Area of Interest: Children and Families

Judith L. Perrigo

Professor Perrigo draws from her personal background as a Salvadoran immigrant and her 15 years of applied clinical work with children and families to inform her scholarship. Specifically, Judy’s research focuses on the wellbeing of young children – birth to five years old – with emphasis on holistic and transdisciplinary prevention and early intervention (PEI) initiatives with underserved, vulnerable, and marginalized populations. Dr. Perrigo has worked on projects that involve international and domestic child welfare, developmental delays and disabilities, IDEA Part C early intervention services, neuro-cognitive development, early childhood education, and neighborhood wellness that intersect with underserved children, families, and communities of color. Dr. Perrigo’s work has been funded by the Society for Research in Child Development (SRCD), the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), CSWE Minority Fellowship Program (MFP), Maternal and Child Health Bureau, as well as non-profit organizations like Whole Child International (WCI) and foundations like Tikum Olam Foundation.

Dr. Perrigo is currently working on the Chicago Heights Early Childhood Center (CHECC) longitudinal and large-scale experimental study that is funded by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). Dr. Perrigo is exploring the role of parental involvement among low socioeconomic status (SES) students who close the low/high-SES achievement gap. Recently, Dr. Perrigo launched a research study to explore how CHECC families are coping with education-related parental involvement during the COVID-19 pandemic.

In community, Dr. Perrigo serves as an endorsement panel reviewer for the California Center for Infant-Family and Early Childhood Mental Health at WestEd Center for Prevention & Early Intervention. Dr. Perrigo also provides reflective practice supervision at El Centro de Amistad. She serves as a reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals, including Health Promotion Practice, Maternal and Child Health Journal, and Children and Youth Services Review Journal.

Professor Perrigo teaches both SW210B: Foundations of SW Practice II and SW231A: Advanced Social Welfare Practice.

Tranishia James

July 13, 2020/in Social Welfare Adolescents, Children and Families All Faculty, Senate/Field/Adjunct Faculty Faculty /by Steven King

Tranishia James is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Her interests are in cultural issue, eliminating racial disproportionately and disparity in the child welfare system, trauma informed social work practice and assisting at-risk adolescents with attaining higher education.

As a Field Education Consultant with the California Social Work Education (Cal-SWEC) program, Tranishia works with first and second year students training them to become professional public child welfare social workers and is involved in recruiting child welfare candidates.

Prior to coming to UCLA, Tranishia worked with children and families in L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) for 10 1/2 years. She was a supervisor in Emergency Response (child abuse investigations); as well as a Coach Developer, teaching skills development trainings for Supervisors and Children’s Social Workers. While at DCFS, Tranishia also worked as a Field Instructor training/supervising UCLA and USC social work interns.

Stephanie Kathan

October 4, 2019/in Social Welfare Child Development, Children and Families, Foster Care PhD PhD Students /by Oliver Ike

Stephanie Kathan (née Thorne) is a third year Social Welfare PhD student at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Stephanie earned her Master of Science in Social Work with a concentration in Administration and Policy Practice from the University of Texas at Austin and her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology with a minor in Sexuality Studies from the University of California at Davis. She has worked with children and families in diverse environments for several years, including providing equine therapy, volunteering at a crisis nursery, providing tutoring services, completing family assessments, and in social work case management. Additionally, Stephanie has experience in developmental psychology research and child welfare research. Before starting at UCLA, Stephanie was a Research Associate at a state-wide Texas child placing agency. Stephanie’s research interests include foster care systems and child development improvements within multi-generational early childhood interventions. Stephanie is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and the Eta Tau chapter of Phi Alpha, the Social Work Honor Society.

Dominique A. Mikell

August 30, 2018/in Social Welfare Child Welfare, Children and Families, Community Based Methodologies, Qualitative Data Analysis, Race, Racism PhD, PhD Jobseeker PhD Students /by Mike Alvarez

Dominique Mikell Montgomery obtained her BA in Philosophy with Honors from the Graduate School of Education from Stanford University and her AM degree from the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration. She worked as a Stoneleigh Emerging Leader Fellow at Juvenile Law Center in Philadelphia as an extended foster care implementation researcher. Dominique’s research interests include the experiences of individuals and families impacted by the child welfare system, Black studies, state-violence and participatory and interpretive research methods.

