Assistant Professor Jessica Pac and colleagues, including Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor Lonnie Berger, received the Frank R. Breul Memorial Prize for their paper “The Effects of Child Poverty Reductions on Child Protective Services Involvement.” Along with Sophie Collyer, Kirk O’Brien, Elizabeth Parker, Peter Pecora, Whitney Rostad, Jane Waldfogel, and Christopher Wimer, Pac and Berger’s study used simulation methods to project the reduction in child protective services (CPS) involvement that would result if safety net expansions led to a 50% reduction in child poverty. Estimates were especially large for Black and Hispanic children, implying that in addition to preventing CPS involvement, efforts to address child poverty would nearly ameliorate racial disproportionality in CPS investigations.
The Frank R. Breul Memorial Prize recognizes the best paper published in Social Service Review in the previous year. The paper was selected for its originality, rigorous methods, and contributions to the broader field of child welfare and child policy studies.