Darcey Merritt

Darcey Merritt is an Associate Professor at NYU Silver and is a faculty fellow for the McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research. She has extensive experience as a practitioner in the private and public child welfare systems, and as a researcher with interests including child maltreatment prevention; maltreatment type definitional issues; neighborhood structural impact on maltreatment; and the lived experiences of those served by public child welfare systems.

Dr. Merritt is internationally recognized for her expertise in child welfare and she has presented research and provided guidance on child protective services design and supports for vulnerable families in China, Abu Dhabi, and across the United States. In January 2019, she presented a keynote at the International Conference on Social Work for Children: Practice in China and Global Experience in Beijing at the invitation of UNICEF’s China Office.

In August 2019, Dr. Merritt was awarded an Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant (R21) from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development for a study to elicit the parental decision-making processes that result in behaviors typically deemed by child welfare service providers as neglectful.

Dr. Merritt is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Social Work and Research and serves as chair of the organization’s Social Policy Committee. She is an Associate Editor of Children and Youth Services Review (CYSR), and serves on the editorial board of Child Maltreatment. Her research has been widely published in journals including CYSR, Child Maltreatment, Child Abuse and Neglect, Journal of Orthopsychiatry, Substance Abuse, Substance Use and Misuse, Journal of Social Services Research, and the Journal of Public Child Welfare. She also serves on the Child Maltreatment Prevention Committee of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC) and was lead author of the chapter on “Effective Program Models for the Prevention of Child Maltreatment” in the APSAC Handbook on Child Maltreatment, Fourth Edition. Her published work primarily focuses on child welfare involved families and their perceived experiences while receiving services, contextual (e.g. neighborhood and psychosocial) indicators of well being outcomes, the structural and systemic impact of child welfare oversight on parenting, children’s preferences and expectations for permanency while living in out of home placements, and child developmental and well being outcomes in the context of socio-behavioral, relational and neighborhood level factors.

Dr. Merritt, who joined the NYU Silver faculty in 2010, has experience teaching the History of Social Welfare Policy, Social Policy Analysis, Research Methods, Family Violence, Grant Writing, as well as workshops on cluster and factor analyses and hierarchical linear modeling. She serves on the NYU Faculty Senate and is Vice Chair of the Tenured Faculty Senators Council. In 2019, she received the School’s first-ever Distinguished Contribution to Student Engagement Award.

Dr. Merritt earned her MSW and PhD in social welfare from the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, Department of Social Welfare, and her BA from Sarah Lawrence College with concentrations in sociology and psychology.

Merritt, D. H. (October 2017). Placement Preferences among Children Living in Foster or Kinship Care: A Cluster Analysis. Paper presentated at the annual colloquium of The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), European Regional Meeting 2017, The Hague, Netherlands.

Merritt, D. H. & Snyder, S. (October 2017). Maltreatment Type and Behaviors: Does Listening Matter? Paper presented at the annual colloquium of The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), European Regional Meeting 2017, The Hague, Netherlands.

Merritt, D. H. & Snyder, S. (October 2017). Correlates of Optimal Behavior Among Child Welfare Involved Children: Perceived School Peer Connectedness, Activity Participation, Social Skills and Peer Affiliation. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), European Regional Meeting 2017, The Hague, Netherlands.

Merritt, D. H. & Snyder, S. (October 2017). What effect does caseworker listening have on inhalant use? Paper presented at the annual colloquium of The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), European Regional Meeting 2017, The Hague, Netherlands.

Merritt, D. H. & Snyder, S. (October 2017). Contextual factors related to the CRAFFT scale: Correlates of adolescent risky behaviors. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), European Regional Meeting 2017, The Hague, Netherlands.

Merritt, D. H. & Snyder, S. (October 2017). How Is Access to Peer Support Amongst Traumatized Adolescents Associated with Behaviors? A National Study of Child Welfare Involved Youth. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), European Regional Meeting 2017, The Hague, Netherlands.

Merritt, D. H. (October 2017). Should I Stay or Should I Go? Correlates of Children’s Placement Preferences. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of The International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (ISPCAN), European Regional Meeting 2017, The Hague, Netherlands.