Carlos Santos

August 23, 2018/in Social Welfare Activism, Adolescents, Children and Families, Civic Engagement, Educational Attainment, Ethnic-Racial Identity, Gender Identity, Heterosexism, Mental Health, Racism, Sexual Identity Carlos Santos All Faculty, Senate/Field/Adjunct Faculty Faculty /by Mike Alvarez

Carlos E. Santos is Associate Professor of Social Welfare in the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. He holds an undergraduate and doctoral degree in developmental psychology from NYU. He completed his master’s in education at Harvard University. His research focuses on ethnic-racial, gender, and sexual minority identity in relation to various developmental outcomes using an intersectional approach. He employs developmental theories and empirical methodologies in order to study the contexts within which identities are formed, develop, and change over time among primarily Latinx youth. His research has also explored legal consciousness among Latinx youth and the development of these youth in state level contexts that are socially and politically hostile towards immigrants. His empirical contributions with colleagues were recognized as “pioneering” (Jugert et al., 2020, p. 949, Child Development) in showing the effects of peers and peer networks on ethnic-racial identity. He was awarded multiple early career awards for achievement in research from three different national professional associations. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Santos is a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ Forum on Children’s Well-Being. He is a principal grant reviewer for the US Dept of Ed/IES, an ad hoc reviewer for NSF, and a former Associate Editor of the Journal of Adolescent Research. His co-edited book, Studying Ethnic Identity: Methodological and Conceptual Approaches Across Disciplines, was published by the American Psychological Association Press in 2015.

Jennifer A. Ray

July 17, 2018/in Social Welfare Child Development and Wellbeing, Children and Families, Family-Based Intervention, Nonresident Father Involvement PhD PhD Students /by Mike Alvarez

Jennifer Ray is currently a fifth-year doctoral student in the Social Welfare program at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs. Her scholarship centers on childhood adversity, family relations, and interventions aimed at reducing behavior problems among young children in African American families.

Jennifer’s current work examines the associations between and among adverse experiences in early childhood, nonresident father involvement, and child behavior problems in socially and economically disadvantaged African American families.

Prior to joining the Social Welfare program at UCLA, Jennifer worked as a clinician providing community mental health services to high-risk children and families in Los Angeles county. She has also worked on community-based research with the UCLA Social Justice Partnership and the UCLA Labor Center.

Jennifer completed her bachelor’s degree in Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles and received her MSW from the University of Southern California.

Latoya Small

September 12, 2017/in Social Welfare Children and Families, HIV, LGBTQ, Mental Health, South Africa All Faculty, Senate/Field/Adjunct Faculty Faculty /by Carmen Mancha

Latoya Small’s scholarship is informed by her work in clinical social work practice and community-based research.

Her research focuses on health disparities, specifically, the intersection of mental health, treatment adherence, and HIV among women and children in the U.S. and Sub-Saharan Africa. Her global research addresses the urgent need for theory-driven, empirically-informed, and sustainable psychosocial HIV treatment approaches for youth living with perinatally acquired HIV in South Africa.

In the U.S., Dr. Small examines how poverty-related stress, parenting, and mental health interact and relatedly impact adherence in HIV medical services among Black and Latina women in urban communities. An extension of her work includes mental health and discrimination facing transgender women of color.

Dr. Small takes a collaborative approach in her scholarship, recognizing that traditional intra-disciplinary boundaries can impede the development of effective and sustainable research interventions. Her work aims to produce accessible, evidence-informed interventions that bolster youth development and women’s health.

Jody Heymann

September 15, 2016/in Public Policy Children and Families, Global Health, Labor and Employment, Poverty All Faculty Faculty /by Les Dunseith

Dr. Jody Heymann is an internationally renowned researcher on health and social policy. She served as dean of the Jonathan and Karin Fielding School of Public Health from 2013 to 2018.

Prior to coming to UCLA, Dr. Heymann held a Canadian Chair in Global Health and Social Policy at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and was the Founding Director of the Institute for Health and Social Policy, the Project on Global Working Families and the World Policy Analysis Center (WPAC). WPAC has relocated to UCLA.

Dr. Heymann established and will continue to lead the first global initiative to examine health and social policy in all 193 UN nations. This initiative provides an in-depth look at how health and social policies affect the ability of individuals, families and communities to meet their health needs across the economic and social spectrum worldwide. In addition to carrying out award-winning global social policy research, Heymann carried out some of the original studies on the risk of HIV transmission via breast milk to infants in Africa, the impact of HIV/AIDS on tuberculosis rates in Africa, and how labor conditions impact the health and welfare of families globally.

She has authored and edited more than 200 publications, including 15 books. These include Changing Children’s Chances(Harvard University Press, 2013), Making Equal Rights Real (Cambridge University Press, 2012), Lessons in Educational Equality (Oxford University Press, 2012), Protecting Childhood in the AIDS Pandemic (Oxford University Press, 2012), Profit at the Bottom of the Ladder (Harvard Business Press, 2010), Raising the Global Floor (Stanford University Press, 2009),Trade and Health (McGill Queens University Press, 2007), Forgotten Families (Oxford University Press, 2006), Healthier Societies (Oxford University Press, 2006), Unfinished Work (New Press, 2005), Global Inequalities at Work (Oxford University Press, 2003), and The Widening Gap (Basic Books, 2000).

