Dr. Ruth McRoy

Dr. Ruth McRoy has been named the new GSSW Donahue and DiFelice Endowed Professor. Her work encompasses groundbreaking and innovative research in the areas of child welfare, adoption, and diversity. Dr. McRoy will join the BCGSSW faculty in September 2009.

McRoy has authored or co-authored eight books and more than 100 articles and book chapters on child welfare issues. Her recent honors include the 2004 Flynn Prize for Social Work Research from the University of Southern California, the 2005 George Silcott Lifetime Achievement Award from the Black Administrators in Child Welfare, and the 2006 Distinguished Achievement Award from the Society for Social Work and Research (SSWR).

An academician, researcher, practitioner, trainer and lecturer in the field for over 30 years, McRoy’s work has focused on topics such as open adoptions, adoptive family recruitment, transracial identity development, family preservation, adolescent pregnancy, African American families, kinship care, and disproportionality in child welfare. She has received major research funding from public and private agencies such as the US Department of HHS, the Texas Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, and the Hogg Foundation. She is a member of the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) Board and is a Senior Research Fellow and member of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute Board.