By Thomas Johns
School of Social Work
The University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work continues its mission to advance research, advocacy and community partnerships that improve lives. As part of this effort, the School is relaunching the Child Welfare Research Center (CWRC) to strengthen connections between research, policy, and practice in child welfare.
“The CWRC is the Child Welfare Research Center. It is a hub where we can partner university scholars, whether that's faculty, staff or students, with practitioners and policymakers,” said Catherine LaBrenz, UTA School of Social Work associate professor and director of the center. “Focusing on how we can best get research built and disseminate research to improve the lives of children, families and communities that we serve.”
UTA previously housed a child welfare center that supported initiatives such as kinship navigation programs and a stipend program with the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. After a pause, faculty leaders and the UTA School of Social Work Office of Research, led by Director of Research Dr. Hui Huang, saw an opportunity to reestablish the center with a renewed vision.
“The School of Social Work has grown so much in the last decade. We have become more research-intensive as a university and achieved Tier One status.” LaBrenz said. “We have amazing nationally renowned faculty in addictions research. We have amazing faculty who do immigration research, who do mental health studies, and we have a growing number like myself, who identify specifically as child welfare researchers.”
One of the center’s flagship projects is the Mandated Reporting Project, now in its third year.
“We’ve done a needs assessment to look at the continuum of child welfare. We know that a lot of the inequities and challenges in child welfare start with that very first initial referral and first contact with Child Protective Services,” LaBrenz said. “We saw a gap not just in social work, but in the other disciplines that have professional mandated reporters who are facing children and families where they might become aware of situations of maltreatment.”
The project is guided by a community advisory board that includes educators, healthcare providers and law enforcement professionals.
“We have a really great team and body of experts in these different areas,” LaBrenz said. “The board gives their feedback and their input as we develop these trainings, so that we can make sure that the students we're training for their future professional roles can not only define child maltreatment and identify it, but feel comfortable with responding to a home to do a visit or call out for various issues.
The CWRC also creates new ways for UTA students and faculty to contribute to child welfare research.
“We have our Child Welfare Scholar program where you can apply to become a child welfare scholar,” LaBrenz said. “That basically means that you can have your work highlighted in a blurb about yourself, and you'll have access to apply for travel award awards.”
Faculty can also become affiliates of the center, while all community members can sign up for updates and will be able to come to the inaugural child welfare symposium in Spring 2026.
Beyond the university, the CWRC serves as a resource for local providers.
“We have a lot of community agencies that are trying innovative things. And so it's taking the time to really get out there, listen to what's being done and seeing what we can do with our research expertise to help support,” LaBrenz said.
That includes providing digestible summaries for policymakers.
“As much as I love my journal publications, a 30-page report that's really heavy on advanced statistical methods isn't really everyone's cup of tea,” she said. “So finding ways to do one-pagers and trying to explain the reasoning behind certain policies that would benefit the state, the children, families and communities is so important.”
While the CWRC focuses on local impact, its collaborations already extend nationally and internationally, including with UT Austin’s Texas Institute for Child and Family Well-being, the Texas Alliance of Child and Family Services, and partners in Chile and Singapore.
LaBrenz said the ultimate goal is to help transform child welfare systems by strengthening prevention, supporting families and guiding evidence-based policies.
“Honestly, my ideal outcome is to foster this center to where we can partner with the community and local agencies to come up with policies, practices and really guide and build the evidence around each of these areas so that we are truly transforming the system,” she said. “We want children to be able to stay in their families and their communities safely. We want to be able to preserve families.”
At its core, the CWRC is committed to lifting community voices alongside research expertise.
“The children we serve, the families we serve and the communities we serve are the experts in their own experiences,” LaBrenz said. “Really, the idea of the CRWC is to have so much expertise and so many unique perspectives and experiences that whether you are a quantitative researcher, a community provider, an undergraduate student or a staff member, there is absolutely a way for you to get involved.”
For more information about the CRWC visit Child Welfare Research Center - School of Social Work - The University of Texas at Arlington.