Mark Courtney

Faculty Affiliate Mark Courtney, Executive Director of Partners for Our Children, and Ballmer Chair for Child Well-Being in the School of Social Work studies child welfare services and policy and the relationship between welfare reform and child welfare. His current work includes studies of the adult functioning of former foster children, experimental evaluation of independent living services for foster youth, evaluation of Solution-Based Casework as a child welfare practice model, and the experiences of families involved in welfare-to-work programs.

Major Research Projects:

• The Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth is following 732 young people in Illinois, Iowa and Wisconsin from age 17 to 25 as they make the transition to adulthood from foster care. The study seeks to describe transition outcomes for this population and identify policy and programmatic opportunities to improve outcomes.
  
  
• The Multi-site Evaluation of Foster Youth Programs is a federally-funded project involving experimental evaluation of four distinct approaches to assisting foster youth who are making the transition to adulthood from foster care. The programs being evaluated include life skills training, tutoring/mentoring, employment support, and intensive case management.
  
  
• The Evaluation of the State of Washington's Implementation of Solution-Based Casework is collecting data from parents involved with child welfare services in Washington, social workers, and social work supervisors in order to assess the impact of Washington's adoption of a new model of social work practice with families involved in child welfare services.
  
  

Sample Publications:

• Dworsky, A. and Courtney, M.E., (2007), Barriers to Employment Among TANF Applicants and Their Consequences for Self-Sufficiency, Families in Society, 88:3, 379-89.
  
  

Contact Information:

Mark Courtney
Email: markec@u.washington.edu
Homepage: http://depts.washington.edu/sswweb/directory/p.php?id=455
Mark Courtney’s CV [ PDF ]