The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute

Increased Effectiveness Through Diverse Partnerships

Our Partnership

The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute, a collaboration between the University of Denver, University of Maryland - Baltimore County, and other community and academic partners, is working to evaluate and improve child welfare practice and effectiveness through evidence-based strategies and interventions backed by in-depth research.

About DU Research

We leverage cross-institutional collaboration to address some of today’s most pressing challenges, producing interdisciplinary solutions that influence policymakers to effectively serve the public good. From Stanford to UChicago to NYU, we’ve refined our collaborative process through years of mutually beneficial relationships with institutions nationwide to understand and address challenges like climate change, HIV and youth homelessness.

DU’s current research efforts have been featured in news outlets like The New York Times. They include…

  • exploring the effects of felony disenfranchisement.
  • employing lasers as the medium for quantum science.
  • using theatre to heal and rehabilitate inmates.

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About the Project

The Institute, now on its second round of funding, leverages a roster of diverse partnerships to find the most effective available methods in providing child welfare services.

Points of emphasis included systems development, organizational interventions and change leadership, using data-driven capacity building, education and professional development. DU's Butler Institute for Families lead the overall project evaluation and co-lead in knowledge management and dissemination.

The project was a collaboration between the University of Denver, the University of Maryland - Baltimore County, the University of Albany, Michigan State University, Portland State University and the University of Southern Maine.

Discover Research at DU

Robin Leake & Carole Wilcox

Robin Leake is a research associate professor based at the Butler Institute for Families. With over two decades of experience in the social sciences, specifically in intervention strategies and evaluation of human service agencies, she has worked to increase the effectiveness of agencies that service communities. Her research interests center around effective social institutions, tribal and indigenous issues, culturally responsive practice, child welfare, and organizational function.

Carole Wilcox is the Director of Organizational Development & Capacity Building at the Butler Institute for Families. She has devoted her career to implementing practices to better address domestic violence, child abuse, substance abuse, and mental health issues among families through increased engagement across geographical, cultural, economical, and tribal boundaries.