Ian Fillmore, assistant professor of economics, and Seanna Leath, assistant professor of psychological and brain sciences, lead this project to create a database that documents the diversity in foster care systems across states and over time. By combining data on foster care systems with existing data on foster child outcomes, the team can address questions on how the characteristics of a foster system affect children. The new database has the potential to transform long-held assumptions about everything from foster child mental health to racial gaps in the foster system to the design of substance abuse interventions that help parents to reunite with their children.

About Future Fridays: The Graduate Center is partnering with the Arts & Sciences Incubator for Transdisciplinary Futures initiative to host informal lunches where graduate students can connect with faculty leading the initiatives. First Friday Futures will be held on Fridays at noon throughout the spring 2023 and fall 2023 semesters and will be an informal way for faculty teams to speak briefly about their work, and for students to engage in questions and conversation. Full descriptions of each research and teaching cluster and registration forms can be found in the Upcoming Events Section.