Doctoral Student Receives Federal Grant for Research Aimed at Improving Child Care Services for Families Exposed to Intimate Partner Violence

BUSSW doctoral student Juliann Nicholson has received a prestigious two-year Child Care Policy Research Scholar grant from the Administration of Children and Families’ Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation for her dissertation study focused on bolstering support for mothers and children exposed to intimate partner violence (IPV).

Working with Associate Professor Yoonsook Ha as her primary faculty supervisor and Professor Ellen DeVoe as a content expert on IPV, Nicholson’s mixed methods study will assess how IPV survivors make a decision on child care arrangements and utilize child care subsidies, and how those factors correlate to the health and well-being of the mothers and their children.

Daniel Miller, director of BUSSW’s doctoral program, says findings from the study “have important implications for improving policies in the CCDF” – the Child Care and Development Fund, a state and federal program with over $5 billion in federal funding – “and systems to better serve families experiencing IPV; for practitioners working with survivor mothers and their children, and for guiding effective intervention strategies for early childhood education systems and providers.”

The study will also address a gap in existing research and improve policy makers’ understanding of the importance of child care for families experiencing intimate partner violence.

In addition to funding Nicholson’s dissertation project, the $50,000 grant will provide her opportunities for professional networking and collaboration in her field.

For more information about the Child Care Research Scholars grant, please visit the OPRE website.