RESEARCH AREAS
Applying Ecological Theory to the Assessment of Risks and Strengths of Youth Involved in the Juvenile Justices System
Risk and strength assessments provide court practitioners with insight concerning the intervention needs of youth involved in the juvenile justice system. These tools can also be used to identify criminogenic risks, protective factors, and assets that promote social development. By capturing individual-, micro-, exo-, and macro-level factors, juvenile court systems can look beyond delinquent acts of the youth and focus on reducing their involvement in health undermining behaviors. The validity of assessing risks and strengths across specific groups of youth is still under-reported, unclear, and mixed. For instance, research suggests that some assessment tools may overestimate recidivism risk for groups like racial/ethnic minorities and low-income families and fail to highlight potential strengths that may inform rehabilitation needs. The over-prediction of risks and under-reporting of strengths/protective factors potentially interferes with an agencies ability to provide appropriate interventions for youth involved in the juvenile court. My research focuses on improving assessment tools and leveraging tools to promote social and racial equity.
Measuring the Impact of Neighborhoods & Environments on Children in the Child Welfare and Juvenile Justice Systems
Child welfare and court practitioners are limited in their ability to estimate and measure the role neighborhoods play in children's healthy development. Capturing neighborhood ecology provides a broad context for understanding additional risks and strengths (e.g., resources, transportation, education, crime, physical environmental hazards, and poverty) that influence delinquency and maltreatment. Further, given youth from the same neighborhood may have different outcomes, it is essential to further disentangle the interaction between person and environment. My research provides opportunities for policymakers to leverage community resources to support children and families from diverse neighborhoods.
Evaluating Systems Responses to Children and Families Involved in the Child Welfare and Correctional Systems
Family systems (especially caregivers) play a critical role for young people in reducing risks and promoting strengths that lead to healthy development. Extended family units, including caregivers, are critical components of a microsystem that are often overlooked by child welfare and juvenile justice systems. More specifically, when child maltreatment, drug treatment, incarceration, human trafficking, divorce, and/or separation disrupts the family system, the social service systems called on to help in these difficult times are less likely to consider the role of extended family units as they design interventions for the impacted children. Given that families play a critical role in prevention and intervention outcomes for their children, my research evaluates challenges and barriers experienced by families and how these experiences impact the effectiveness of interventions for their children.
Developing Strength-Based Programs and Policies for Children and Families from Disadvantaged Communities
Traditional models of treatment and rehabilitation have focused on identifying problems and deficits to improve health and wellbeing. In addition to traditional models, there are many benefits in developing programs and policies based on the assets and strengths of children and their families. My research adopts strength-based approaches when designing and implementing programs and policies. Some of these methods include using participatory research approaches such as: involving children and family members as experts of their experiences, adopting appreciative inquiry, using positive psychology, asset mapping, community building ,and collaboration with children and families from disadvantaged communities.