Nancy Rolock, PhD

Henry L. Zucker Professor in Social Work Practice
Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences

Nancy Rolock (she|her|hers) is the Henry L. Zucker Professor at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences, Case Western Reserve University. She has conducted child welfare research since 1996. Dr. Rolock is committed to using anti-racist practice, intervention research and implementation science to build evidence-informed services and supports for children and families involved in the child welfare system.

Dr. Rolock has directed research related to disparities and stability for children currently or formerly child welfare involved. She has conducted an in-depth analysis of the reasons for instability for children in foster care, and worked with policy makers, caseworkers and agency leadership to bring change to the system. She directed the research across eight sites for the National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation that implemented and evaluated interventions aimed at families who have adopted or taken guardianship of children previously in foster care. She also served as the Principal Investigator for a five-year federally funded Understanding Post Adoption and Guardianship Instability project that examined family experiences and outcomes post legal finalization of adoption or guardianship. Nancy is currently collaborating with colleagues at the Ohio Children’s Trust Fund, the Ohio State University, the University of Pittsburg, and community collaborators in three Ohio counties, on the Family Success Network that aims to prevent child maltreatment in these areas.

Dr. Rolock is the Associate Editor for Adoption Quarterly. She also serves on advisory boards that help community organizations with their research and evaluation needs. This includes serving on the Board of Kinnect, a non-profit agency working to find permanent families for all children who experience foster care.

Understanding the risk and protective factors associated with the long-term stability of children, youth, parents and guardians is of utmost importance to the understanding of child and family well-being. Dr. Rolock seeks to illuminate these issues through her research. 

Curriculum Vitae
Biosketch
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Publications

Selected Publications

Pérez, A. G., Ocasio, K., White, K. R., Farina, A. S. J., Rolock, N. (2023). Family well-being after adoption and guardianship: Considerations for engaging families across the life course. In R.W. Denby & C. Ingram (Eds.). Child and Family Serving Systems: A Compendium of Policy and Practice. Child Welfare League of America.

*Evans, K. E., *Bender, A. E., Rolock, N., Hambrick, E. P., Bai, R., White, K., Diamant-Wilson, R., Bailey, K. A. (2023). Exploring adherence to client treatment recommendations in the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT). Research on Social Work Practice. doi: 10.1177/10497315231160588

Johnson-Motoyama, M., Moon, D., Rolock, N., Crampton, D. *Nichols, C. B., *Haran, H., Zhang, Y., Motoyama, Y. (2022). Social Determinants of Health and Child Maltreatment Prevention: The Family Success Network Pilot. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19, 15386. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192215386

Moon, D.J., Johnson-Motoyama, M., *Bailey Nichols, C., Rolock, N., *Haran, H., *Bai, R., (2022). Collaborative fidelity assessment planning for the evaluation of a community-based maltreatment prevention model: The Family Success Network (FSN). Children and Youth Services Review, 137. doi: 10.1016/j.childyouth.2022.106457

Ocasio, K., Rolock, N., *Greenfield, B., Gallese, R., Webb, J., Havighurst, S., Fong, R., MacKenzie, M. (2021). Implementation fidelity in the replication of Tuning in to Teens (TINT) adapted for adoptive parents and guardians in the U.S. Journal of Evidence-Based Social Work, DOI: 10.1080/26408066.2021.1924912

Rolock, N., Ocasio, K., White, K. R., Havighurst, S., Cho, Y., Fong, R., Marra, L., & Faulkner, M. (2021). Tuning in to Teens (TINT) with adoptive parents and guardians in the US: The replication phase of intervention research. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 15(1), 22-51. doi: 10.1080/15548732.2020.1846660

Rolock, N., Ocasio, K., White, K. R., Cho, Y., Fong, R., Marra, L., & Faulkner, M. (2021). Identifying families who may be struggling after adoption or guardianship. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 15(1), 78-104. doi: 10.1080/15548732.2020.1831679 and http://hdl.handle.net/2186/ksl:2006070206