Marianne Berry

Biography

Dr. Berry is a scholar of national and international standing in the area of child welfare, and was director of the Center on the Family from 2013 to 2016. She has served as the director of the Australian Center for Child Protection at the University of South Australia; director of the Office of Child Welfare Research and Development at the University of Kansas; and co‐founder and director of the Center for Child Welfare at the University of Texas at Arlington. Having received her doctorate in social welfare at the University of California, she was a professor at the aforementioned universities and taught at both the graduate and undergraduate levels in children and family services, child welfare policy, family preservation practice, and research methods. Dr. Berry has written or edited four books, and has over 100 other peer-reviewed publications. Her research is devoted entirely to the field of social work with children and families, and has been funded by foundations and government agencies in the U.S. and overseas. She is a Research Fellow of the United States Children’s Bureau.

Research Interest

Evaluation of the Title IV-E Waiver Demonstration Project with Hawaii DHS, Child Welfare Services. The Center on the Family, in partnership with the UH Public Policy Center, is conducting a process and outcome evaluation of the state’s innovative strategies to (1) prevent children from unnecessarily entering foster care and (2) assist children and youth in foster care in returning home or finding other permanent families. This is a rigorous evaluation over five years, using state administrative data, information from private providers, and impressions from staff, families, and community partners. The results of this demonstration and evaluation will inform the development of best practices to keep children safely with their families or transition from foster care to more permanent families.