Susan J. Wells, Ph.D.
Full Professor, Joint Appointment with Social Work and Psychology
Director, Centre for the Study of Services to Children and Families
Educational Background
The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Post-doctoral Fellowship in Psychiatric Epidemiology
University of Southern California
PhD, Social Work
Tulane University
Certificate, Teaching in Social Work,
State University of New York at Albany
Master of Social Work (MSW)
Pennsylvania State University
BA, Social Work
Research and Teaching Interests
Racial Disparities, Bias in Service Delivery
- Cultural competence, appropriateness and safety
- Racial disproportionality in service delivery
- Health inequity and inequality
Child Welfare and Community Services
- Family support services
- Quality of service delivery
- Quality of foster care
- Decision making in service delivery
Service Evaluation and Outcome Measurement
- Issues of diversity in practice, policy and evaluation
- Integration of research and practice
- Integration, coordination, management and administration of services
Selected Funding Sources
- Canadian Foundation for Innovation Leaders Opportunity Fund
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
- British Columbia Interior Health Authority/Institute for Healthy Living and Chronic Disease Prevention
- British Columbia Ministry of Labour, Citizen's Services, and Open Government
- United States Department of Health and Human Services Children's Bureau
- United States Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
- United States National Institute of Justice
- New York State Department of Social Services, United States
- State of Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, United States
- The Minneapolis Foundation, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Publications
Falconnier, L. A., Tomasello, N. M., Doueck, H. J., Wells, S. J., Luckey, H., & Agathen, J. M. (2010). Indicators of quality in kinship foster care. Families in Society, 9(4), 415-420.
Bell, C. C., Wells, S. J., & Merritt, L. M. (2009). Integrating cultural competency and empirically-based practices in child welfare services: A model based on community psychiatry field principles of health. Children and Youth Services Review, 31, 1206-1213.
Wells, S. J. & Briggs, H. E. (Eds.) (2009). Cultural competence and evidence-based practice: Best friends, strangers or archrivals? Children and Youth Services Review, 31, 1147-1149.
Wells, S. J., Merritt, L. M. & Briggs, H. E. (Eds.) (2009). Bias, racism and evidence-based practice: The case for more focused development of the child welfare evidence-base. Children and Youth Services Review, 31, 1160-1171.
Griesgraber, M., Wells, S.J., Bauerkemper, K., Koranda, L., & Link, A. (2008). Developing a case typology for children in out-of-home care: Child welfare worker perspectives. Families in Society, 89(2), 302-311.
Sedlak, A., Schultz, D. Wells, S.J., Lyons, P., Doueck, H.J., & Gragg, F. (2006). Child protection and justice systems processing of serious child abuse and neglect cases. Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal, 30 (6, 657- 677).
National Association of Social Workers. (2005). NASW standards for social work practice in child welfare. [Brochure]. Washington DC: Author. S. J. Wells was a member of the Child Welfare Standards Work Group which authored this publication.
Wells, S. J., & Fuller, T. (2005). Outcome based child welfare training modules: Module 7: Program evaluation in family centered services. Urbana IL. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Social Work.
Previously published as: Wells, S. J., Fuller, T. L., with contributing authors, Casteñuela, M., Charlton, T., Green, K., Johnson, M., Kurlakowsky, K., Pratt, C. & Associates, Tarnow, M., & Thomson, D. (2001). Program Evaluation in Family Centered Services, Workbook. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Social Work. A workbook to support self-evaluation by family centered service programs.
Sedlak, A., Doueck, H.J., Lyons, P., Wells, S.J., Schultz, D. & Gragg, F. (2005). Child maltreatment and the justice system: Predictors of court involvement. Research on Social Work Practice,15 (5),389-403.
Wells, S.J., Lyons, P., Doueck, H.J., Brown, C.H., & Thomas, J. (2004). Ecological factors and screening in child protective services. Children and Youth Services Review, 26, 981-997.
Gryzlak, B., Wells, S.J. & Johnson, M. (2004). The role of race in child protective services (CPS) screening decisions. In D.Derezotes, J. Poertner & M.F. Testa (Eds.), Race Matters: Over representation of African American children in the child welfare system. Washington, DC: Child Welfare League of America.
