Institute for Families in Society

Co-Editor-in-Chief

As Editor-in-Chief, I bring to my role an accumulation of nearly three decades in service to promoting the mental health and well-being of children, youth, and families. From my early doctoral training at the University of Arizona (Clinical Psychology) and an internship in Minneapolis, Minnesota, it became apparent that many families were not getting the mental health support that they needed, and, that mental health services that were typically provided at the community level were not based on empirical evidence. My path to learn, deliver, and later research implementation and dissemination of evidence-based interventions grew from this discomfiture. Over time, professional work in a wide range of service systems and settings including rural health, mental health, juvenile justice, and universities has taught me three things. First, significant barriers remain to practical use of strong scientific knowledge and evidence-based approaches to intervention. Second, no single profession or discipline has “the” answers. A transdisciplinary approach is necessary if we hope to produce and disseminate research that has clear practical implications. Third, patience is not always a virtue. We do not have time to wait while children suffer. Thus, I bring to the Journal of Child and Family Studies a sense of urgency and a deep commitment to promoting high quality research that matters to families, professionals, communities, policymakers, and fellow researchers.

Affiliations

Institute for Families in Society, College of Social Work, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

Co-Editor-in-Chief

Anne Farrell began her career as a frontline worker in child welfare, homelessness, and disabilities, holding positions of increasing responsibility while pursuing a funded program of translational scholarship and supporting the preparation of researchers and clinicians across disciplines. Farrell’s work focuses on producing, disseminating, and translating research to improve the lives of children, youth, families, and communities who experience adversity. She conducts research and policy analysis on child welfare, youth and family homelessness, cross-systems collaborations, and community resilience, all with emphasis on reducing disparate outcomes among disenfranchised populations. She has published numerous scholarly articles, technical reports, books, and book chapters, and leads research and policy initiatives in partnership with communities, public agencies, nonprofits, educational institutions, and philanthropy.

She was honored by the National Council on Family Relations (NCFR) for distinguished performance as a mentor and a recipient of the University of Connecticut Faculty Recognition Award, which honors sustained, outstanding achievements in research, service, and teaching. As Director of Research and Senior Research Fellow at Chapin Hall, Farrell provided research leadership while leading a rigorous research and dissemination agenda related to youth and family homelessness, child welfare, and community capacity building. Farrell co-chaired the organization’s data governance committee, which is responsible for data security and the stewardship of administrative data. Since 2024, Farrell has been a Senior Fellow at the Urban Institute in Washington, DC. At Urban, she leads work related to child welfare, transition age youth, housing instability and homelessness, and evidence building.

Affiliations

Urban Institute, Washington, D.C.