Deeply committed to translating research into policies and programs that improve individual and population health, Dr. Heymann has worked with government leaders in North America, Europe, Africa and Latin America as well as a wide range of intergovernmental organizations including the World Health Organization, the International Labor Organization, the World Economic Forum, UNICEF and UNESCO. Central to her efforts is bridging the gap between research and policymakers. She has helped develop legislation with the U.S. Congress as well as with UN agencies based on the implications of her team’s research results. Dr. Heymann’s findings have been featured on CNN Headline News; MSNBC; Good Morning America; Fox News; National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” “Fresh Air” and “Marketplace;” in The New York Times; Washington Post; Los Angeles Times; Business Week; Inc; Portfolio; Forbes India and USA Today, among other internationally and nationally syndicated programs and press.

Hector Palencia

May 10, 2016/in Social Welfare Children and Families, Field Education, Mental Health, School, Trauma and Gangs Hector Palencia All Faculty, Senate/Field/Adjunct Faculty Faculty /by Les Dunseith

Mr. Palencia graduated with a B.A. in English and a Religious Studies minor from the University of California, Irvine. From there he was granted an M.A. in Systematic Theology (with honors) from Berkley’s Graduate Theological Union, with another Masters degree in Social Welfare from U.C.L.A.

Mr. Palencia put his graduate studies to work in the field of gang resistance diversion programs, Mr. Palencia has numerous professional qualifications in addition he has presented on Social Welfare and Gangs, Criminalization of Homelessness, Working with Trauma in Youth, and Gang Round Table Discussions.

Mr. Palencia’s work history demonstrates a compassion borne out of his spiritual endeavors and a capacity for working with marginalized young offenders. He comes to UCLA from El Rancho unified where he served as one of the mental health liaison’s responsible for district wide mental health services which included coordinating services with partnering agencies as well as responding to crisis and working specifically with tier three students. For 4 years, he was with the East Whittier City School District overseeing middle school diversion programs, created partnerships with community agencies to meet needs not being addressed for students, and he became successful in writing numerous grants including the Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant initiative. In his career, he has worked in hospice and as drug and alcohol counselor handling at-risk youth case loads.

Laura Wray-Lake

May 10, 2016/in Social Welfare Adolescents, Children and Families, Civic Engagement, Education, Empowerment, Equity, Political Behavior, Social Responsibility, Youth Development Laura Wray-Lake All Faculty, Senate/Field/Adjunct Faculty Faculty /by Les Dunseith

Dr. Laura Wray-Lake’s research is primarily focused on youth civic engagement. The starting point for this research is the assumption that adolescents and young adults hold abundant potential and act as positive change agents and address society’s problems on local, national, and global scales. In Dr. Wray-Lake’s work, civic engagement is intentionally broadly defined to include behaviors as well as values, skills, knowledge, and motivations; political and helping-oriented forms of engagement; and informal and formal ways of being civically engaged. Her work also prioritizes young people’s own definitions of civic engagement, as youth are continually reimagining ways of being civically engaged that align with their opportunities and contexts.

Grounded in a developmental perspective, Dr. Wray-Lake uses quantitative and qualitative methodologies to understand how and why young people become civically engaged. Her research has documented developmental change over time in different forms of civic engagement, examined factors that promote and hinder youth civic engagement, and considered the role of culture, context, and historical time in shaping youth civic engagement. Dr. Wray-Lake has published over 80 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and an SRCD Monograph entitled Pathways to Civic Engagement among Urban Youth of Color. Her forthcoming book, written with a team of colleagues, is called Young Black Changemakers and the Road to Racial Justice (Cambridge University Press, 2023). Dr. Wray-Lake’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Templeton Foundation, Spencer Foundation, Haynes Foundation, and AmeriCorps. She received the Mid-Career Award for Research Excellence from the Society for Research on Adolescence in 2020.

Current Research Projects Include:

A longitudinal study of youth activism in collaboration with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to understand experiences of youth activists with different social identities.
A mixed-methods study of ageism against adolescents to understand the negative stereotypes adults have of adolescents that can hinder civic engagement and thriving.

Dr. Wray-Lake is a member of the Vote16 Research Network, a collaborative of researchers, advocates, government officials, and educators working to study the impact and implementation of lowering the voting age to 16. She has written several pieces, including for Perspectives on Psychological Science, that review evidence showing that 16 and 17-year-olds are capable and ready for the right to vote.

Dr. Wray-Lake is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Research on Adolescence, and recently co-edited a special series on Dismantling Systems of Racism and Oppression during Adolescence focused on Black youth; Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) youth; and resistance and activism among youth of color.

A full list of Dr. Wray-Lake’s publications can be found on google scholar or ResearchGate. Please contact Dr. Wray-Lake for a copy of any publication.

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