Kopels, S., Charlton, T. & Wells, S.J. (2003). Investigation laws and practices in child protective services. Child Welfare, 82, (6), 661-684.
Fuller, T.L. & Wells, S.J. (2003). Predicting maltreatment recurrence among CPS cases with alcohol and other drug involvement. Children and Youth Services Review, 25 , 553-569.
Johnson, M., Wells, S., Testa, M., & McDonald, J. (2003). Illinois' Child Welfare Research Agenda: An Approach to Building Consensus and Practice Relevant Research. Child Welfare, 82 (1), 53-76 .
Chipman, R., Wells, S. J., Johnson, M. A. (2002). The Meaning of Quality in Kinship Foster Care: Caregiver, Child, and Worker Perspectives. Families in Society, 83, 508-520.
Johnson, M.A., Brown, C.H., & Wells, S.J. (2002). Using classification and regression trees (CART) to support worker decision making. Social Work Research, 26, 19-29.
Fluke, J., Edwards, M., Bussey, M., Wells, S., Johnson, W. (2001). Reducing recurrence in child protective services: impact of a targeted safety protocol. Child Maltreatment, 6, 207-218.
Fuller, T. L., Wells, S.J. & Cotton, E. (2001). Predictors of maltreatment at two milestones in the life of a case. Children and Youth Services Review, 23, 49-78.
Wells, S.J. & Johnson, M. (2001). Selecting outcome measures for child welfare settings: Lessons for use in performance management. Children and Youth Services Review, 23, 169-199.
Wells, S. J., Fuller, T. L., (Eds.). with contributing authors, Adam, N., Charlton, T, Falconier, L., Green, K. and Thomson, T. (2001). Program Evaluation in Family Centered Services; Reference Text. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Social Work. A companion literature review on empirically supported best practice and transferability of program design.
Wells, S.J. (2000). How do I decide to accept a report? In H. Dubowitz & D. DePanfilis (Eds.), Handbook for child protection. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Wells, S.J. (2000). What criteria are most critical to determine the urgency of CPS response? In H. Dubowitz & D. DePanfilis (Eds.), Handbook for child protection. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Agathen, J., O'Donnell, J. & Wells, S.J. (1999). Evaluating the quality of kinship foster care: Evaluation package . Urbana, IL: Children and Family Research Center. (Includes instruments and a manual.)
Children and Family Research Center (1999). Evaluating the quality of kinship care: Literature review. Urbana, IL: Author. (This is a 450 page sourcebook for those seeking to evaluate quality of foster care.)
Davis, N.S., Grasso, K. L., Dennis, K, Wells, S. J. and Liss, M. B. (1998). Guidelines for the screening of persons working with children, the elderly, and individuals with disabilities in need of support. Washington, DC: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
Wells, S.J. (1997). Screening in child protective services: do we accept? How do we respond? In T.D. Morton & W. Holder, (Eds.), Decision making in children's protective services; advancing the state of the art . Atlanta, Georgia: Child Welfare Institute.
Wells, S. J., Fluke, J. D., & Brown, C. H. (1995). The Decision to investigate: CPS practice in twelve local agencies. Children and Youth Services Review, 17, 523-546.
Wells, S. J. (1995). Child abuse and neglect. In Encyclopedia of social work. Silver Spring, MD: National Association of Social Workers.
Wells, S. J. (1994). The role of child protective services in responding to and preventing child fatalities. APSAC Ad, 7 , 31-34.
Wells, S. J. (1994). Child protective services: research for the future. Child Welfare. 73, 431-447.
Granik, L., Durfee, M., & Wells, S. J. (1991). Child death review teams: a manual for design and implementation. Washington, DC: American Bar Association.
Anderson, T., & Wells, S. J. (1991). Data collection in child maltreatment fatalities: existing efforts and proposed uniform guidelines. Washington, DC: American Bar Association.
Wells, S. J. (1991). Responding to reports of child abuse and neglect. Child & Youth Services, 15, 63-72. Also in M. Robin (Ed.), False allegations of child abuse and neglect. Binghamton, NY: Haworth Press.
Wells, S. J. (1990, September). Current research in child abuse and neglect ; A review of NCCAN funded projects. Protecting Children.
