Freshman class

All in the family

Tom Crea, assistant professor of social work

Ph.D., University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Representative publication: ""Home Study Methods for Evaluating Prospective Resource Families: History, Current Challenges, and Promising Approaches," Child Welfare

My research focuses on the decision-making processes social workers employ in their assessments of families. These interests are rooted in my experiences as a clinical social worker, when I worked with children and families. Professional experience convinced me that good social work practice is not only based on individual expertise and education, but also on organizational factors that can facilitate or impede individual action. To that end, my research measures the implementation and impact of large-scale initiatives designed to improve frontline practice in foster care and adoption practice.

One project is designed to measure the extent to which team decision-making processes affect placement outcomes for children involved in the foster care system. Another project measures social workers' preferences for, and the implementation of, standardized structured decision-making methods for conducting foster and adoption home studies of prospective families. My goal as a faculty member is to draw both from my practice experience and empirical evidence to evaluate programs designed to improve the lives of children and families.