If you are planning to arrive in Seattle early for the Society for Social Work and Research annual conference, we invite you to join CRISP, Wellbeing and Equity Innovations (WEI), and the University of Washington School of Social Work for an Innovation Day workshop on Tuesday, January 14, 2025, at 1:00 p.m. in the 3rd Floor Auditorium in the School of Social Work. The workshop will focus on using research in legislative settings. A reception at 5:00 p.m. will follow the two panel discussions. Dean Michael Spencer will be on hand to welcome attendees. There is limited seating. Registrations will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
WEI CEO Dr. Carrie Pettus was instrumental in securing a grant from Arnold Ventures to underwrite the event’s costs. WEI’s 5-Key Model for Reentry is helping states transform their reentry strategies from a deficit-focused focus risk assessment to one based on residents’ strengths. She is exploring family-focused interventions that emphasize communication and contact between residents and their children, thereby providing more significant incentives for reunification and successful reentry, leading to improved outcomes for children with incarcerated parents.
Panelists include Dr. Mark Eddy, University of Texas at Austin; Ebony Underwood, CEO of We Got Us Now; Kimberly Mays, Parent to Parent Program coordinator at Kings County Juvenile Court, State of Washington; Jennifer Pokempner, Senior Policy Director, Youth Law Center; and Stephanie Lee, Director, Washington State Institute for Public Policy (WSIPP).
Inspired by the passage of H.R. 9076, the Protecting America’s Children by Strengthening Families Act, to which social workers made significant contributions, the workshop will highlight the need for social workers to strategically use research to inform legislative deliberations. Social workers, relying on their research, provided policy recommendations, ensuring issues such as family preservation, child abuse and neglect prevention, and support for kinship caregivers were included in the legislation.
We were intrigued that the bill passed out of the Ways and Means Committee unanimously, passed by the House by a vote of 405-10, and passed the Senate Friday by unanimous consent without amendment. It aims to increase funding for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program by $75 million per year starting in 2026. At the time of this writing, it is awaiting President Biden’s signature. Such consensus is rare in this age of polarization. What lesson can we learn from this experience? Will more opportunities exist to overcome the legislative paralysis plaguing Congress and state and local legislatures?
We’ve learned that the voices of people whose lived experiences are directly impacted by policy, laws, and regulations can carry much weight. Paris Hilton’s testimony before the Ways and Means Committee received much media attention and may have swayed the sentiments of congressmembers. She shared her personal experience of enduring physical and psychological abuse at a congregate care treatment facility as a teenager. Hilton’s testimony highlighted the importance of providing resources and support to families to prevent them from entering the child welfare system in the first place.
The reauthorization legislation addressed the plight of children with incarcerated parents, a particular focus of the workshops. The Act aims to improve these children’s access to services, recognizing their unique challenges. This includes funding for family support services, family preservation, and reunification efforts, which can help address the needs of children affected by parental incarceration. UW Assistant Professor Tamarie Willis, lead organizer for the workshops, used findings from her dissertation to inform the language in the law, which Chicago Congressman Danny Davis included.
UW Associate Professor Angelique Day contributed to efforts to include resources for kinship caregivers. The Act contains provisions to support kinship caregivers by promoting access to services and resources that help them meet the needs of the children they are raising. This includes funding for kinship navigator programs, which assist kin caregivers in finding and using programs and services to support the children and their needs.
The Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) in the Administration for Children and Families is an excellent data source for social work researchers interested in child welfare. OPRE archives data for secondary analysis that can be used to explore social welfare policy issues, evaluate program impacts, and contribute to the evidence base for policies, programs, and legislation. You can find a list of archived datasets on the OPRE website. Access to public files may be downloaded directly. Access to restricted files requires approval and may involve secure data transmission.