Happy 2024! The new year gives us an opportunity to reflect on past achievements and set goals for future growth. As we embark on 2024, we are excited about all that this year holds.

In this edition of the newsletter, you will see that the year is starting off strong within our team and across our programmatic pillars of research, education and partnership. For instance, we're proud to announce the forthcoming release of a report on blind removal and our participation in the APSAC conference in June 2024. We are also pleased to share Dr. Tyrone Howard's latest book, educational experiences from our team retreat and within the DMH+UCLA Early Childhood Fellowship. As always, our students' achievements enrich the UCLA Pritzker Center and enhance our presence on-campus and in the community. Check it out below!

Wishing you an impactful and meaningful new year!  

In community,

The UCLA Pritzker Center Team

The AVENUE Team had an amazing time at the annual day of giving, coordinated by our partners at the Department of Mental Health (DMH). Every year, our AVENUE team has the opportunity to provide families in the Antelope Valley with toys and other necessities during the holiday season at the Annual Day of Giving. Our team is grateful for the opportunity to support families in the Antelope Valley!

“Fostering Photovoice (2023)” is a group exhibition of photographs reflecting the lives and experiences of former foster youth and their views on the child welfare system. The UCLA Pritzker Center proudly served as a fiscal sponsor for undergraduate student researchers, Amanda Solis, Isabella Reina, and Abby Rubtsova. Congratulations on a successful event!

This month, we held our very first UCLA Pritzker Center team retreat with students, staff and faculty in attendance. As UCLA works to deepen its engagement with Los Angeles, the event was hosted at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes in downtown Los Angeles. An anchor cultural institution in Los Angeles County, La Plaza centers the Latino experience and provides a space to uplift, share, and preserve the stories of Mexicans, Mexican Americans, and Latinx people in Southern California. Mil gracias to La Plaza for hosting us! 

In furtherance of offering an educational experience and strengthening our community partnerships, Dr. Charity Chandler-Cole, CEO of CASA of Los Angeles, joined us for a reading and discussion of her book, Stranger Danger. The team also participated in a plant-based cooking lesson and enjoyed an immersive experience on Olvera Street.

“The UCLA Pritzker Center retreat was marvelously magical, effortlessly educational, and unquestionably unifying. All of its components—from the cultural cooking class to the dancing & museum—reflected not only the values that we hold dear at the Pritzker Center, but it also reflects the cultural richness that Los Angeles has to offer. My highlight has to be when we danced our hearts out at La Plaza. A moment that unfolded due to our innermost curiosity, but lasted due to our care for one another.” — Cristopher Espino, undergraduate research assistant

UCLA Pritzker Center research fellow, Brenda A. Tully, PhD, participated in the annual Transition Age Youth special interest group (TAY SIG) that preceded the Society for Social Work and Research conference in Washington, DC in early January. The TAY SIG focuses on developing community among social work researchers, policymakers, and increasingly people with lived experience in the foster system through networking and discussing research and policies relevant to youth and young adults aging out of the foster system. This hybrid event focused on TAY policy priorities, current research projects, and research methods. A panel of people with lived experience shared their perspectives as researchers and advocates for research priorities to improve the transition from the foster system to adulthood.

The UCLA Pritzker Center, along with collaborators from the LA County Department of Children and Family Services Lancaster Regional Office and the Prevention and Promotion Systems Governing Committee, submitted a workshop proposal that was accepted for the forthcoming American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) 31st Colloquium in New Orleans from June 9-13, 2024. The 3-hour workshop, Transforming Child Welfare: Evolving Practices in Mandatory Reporting and Domestic Violence, will identify strategies for leveraging narrative change and collective impact using two cross-sector change initiatives pursuing racial justice and holistic family well-being in Las Angeles County’s child welfare system.

Our blind removal study, in partnership with LA County DCFS, explores the root causes of racial disproportionality and aims to safely reduce the overrepresentation of Black children in care. Blind removal is one strategy among many within a multi-pronged effort. Stay tuned for our Blind Removal report releasing in February 2024!

UCLA Pritzker Center Executive Director, Taylor Dudley, wrapped the fall course, Public Affairs 124: Child Welfare Policy in America. The course examined contemporary issues facing families exposed to the child welfare system. Students learned  the history of the child welfare system in the United States, and how this history has impacted modern-day practices. Topics such as racism, disability, substance use, health and well-being, education, and immigration status were explored. Students evaluated challenges facing the child welfare system, and proposed policy and practice solutions. 

“:…everyday I learned so much and affirmed that this is the exact field I want to go into. Learning about different policies, laws, history of the child welfare system, and how these policies/laws/regulations have succeeded and failed has inspired me. I am very passionate about working to make a difference and be a voice for these kids” – Public Affairs 124 Student

Building on the interest of the students, the UCLA Pritzker Center hopes to expand its offering of child welfare courses in the 24-25 academic year.

The DMH + UCLA Early Childhood Fellowship is designed to support the growth and wellbeing of professionals working with young children and families in Los Angeles County.  For ten months, Fellows come together to learn, practice, and reflect on the application of key knowledge and skills that promote resilience in young children and their families. Fellows learn from national and local experts and collaborate with colleagues to create and implement innovative approaches to address the challenges faced by families with young children in their communities.

UCLA Pritzker Center Executive Director, Taylor Dudley, is a 2023-2024 fellow.

“As we pass through month 5 of the 10 month fellowship, the opportunity to learn from national experts and various UCLA colleagues has been inspiring, enriching and eye opening. Likewise, learning from the fellows about their experiences working in 0-5 mental health has been highly educational. I am in awe of them! Attachment and brain development stand out as critical issues impacting children and families, and are of particular relevance to children in foster care who concurrently experience trauma due to family separation, racial bias, and other intersectional harms. I am eager to complete the fellowship and embed this knowledge into our work at the UCLA Pritzker Center.”