Claudette Grinnell-Davis is a PhD student in the Joint Doctoral Program in Social Work and Personality/Social Contexts Psychology at the University of Michigan. Her primary interests involve evaluating best treatment practices in the child welfare system and evaluating the role of child welfare policy in designating treatment modalities. In particular, she is interested in factors that lead to multigenerational foster care recidivism and theorizing ways to break these cycles on both community-based and interpersonal levels. She also does research in the Personality area on religious identity, personal values, and social action.
Prior to coming to the University of Michigan, Claudette spent four years teaching developmental psychology, cognitive-behavioral intervention, and cultural diversity classes at Baker College in Muskegon, MI. She also worked as a family reunification therapist, where she provided in-home services to children and their families being reunited after long-term foster care. The majority of her social work experience has been in child and family services (including child mental health) and faith-based volunteer activism.