JCFS Overview | IFS - College of Social Work | University of South Carolina

Overview

Founded in 1992, the Journal of Child and Family Studies (JCFS) stands as an international, interdisciplinary translational research outlet focusing on the well-being of children, youth, and their families.

Introduction

Dr. Cheri Shapiro serves as Editor in Chief of the Journal of Child and Family Studies, supported by an editorial team of experts across the country and around the world. JCFS strives to publish meaningful, well-conducted studies that can improve the lives of children, youth, and families.

Founded in 1992 by Dr. Nirbhay N. Singh, JCFS was developed as an outlet for a wide range of research, practice, and policy studies related to children, adolescents, and their families. Today, JCFS stands as an international, interdisciplinary translational research outlet focusing on the well-being of children, youth, and their families. We are particularly interested in applied and translational research studies that have meaningful practical implications for service providers, program implementers, and policymakers.

Aims and Scope

The Journal of Child and Family Studies (JCFS) is an international, peer-reviewed forum for topical issues pertaining to the behavioral health and well-being of children, adolescents, and their families.

Interdisciplinary and ecological in approach, the journal focuses on individual, family, and community contexts that influence child, youth, and family well-being and translates research results into practical applications for providers, program implementers, and policymakers. Original papers address applied and translational research, program evaluation, service delivery, and policy matters that affect child, youth, and family well-being.

Topic areas include but are not limited to:

enhancing child, youth/young adult, parent, caregiver, and/or family functioning;
prevention and intervention related to social, emotional, or behavioral functioning in children, youth, and families;
cumulative effects of risk and protective factors on behavioral health, development, and well-being;
the effects both of exposure to adverse childhood events and assets/protective factors;
child abuse and neglect, housing instability and homelessness, and related ecological factors influencing child and family outcomes.

Ethics and Disclosures

The journal is committed to maintaining the highest level of integrity in the content published and is a member of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE).

View the full ethics and disclosures statement »

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Editorial Team

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

Senior Associate Editors

Anne F. Farrell, Ph.D. Senior Fellow, Urban Institute, Washington, DC

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.

The JCFS team is committed to ensuring our continued commitment to theoretically derived, empirically justified, translational research that readily informs the field’s ability to promote child and family well-being. In short: developing and disseminating evidence that informs practice is as important as ever. We are incredibly grateful to the editors, peer reviewers, and authors whose contributions make that possible.

Jackie Nelson Associate Professor, University of Texas at Dallas

Jackie Nelson is an Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Dallas. Her Ph.D. is in Human Development and Family Studies from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is the Director of Research at UTD’s Center for Children and Families and co-directs an NSF-funded Research Exposure for Undergraduates (REU) program in developmental science. Her research focuses on parenting, family dynamics, and children’s social-emotional development.

Working as a Senior Associate Editor at the Journal of Child and Family Studies is a stimulating and rewarding experience. I have learned so much! I appreciate being part of a wonderful team of scholars and have greatly enjoyed seeing authors’ papers reach their high potential.

Michele Schlehofer Professor, University of Salisbury

Michele Schlehofer is a Professor of Psychology at Salisbury University. Her Ph.D. is in Applied Social Psychology from Claremont Graduate University in Claremont, California. Trained in the Lewinian tradition of action-research, her expertise is on community-engaged research methodologies, including participatory action-research. She has an extensive record of community engagement, scholar-activism, public policy, and organizing experience. She holds Fellows status in APA Divisions 9 (Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues) and 44 (Society for the Psychology of Sexual Orientation and Gender Diversity), a membership designation reserved for psychologists whose work has had national or international impact.

The Journal of Child and Family Studies is a vital international resource for researchers, community practitioners, and policymakers. It is an honor to contribute to building a collection of evidence-based and ecologically-rooted practices that benefit families and children around the world.

Ana Caterina Canario Assistant Professor, University of Porto

Ana Catarina Canário is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences of the University of Porto, Portugal. Her research focuses on the evaluation of parenting programs as interventions to promote child development and family well-being, and crosses different areas of knowledge to evaluate the quality of the implementation, effects, costs, and the sustained use of parenting programs.

The Journal of Child and Family Studies is a scholarly periodical of great relevance to practitioners and academics working in child development and family support. Through its many relevant articles, the journal has supported the field moving forward, acknowledging that the family is key in child development and that family support is a way to promote and guarantee the acknowledgement of children's rights.

Laura Armstrong, Ph.D. Associate Professor, University of North Carolina Charlotte

Christian Connell, Ph.D. Professor, Penn State University

Kate Guastaferro, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, New York University

Editorial Assistant

Elizabeth Dixon

Elizabeth Dixon, LISW-CP, is a Project Coordinator with the Institute for Families in Society. After receiving her MSW from the University of South Carolina, Elizabeth worked in the nonprofit sector serving vulnerable children and families through clinical and administrative positions. She has experience providing trauma-informed child and family therapy and continues to enjoy working with families in the community.

As a clinical social worker, translating research findings into clinical practice to reach vulnerable populations is something I am very passionate about, and I’m thrilled to play a part in this through the Journal of Child and Family Studies

Click here to view the full list of editorial staff »