Lecture 2 in a series of 3 sessions on the occasion the Child Abuse Prevention Month in partnership with the School of Social Work at OU-Norman
April 8th, 12:00 -1:30 pm
By Prof. John Davidson Fluke, Associate Director for Systems Research and Evaluation, University of Colorado, Denver.
Short description of the lecture: In child welfare, there is dichotomy between child safety and family preservation which is sometimes described as false. This dichotomy has been a source of tension in the US Child Welfare system and it remains a dynamic driver in orienting in Child Welfare policy over time and from place to place. The lecture will focus on the tension between these two orientations in child protection policies over the years from a systems research perspective and as reflected in the challenges faced by the involved children, families, and child welfare agency staff as differing views of priorities play out. The lecture will highlight research on engagement enabling policies such as differential response and family group decision making.
Short bio: Prof. Fluke is Associate Director for Systems Research and Evaluation at the Kempe Center with joint appointments as a Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine and the Department of Epidemiology at the Colorado School of Public Health. Dr. Fluke’s research is focused on child protection decision-making and child maltreatment epidemiology. He is known internationally for his innovative and informative research and evaluation work in the areas of child welfare administrative data analysis, workload and costing, and performance and outcome measurement for children and family services. For the US government he has been PI or key staff for research and evaluation projects focused on improving the evidence base for various interventions with the US Health and Human Services Children’s Bureau, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA), the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation (ASPE), and with the US Agency for International Development (USAID). He has also worked on projects sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Casey Family Services Foundation, the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, and program evaluation projects for governmental child welfare agencies such as Colorado, New York City, Texas, Utah, and Washington. He has participated in numerous internationally based efforts to improve the global capacity to understand the epidemiology of child maltreatment including work with Canadian, Balkan, EU, German, Saudi Arabian, and Unicef data sources. He is the author or co-author of more than 70 peer reviewed publications, as well as numerous book chapters and reports. He has co-edited two books National Systems of Child Protection through Springer Press and Decision Making and Judgement in Child Welfare and Protection: Theory, Research, and Practice through Oxford University Press.