Merritt, D. H., Snyder, S. & Manuel, J. (November, 2017). Substance Use Risk Among Child Welfare System Involved Youth: Towards a Better Theoretical Conceptualization. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of the American Public Health Association (APHA), Atlanta, Georgia.

Snyder, S., Merritt, D. H. & Manuel, J. (November, 2017). Drug Use Trajectories among Child Welfare System Involved Youth. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of the American Public Health Association (APHA), Atlanta, Georgia.

Ludeke, R. & Merritt, D. H. (November, 2017). Differences in Socio-Behavioral Outcomes Among Youth in Foster and Kinship Care. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of the American Public Health Association (APHA), Atlanta, Georgia.

Liu, Y. & Merritt, D. H. (November, 2017). Paternal depression and socioeconomic disadvantage: The role of parenting in association with childhood depression in China. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of the American Public Health Association (APHA).

Liu, Y. & Merritt, D. H. (November, 2017). Socioeconomic status, child maltreatment, and child depression. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of the American Public Health Association (APHA), Atlanta, Georgia.

Merritt, D. H. & Lushin, V. (November, 2017). Housing and Non-Neglectful Behaviors as Related to Health and Mental Health Outcomes. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of the American Public Health Association (APHA), Atlanta, Georgia.

Merritt, D. H. & Lushin, V. (November, 2017). Effects of Relatives’ Incarceration on Children's Health Outcomes. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of the American Public Health Association (APHA), Atlanta, Georgia.

Merritt, D. H. & Lushin, V. (November, 2017). Effects of Child Abuse and Neglect on Trauma and Depression: Exploring Buffering Opportunities. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of the American Public Health Association (APHA), Atlanta, Georgia.

Merritt, D. H. & Lushin, V. (November, 2017). Children's Construction of Their Future: An Explanatory Variable for Vulnerability and Resilience. Paper presented at the annual colloquium of the American Public Health Association (APHA).

Merritt, D. H. and Snyder, S. (June, 2017). Factors associated with risky substance use among child welfare involved youth. Paper presented at 25th annual colloquium of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC), Portland, Maine.

Black, J. M., Merritt, D. H., Kepple, N. J., & Conway, A. M. (January, 2017). Integration of Neuroscience and Genetics into Social Work Education: Implications for Practice, Policy and Research. Roundtable presented at the annual program meeting of the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR), New Orleans, LA.

Merritt, D. H. and Snyder, S. (January, 2017). Is Inhalant Use Influenced By Youths' Perceptions of How Well Their Caseworkers Listen? Paper presented at the annual program meeting of the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR), New Orleans, LA.

Snyder, S. and Merritt, D. H. (January 2017). Risk factors for inhalant use among child welfare system involved adolescents. Paper presented at the annual program meeting of the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR), New Orleans, LA

Merritt, D. H. and Snyder, S. How Is Access to Peer Support Amongst Traumatized Adolescents Associated with Behaviors? A National Study of Child Welfare Involved Youth. Paper presented at the annual program meeting of the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR), January, 2017, New Orleans, LA

Merritt, D. H. and Snyder, S. (January 2017). Contextual factors related to the CRAFFT scale: Correlates of adolescent risky behaviors. Paper presented at the annual program meeting of the Society for Social Work Research (SSWR), New Orleans, LA.

Merritt, D. H. and Snyder, S. (October 2016). Contextual factors related to the CRAFFT scale: Correlates of adolescent risky behaviors. Paper presened at the annual program meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA), Denver, CO

Snyder, S. and Merritt, D. H. (June 2016). What effect does caseworker listening have on inhalant use? Poster presented at 24rd annual colloquium of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC), New Orleans, LA.

Merritt, D. H. and Snyder, S. (July 2015). Maltreatment Type and Behaviors: Does Listening Matter? Paper presented at 23rd annual colloquium of the American Professional Society on the Abuse of Children (APSAC), Boston, MA.

MSW: Advanced Social Policy: Advocacy

MSW: Social Welfare Programs & Policies I