We are proud to announce that our longtime colleague, Dr. John Prindle, has been promoted to the rank of Research Associate Professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. His research focuses on longitudinal and predictive modeling of the impacts of maltreatment on child and family services, and on child development. Prior to working with the CDN, John developed theory guided exploration methods to combine structural modeling and data-mining techniques to examine covariance structure heterogeneity. He is also interested in models of growth and change, measurement models, and studying the impact of incomplete data in biasing statistical tests. John graduated from the University of California, San Diego with BS/BA degrees in Psychology and Economics, and from the University of Southern California with a PhD in Psychology. Congratulations on this well-deserved recognition, John! We look forward to many more years of collaboration.

On March 22nd, 2023, Update on Analysis and Key Questions: Racial and Ethnic Disproportionalities and Disparities in California’s Child Welfare System was presented to Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 1 on Health and Human Services. The LAO cited CDN and CCWIP research to support the following findings: 1) foster youth are disproportionately low income, Black, and Native American; 2) disproportionalities persist throughout the system; and 3) disproportionalities have persisted over time. These conclusions prompt further research and analysis in the areas of mandated reporting, the definition of neglect, and prevention of child maltreatment. We applaud the LAO’s data-informed approach to policy and budgetary analysis and identification of key questions for continued exploration.

CDN’s own Regan Foust was approved to serve a three-year term (2022-2025) on the 16-member Cradle-to-Career (C2C) Data System Data & Tools Advisory Board on May 11th, 2022. Sworn in on September 22nd, 2022, Dr. Foust now acts as one of two researchers on the Board and one of the very few members focused on the ‘Cradle’ in the Cradle-to-Career efforts. She looks forward to continuing her work to align data integration initiatives within and across the public agencies that serve and support children and families in California.