

Register at globalsummit2026.vfairs.com.

STAR Network’s sponsorship reflects more than two decades of building community-based, peer-led recovery infrastructure — from the Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation’s caregiver model to STAR Network’s global TAR Anon® fellowship. TAR Anon® meets five days a week across time zones at no cost, reaching survivors in more than 60 countries.

“Children flourish in the families that surround them, and those families flourish only when adults have access to healing. The science of Adverse Childhood Experiences has been clear for thirty years. STAR Network is proud to sponsor a Summit that finally connects that science to global action.” — Dr. Jamie Huysman, PsyD, LCSW, Founder and Executive Director, STAR Network Foundation

Aligning Science with Scalable Recovery

The Summit advances the six-domain flourishing framework developed by Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program, now informing the Global Flourishing Study — a longitudinal panel of more than 200,000 participants across 22 countries. World Vision International will debut the Hope and God’s Love Measure, a validated child well-being instrument developed with Harvard and Duke University.

STAR Network’s vision focuses on adult survivor recovery — the population whose own healing most directly shapes the next generation’s flourishing. STAR’s work draws on the growing body of research on protective and compensatory experiences in childhood, including the foundational scholarship of Drs. Jennifer Hays-Grudo and Amanda Sheffield Morris, whose PACEs framework distinguishes resilience-building experiences that buffer the effects of adversity.

Summit Highlights

• Papal General Audience with Pope Leo XIV
• H.E. Dr. Fatima Maada Bio, First Lady of Sierra Leone
• Rima Salah, PhD, Chair, Early Childhood Peace Consortium
• Edgar Sandoval, Sr., President and CEO, World Vision U.S.
• The Light of Love charity concert featuring Sinach

“When First Ladies, faith leaders, humanitarians, and the world’s leading universities gather in Rome for the flourishing of children, the world should pay attention. The Global Summit 2026 makes hope, dignity, and love measurable — and global.” — John S. Hamel, Jr., Vice Chairman of the Board, STAR Network Foundation, and President, Family Preservation Alliance

About STAR Network Foundation

STAR Network Foundation is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to building accessible, community-driven pathways to healing for Survivors of Toxic Abusive Relationships (STARs). Through TAR Anon® and the annual Scars to STARs Day Summit, the Foundation makes trauma-informed recovery available to anyone, anywhere, at no cost. Partner network includes Wholehearted.org, MyWhatIf Foundation and Promly. Learn more at starnetwork.org.

Media Contact:
Dr. Jamie Huysman
drjamie@starnetwork.org  
305-303-4000

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SOURCE STAR Network