Dr. Tyreasa Washington, Child Trends’ senior program area director for child welfare, is a nationally and internationally recognized leading scholar in the child welfare field. Her primary research interest is on kinship care families (e.g., grandparents raising grandchildren) and how resources and policies affect these families. She is among a handful of scholars who examine the impact of family-level factors on the outcomes of African American children who live with kin caregivers. Dr. Washington’s life and research share an overarching goal of translating knowledge into beneficial, meaningful mechanisms that promote the healthy development of children and families. She is also committed to improving the lives of individuals by training and mentoring practitioners and researchers, and is the recipient of several teaching and mentoring awards.

Currently, Dr. Washington is the principal investigator of two Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)-funded studies. One study examines the impact of family on the social, academic, and behavioral outcomes of African American children in kinship care, and the other examines the risk and promotive factors of health (e.g., Alzheimer’s, stress) among African Americans providing kinship care. Dr. Washington has co-authored several publications and reports and has presented her research to various audiences, including universities and organizations in Ghana, South Africa, and Europe.

Dr. Washington has experience in both academia and in practice with children and families. She was a professor in the Department of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). She is also a faculty affiliate to the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis, faculty affiliate to the UNCG Gerontology Program, and the founding director of the African American Families and Kinship Care Lab. Dr. Washington is also a licensed clinical social worker who has worked in child welfare and mental health settings.

Dr. Washington earned her BSW from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, MSW from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; and PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Dr. Washington was featured in the National Association of Social Workers – North Carolina newsletter for her work in the child welfare field.