NYU Silver Associate Professor Darcey Merritt has been elected to the Board of Directors of the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA), the nation’s oldest and largest membership-based child welfare organization. She joins the Board as the organization is celebrating its 100th year of leadership in creating and advancing standards of practice, advocacy, and information sharing to enhance the well-being of families, children, and youth.
“I am honored to have been elected to serve on the CWLA Board of Directors,” Dr. Merritt said. “The organization is deeply invested in advancing policies and practices that improve the lives of America’s most vulnerable children and families. I look forward to working with my Board colleagues to continue this mission and more urgently address the racism that pervades the child welfare system, and elevate the voices of children and parents affected by it.”
Dr. Merritt is internationally recognized for her expertise in child welfare. Her research interests include child maltreatment prevention; maltreatment type definitional issues; neighborhood structural impact on maltreatment; and experiences of those served by public child welfare systems. She also has extensive experience as a practitioner in the private and public child welfare systems.
In addition to serving on NYU Silver’s faculty, Dr. Merritt is a Faculty Fellow at the School’s McSilver Institute for Poverty Policy and Research, a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Social Work and Research, Associate Editor for Children and Youth Services Review, and a member of the Editorial Board of Child Maltreatment.