Pajarita Charles

Lab website: Lab for Family Wellbeing & Justice

Pajarita Charles is an Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work and an affiliate of the Institute for Research on Poverty and the Center for Law, Society, and Justice at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research centers on the development, implementation, and testing of family-focused preventive interventions to promote positive outcomes for children and families affected by the criminal justice system. Dr. Charles’ work also includes fostering research, practice, and public sector partnerships to build capacity for criminal justice reform. Current projects include:

· Promoting Healthy Development Among Children of Fathers with Antisocial Behavior (Principal Investigator). This 5-year K99/R00 study funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development focuses on the development and testing of an intervention with fathers recently released from prison to improve parent and child outcomes through father engagement, high-quality parenting and relationship skills, and extended family involvement.

· Improving Outcomes for Incarcerated Parents and Their Children Through Enhanced Jail Visits (Co-Investigator). This multi-level intervention study funded by UW2020 WARF Discovery Initiative Award at UW-Madison seeks to improve family visits between children and parents incarcerated in jail through coaching during jail and home visits and using in-home video chat.

· Factors Associated with Father-Child Relationships During Reentry from Prison (Principal Investigator). Funded by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Education at UW-Madison, this study examines factors linked to father involvement in the post-release period after prison using data from a longitudinal study of former prisoners and their families.