Rowena Fong

Rowena Fong is the Ruby Lee Piester Centennial Professor in Services to Children and Families in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin, She is also a Fellow both of the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare and the Society for Social Work and Research. Dr. Fong has served nationally as President of the Society for Social Work and Research (2009-2013) and is currently on the Board of the North American Council on Adoptable Children.

Experience

Dr. Fong’s current research focuses on transracial and inter-country adoptions, and she is the co-director of a Chinese Culture Camp for children adopted from China and their siblings, co-sponsored by the Austin chapter of Families with Children from China and the UT School of Social Work. Her other areas of research have been on racial disproportionality and disparities, female victims of international human trafficking, and immigrant and refugee children and families.

She has been Principal and Co-Principal Investigator on research and child welfare training grants funded through the US Department of Health and Human Services, Texas Health and Human Services Commission, and Texas Department of Family Protective Services. Those research projects focused on healthy marriage support networks for adoptive families, continuity of services and supports for foster care youth, and the underutilization of Medicaid services for African American children and families, and the Texas foster care redesign. She is currently Co-Principal Investigator for the National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation, a national project designed to promote permanency, stability, and supports for children and families who are awaiting placements or have already finalized adoption or guardianship.

Dr. Fong has written the following books related to child welfare, with one more in progress: Fong, R., Dettlaff, A., James, J., & Rodriguez, C. (Eds.). (2015), Eliminating racial disproportionality and disparities: Multi systems culturally competent approaches. New York: Columbia University Press; Dettlaff, A. & Fong, R. (Eds.). (2012). Child welfare practice with immigrant and refugee children and families. New York: Taylor & Francis; Fong, R., McRoy, R. & Ortiz Hendricks, C. (Eds.). (2006). Intersecting child welfare, substance abuse, and family violence: Culturally competent approaches. Washington, D.C.: Council on Social Work Education; Smith, M., & Fong, R. (2004). Children of neglect: When no one cares. New York: Brunner-Routledge Press; Fong, R. & R. McRoy, (Eds.). (in progress) Transracial and intercountry adoptions: Cultural guidance for professionals and educators. New York: Columbia University Press. Her current publications include Schwartz, A., Cody, T., Ayers-Lopez, S., McRoy, R. & Fong, R. (2014). Post Adoption Support Group: Strategies for Addressing Marital Issues. Adoption Quarterly18, 85-111