$1.9 Million Federal Grant Launches
UAlbany Child Welfare,
Drug Abuse and Intergenerational Risk Center
Contact: Lisa James Goldsberry (518) 437-4980
ALBANY, N.Y. (June 23, 2003) -- The
University at Albany School of Social Welfare has established
the Child Welfare, Drug Abuse and Intergenerational Risk
Center (CWDAIR Center) to advance research on the delivery
of effective services for parents in the child welfare system
with addiction and co-occurring problems, including HIV/AIDS.
The
nationally ranked school received a five-year, $1.9 million
grant from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to
promote healthy child development in environments where
drug abuse, HIV/AIDS, and child welfare intersect.
"The award of this major grant attests to the national
prestige of our faculty. The grant will support a critically
important program which helps to fulfill the University's
pledge to foster collaborative, productive alliances with
government and private sector partners to lead research in
critical areas of societal change," said University
at Albany President Karen R. Hitchcock. "We are enormously
energized by its potential for creating positive change through
responsible research."
"This exciting grant initiates a program of important
research on child welfare, drug abuse and HIV/AIDS issues.
It represents partnerships among research, practitioner and
policy communities and has the potential to lead to multiple
large and groundbreaking studies in the future," said
Katharine Briar-Lawson, dean of the School of Social Welfare. "Research
programs at the School of Social Welfare are entering a new
era with this award."
Specifically, the center will:
� Build a research
infrastructure at the School of Social Welfare that will
support faculty in designing state-of-the
art research on substance use in high-risk families.
� Develop
collaborative partnerships with state agency leaders and
professionals from child welfare, substance abuse and
HIV/AIDS services to improve the design of services to
address substance abuse and co-occurring problems among
high-risk
parents.
Current projects funded as part of the center
include the ongoing study Inter-Agency Collaborative
Relationships and
Effective Treatment Services for Child Welfare Clients by
UAlbany Social Welfare Professor Brenda Smith to advance
understanding of factors that promote the formation of
collaborative relationships across child welfare and substance
abuse treatment
agencies. A second study, Predictors of Drug Relapse
in HIV-infected Women: An exploration of the Unified Theory
of Behavior,
authored by Bonnie Carlson of the School of Social Welfare,
investigates the predictors of relapse following drug treatment
in HIV-positive mothers.
The Child Welfare, Drug Abuse and
Intergenerational Risk Center will be housed in the School
of Social Welfare, directed
by UAlbany Social Welfare Professor Philip McCallion. Center
co-directors include Carolyn Smith, Barry Loneck and James
Jaccard. These preliminary studies, and those that may
be funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse in upcoming
years will promote better services for families and children
with multiple needs.
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