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Richard Barth

Richard Barth

Professor
Chair, Executive Committee of the Grand Challenges for Social Work

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About

Richard P. Barth is a Professor at the School of Social Work, University of Maryland. He has previously served as a chaired professor at the University of North Carolina and the University of California at Berkeley. His AB, MSW, and PHD are from Brown University and UC Berkeley, respectively.

His 12 books (all co-authored or edited except the first) Preventing Adolescent Abuse (1992), From Child Abuse to Permanency Planning: Pathways Through Child Welfare Services (1992), Families Living with Drugs and HIV (1993), The Tender Years: Toward Developmentally-Sensitive Child Welfare Services (1998), The Child Welfare Challenge (1992, 2000, 2008), Beyond Common Sense: Child Welfare, Child-Well-Being, and the Evidence for Policy Reform (2006), and How Foster Care Works: International Perspectives (2010).  He has also authored more than 200 book chapters and articles which are frequently cited. 

He was the 1986 winner of the Frank Breul Prize for Excellence in Child Welfare Scholarship from the University of Chicago; a Fulbright Scholar in 1990 (Sweden) and 2006 (Australia); the 1998 recipient of the Presidential Award for Excellence in Research from the National Association of Social Workers; the 2005 winner of the Flynn Prize for Research; and the 2007 winner of the Peter Forsythe Award for Child Welfare Leadership from the American Public Human Services Association, and winner of the Distinguished Achievement Award by the Society for Social Work and Research. He is a Fellow and President of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare. He currently sits on numerous national research advisory boards including those of the Durham Family Initiative, the California Evidence-Based Practice Clearinghouse, and the Prevention and Family Recover Initiative.

He has directed more than 50 studies and perhaps, most significantly, served as Principal Investigator of Berkeley’s Child Welfare Research Center from 1990 to 1996 and as Co-Principal Investigator of the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, the first national study of child welfare services in the US.  He has served as a lecturer and consultant to universities and governments in many states and countries.  He has been honored to testify before Congressional and state government sub-committees.

Expertise & Interests

  • Child Welfare Services
  • Adoption
Education

AB, Brown University
MSW; PhD, University of California-Berkeley

Recent Publications

His 12 books (all co-authored or edited except the first) Preventing Adolescent Abuse (1992), From Child Abuse to Permanency Planning: Pathways Through Child Welfare Services (1992), Families Living with Drugs and HIV (1993), The Tender Years: Toward Developmentally-Sensitive Child Welfare Services (1998), The Child Welfare Challenge (1992, 2000, 2008), Beyond Common Sense: Child Welfare, Child-Well-Being, and the Evidence for Policy Reform (2006), and How Foster Care Works: International Perspectives (2010).  He has also authored more than 200 book chapters and articles which are frequently cited.