Downing, J., Wells, S. J., & Fluke, J. (1990). Gatekeeping in child protective services. Child Welfare 69, 357-369.
Hornby, H. and Wells, S. (1989). Risk assessment in child protective services. Portland, Maine: National Child Welfare Resource Center for Management and Administration.
Wells, S. J., Stein, T. J., Fluke, J., & Downing, J. (1989). Screening in child protective services. Social Work, 34, 45-48.
Wells, S. J. (1989). Factors influencing the response of child protective service workers to reports of abuse and neglect. In G. Hotaling, et al., (Eds.), Responses to family violence: research and policy perspectives (pp. 238-256). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications.
Maney, A. & Wells, S. J. (Eds.). (1988). Professional responsibilities in protecting children: A public health approach to child sexual abuse. New York: Praeger. Also published as Wells, S. J., (Ed.). (1986). Proceedings of Symposium on Professional Ethics and Child Abuse. Springfield, VA: NTIS.
Wells, S. J. (1989). On the decision to report suspected abuse or neglect. In A. Maney & S.J. Wells, (Eds.), Professional responsibilities in protecting children: A public health approach to child sexual abuse (pp. 191-202). New York: Praeger.
Wells, S. J. (1989). Professional misconduct: Mechanisms of control. In A. Maney & S.J. Wells, (Eds.), Professional responsibilities in protecting children: A public health approach to child sexual abuse (pp. 203-212). New York: Praeger.
Wells, S. J. (Ed.). (1986). Curriculum on child abuse and neglect . A series of seven volumes and a video presentation for chaplains, attorneys, medical personnel and commanding officers. Arlington, VA: U.S. Navy.
Wells, S. J. (1986). Prioritization (in child protective services). Protecting Children, 346-7.
Wells, S. J. (1985). How we make decisions in child protective services intake and investigation. Washington, DC: American Bar Association.
Wells, S. J. (1985). Decision making in child protective services intake and investigation. Protecting Children, 3-8.
Wells, S. J. (1985). Children and child welfare. In M. Weil & J. Karls, (Eds.), Case management in the human services. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Wells, S. J. (1984). Caffeine: implications of recent research for clinical practice. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 54, 375-389.
Wells, S. J. (1982). Case management in child welfare. Ann Arbor, MI: National Child Welfare Training Center.
Wells, S. J. (1981). Family therapy with abusive and neglectful families. Social Work, 26, 113-118. Also in F. Turner, (Ed.). (1984). Differential diagnosis and treatment in social work. New York, NY: The Free Press (pp.715-726).
Wells, S. J. (1978). The child care worker as a change agent. In A. Stea (Ed.), Residential child care: a reader. Albany, NY: State University of New York at Albany.
Wells, S. J. (1977). Treatment of abusive and neglectful families. In B. Ambrose, (Ed.), Child abuse and neglect: social services reader II. Albany, NY: State University of New York at Albany.
Selected Published Project Reports and Conference Proceedings
Johnson, M. & Wells, S.J. (2000). Measuring success in child welfare. Urbana, IL: Children and Family Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Practical guidelines for child welfare agency administrators and evaluators. Posted at: cfrcwww.social.uiuc.edu/pubs/Natl.Surv/susmain.htm.
Fuller, T.L. & Wells, S.J. (1999). Illinois Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol: a case control study of short-term recurrence among intact family cases. In Twelfth National Roundtable on Child Protective Services Risk Assessment: Summary of Proceedings. Englewood, CO: American Humane Association.
Fuller, T. L. & Wells, S.J. (1999) 1999 CERAP implementation evaluation. Urbana, IL: Children and Family Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Fuller, T. L. & Wells, S.J. (Eds.). (1999). Evaluation of child endangerment risk protocol 1999. Urbana, IL: Children and Family Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Children and Family Research Center (1999). Evaluation of Family Centered Services in Illinois. Urbana, IL: Children and Family Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This is the final project report. A second volume, Family Centered Services: LAN social histories includes a collection of social histories on each of 62 LANs, written by project staff as part of the evaluation process.
