Anthony Gómez, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Social Welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and an Affiliated Researcher with the California Child Welfare Indicators Project (CCWIP) at UC Berkeley.
Dr. Gómez’s primary area of research examines how child welfare policies shape developmental, behavioral health, and human capital outcomes among adolescents and young adults transitioning from foster care. Drawing on administrative data and advanced quantitative methods, his scholarship identifies practical solutions to help child welfare and other service systems better support young people during their transition to adulthood. His second line of research explores how policy and services shape outcomes for children in formal and informal kinship care. His work has appeared in leading journals, including Child Maltreatment, the Journal of the Society of Social Work and Research, and the Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal.
Dr. Gómez currently serves as the Administrative Data Lead for the evaluations of California’s Guaranteed Income Pilot Program and the Children’s Crisis Continuum Pilot Program. Additionally, he leads research examining the effects of Continuum of Care Reform (AB 403), a statewide policy that aimed to reduce California’s reliance on group homes as a placement option for youth with acute behavioral health needs. His work has been supported by the California Policy Lab, the Grand Challenges for Social Work, and the Constellation Fund.
Dr. Gómez earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pomona College, his MSW from UCLA (Go Bruins!), and his PhD in Social Welfare from UC Berkeley. Prior to his academic career, he worked as a therapist in a group home and served as a Luskin Leadership Fellow at the Los Angeles County Office of Child Protection. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his family and baking sourdough bread while listening to reggaeton and early-2000s hip-hop.
For a full list of publications, please visit his page on Google Scholar or ResearchGate.

Selected Publications:
Gómez, A. (2026). Congregate care outcomes after the Continuum of Care Reform. Child Maltreatment. https://doi.org/10.1177/10775595261426977
Gómez, A., Eastman, A. L., Courtney, M. E., Park, K., Powers, J., Magruder, J., & Tolchinsky, J. (2026). Impermanent permanency: Analyzing foster care reentry among adolescents exiting to reunification, guardianship, or adoption. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research. https://doi.org/10.1086/741642

Okpych, N. J., Gómez, A., & Agarwal, A. (2026). First-year and four-year community college outcomes for youth with experience in California foster care. Child Welfare.

Gómez, A., Park, K., Eastman, A. L., Courtney, M. E., & Yu, K. (2025). The developmental implications of extended foster care for sexual minority youth. Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10560-025-01065-3

Gómez, A., Lovato, K. K., Eastman, A. L., & Courtney, M. E. (2025). An examination of immigration status and its implications for transition-age youth in the child welfare system. Families in Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/10443894251340097

Gómez, A., Wollen, S. L., Day, A. G., Garcia-Rosales, K. V., Feltner, A., Shearlock, A., & Delaplane, G. (2024). “Now I am calm because they guide you:” A mixed-method exploratory study of the service needs and experiences of Latine kinship caregivers in Washington state. Children and Youth Services Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2023.107420

Gómez, A., Guo, S., & Lau, C. S. (2024). Associations between family resilience, child flourishing, and school engagement among children in kinship care. Families in Society. https://doi.org/10.1177/10443894231200660
Gómez, A. (2021). Associations between family resilience and health outcomes among kinship caregivers and their children. Children and Youth Services Review. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106103