Research
My research examines foster care identity development, belonging, and meaning-making across the lifespan. As a scholar–practitioner, I use human-centered and mixed-methods approaches to generate research that informs practice, learning evaluation, and policy across educational and organizational settings.
Research Focus Areas
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Foster Care Identity Development
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Belonging and Meaning-Making Across the Lifespan
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Human-Centered and Participatory Inquiry
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Learning Evaluation and Applied Inquiry in Educational and Organizational Contexts
Methodological Approaches
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Qualitative inquiry
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Constructivist grounded theory
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Mixed methods research
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Participatory and emancipatory approaches
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Critical discourse analysis
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Human-centered design thinking and user research
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Survey research and evaluation methods
Research Projects
"The Past Colliding with the Present": A Grounded Theory of Foster Care Identity Development
Doctoral dissertation, Colorado State University
This constructivist grounded theory study examines how adults who experienced foster care make meaning of a foster care identity over time. Analysis of the findings resulted in an emergent theoretical perspective on foster care identity development, highlighting how disruption, dominant narratives, belonging, and healing shape meaning-making of foster care experiences across the lifespan.
Campus Liaisons for Students Who Have Experienced Foster Care: Lessons Learned from Texas Legislation
Published in Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal with Toni Watt and colleagues
This study evaluates the implementation of statewide legislation mandating campus liaisons for students with experience in foster care across Texas colleges and universities. Results show that while students view liaisons as critical to their success, inconsistent visibility and limited institutional support undermine the policy’s effectiveness, highlighting gaps between legislation and practice.
From Foster Youth to Foster Scholar: Suggestions for Emancipatory Research Practices
Published in Children and Youth Services Review
This article examines how institutionalized power and oppression within foster care systems can be reproduced through research practices. Drawing on lived experience and emancipatory research traditions, the paper offers a reflexive guide to support researchers in conducting youth-centered, justice-oriented research with individuals who have experience in foster care.
Fostering Risk or Resilience: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Support for Students with Experience in Foster Care
Peer-reviewed conference presentation at National Conference for Hidden Populations, 2020
This critical discourse analysis examines how campus-based support program websites construct the identity of students with experience in foster care through public-facing discourse. Findings show that program websites both resist and reproduce dominant deficit narratives, revealing a complex interplay of power, strengths-based framing, and student voice that shapes foster care identity, belonging, and agency in college.
Mixed Methods Evaluation of Two Georgia College Campus Support
Programs for Students with Experience in Foster Care
Published in Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal with Ciara Collins and colleagues
This mixed-methods evaluation examines the implementation and outcomes of campus support programs for students with experience in foster care at a two-year technical college and a four-year university. Findings highlight both the promise of supporting academic outcomes and the structural and operational barriers, offering implications for policy, practice, and program evaluation.
Campus-Based Support and (In/)validation of Students with Foster Care Experience: A Literature Review
Peer-reviewed conference presentation at Association for the Study of Higher Education, 2022
This critical literature review examines how campus-based support programs both validate and invalidate the foster care identity development of students with experience in foster care. Drawing on validation theory and neo-critical validation theory, the review highlights how proactive support, consistency, and relational validation can foster belonging, while dominant institutional practices may undermine validation and student agency.
I hesitated at first because I was thinking, I don't know if I have a foster care identity. But I thought, surely I do. And now I really think I do have a foster care identity… It’s been very validating to dig into it—it’s given me permission to acknowledge the impact that experience had on me and continues to have.
— Participant, A Grounded Theory on Foster Care Identity Development