Wells, S.J. & Agathen, J. (1999). (Eds.). Evaluating the quality of kinship foster care: Final report. Urbana, IL: Children and Family Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This report includes the following papers not yet published elsewhere:
Chipman, R. & Wells, S.J. (1998). National survey of state policies on evaluation of quality of kinship foster care homes.
Wells, S.J., Agathen, J. M., Falconnier, L., Charlton, T., Tarnow, M. and Smith, M. (1999) Field test findings.
Fuller, T. L. & Wells, S.J. (Eds.). (1998). Evaluation of the child endangerment risk protocol 1998. Urbana, IL: Children and Family Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Davis, N. S. and Wells, S. J. (1998). Justice system processing of child abuse and neglect cases. In National Institute of Justice and American Bar Association (Eds.), Legal interventions in family violence: research findings and policy implications. Washington, DC: American Bar Association and National Institute of Justice.
Testa, M., Johnson, M., & Wells, S.J., (Eds.). (1998). A child welfare research agenda for the State of Illinois. A report on statewide queries and expert prioritization of research questions most important to the child welfare field in the State of Illinois. Urbana, IL: Children and Family Research Center, School of Social Work, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Schene, P., Wells, S.J. & Associates (1998). Schene, P. and Wells, S.J. (1998). Child welfare settlement agreement status report: review and findings. Principally authored by Patricia Schene with assistance from the project team.
Davis, N. & Wells, S. (Eds.). (1996). Justice system processing of child abuse cases; volumes I & II. Research Triangle Park: Research Triangle Institute.
Chipman, R. & Wells, S. J. (1995). Coordinated response to reports of child sexual abuse final report. Washington, DC: American Bar Association.
Wells, S. J., Anderson, D. W., Powers, L. L., Kroll, C. K., Stubbee, B. J., & Roland, E. J. (1995). North Carolina child welfare system study. Research Triangle Park, NC: Research Triangle Institute.
Wells, S. J., Davis, N., Dennis, K., Chipman, R., Sandt, C., & Liss, M. (1994). Effective screening of child care and youth service workers. Washington, DC: American Bar Association.
Fluke, J. D., Wells, S., England, P., Walsh, W., English, D., Johnson, W., Gamble, T. & Woods, L. (1993). Evaluation of the Pennsylvania approach to risk assessment: Summary of the results for the project objectives 1, 2, and 4 in Seventh Roundtable on CPS Risk Assessment. Washington, D.C.: American Public Welfare Association.
Wells, S. J. (Ed.). (1993). Child protective services management study. A report of the Task Force on Child Protective Services Management Task Force for the North Carolina General Assembly. Raleigh, NC: North Carolina Department of Human Resources, Department of Social Services.
Wells, S. J. & Anderson, T. (1992). Worker's estimation of risk as a predictor of case substantiation. In T. Tatara (Ed.), Fifth National Roundtable on CPS Risk Assessment. Washington, DC: American Public Welfare Association.
Wells, S. J., Anderson, T., & Fluke, J. (1991). Screening and risk assessment in child protective services. In T. Tatara (Ed.), Fourth National Roundtable on Risk Assessment. Washington, DC: American Public Welfare Association.
Wells, S. J. & Fluke, J. (1990). Screening in child protective services. In American Public Welfare Association, National Conference on Risk Assessment; From Research To Practice. Washington, DC: Author.
Wells, S. J., Fluke, J., Downing, J. and Brown, C. H. (1989). Screening in child protective services; final report. Washington, DC: American Bar Association.
Aldouby, S. & Wells, S. J. (1985). Decision making in child protective service intake and investigation; annotated bibliography. Washington, DC: American Bar Association.
Wells, S. J. (1985). Decision making in child protective service intake and investigation; final report. Washington, DC: American Bar Association.
Wells, S. J. & Tatara, T. (1983). Summary description of selected HDS grants vol. I; grants addressing homeless people. Washington, DC: American Public Welfare Association.
Basen, M., Wells, S. J., & Tatara, T. (1983). Summary description of selected HDS grants vol. II; grants addressing employment issues. Washington, DC: American Public Welfare Association.
Last reviewed 
9/12/2011 3:22:00 PM
Office: ASC 453
Phone: (250) 807-8163
Email: susan.wells@ubc.ca
