AASWSW Fellow News: Child Welfare Data, Overdose Disparities, Suicide Prevention

Fellows examine child welfare data accuracy, neighborhood overdose disparities, suicide risk among adolescents, and global financial inclusion effort.

Maryland Corrects Child Fatality Data After Reporting Errors

March 18, 2025 — Maryland officials recently said they overreported child maltreatment fatalities for five years due to misinterpreting federal reporting guidelines. The corrected numbers lower child deaths from 285 to 173 between 2020 and 2023, according to Maryland Matters. The correction is a needed “wake-up call” to improve data accuracy, said Emily Putnam-Hornstein, Academy Fellow and John A. Tate Distinguished Professor for Children in Need in the School of Social Work at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, called. “If we’re trying to prevent these deaths, we have to know exactly what we’re trying to prevent,” she said. 

Read the full article from Maryland Matters.

Study Links Overdose Deaths to Neighborhood Opportunity Gaps

March 7, 2025 — Daniel J. Flannery, Academy Fellow and Semi J. and Ruth W. Begun Professor in the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western Reserve University, co-authored new research showing stark overdose death disparities in Cuyahoga County, Ohio. The study, which was published in the Journal of Urban Health, found that residents in the lowest-opportunity areas were four times more likely to die from drug-related deaths than those in higher-opportunity neighborhoods. Findings highlight the urgent need for targeted public health interventions in communities hit hardest by the opioid crisis.

Read more in The Daily from Case Western Reserve University.

Ethnic Identity Linked to Suicide Risk Factors in Adolescents

March 7, 2025 — American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare President and Dean of New York University Silver School of Social Work Michael A. Lindsey, co-authored a study, published in Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice, examining suicide risk among Latinx and Black adolescents. Findings show stronger ethnic identity was associated with reduced feelings of thwarted belongingness (feeling socially disconnected), a key suicide risk factor. Researchers suggest school-based interventions to strengthen ethnic identity could help reduce suicide ideation, especially for youth with limited access to mental health services.

Read the full study in Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice.

Social Work Leadership in Global Financial Inclusion at APEC

March 5, 2025 — Fellow Jin Huang, who is the William and Helen Reichmann Research Professor at the Saint Louis University School of Social Work, Research Professor in the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, and Associate Director for Research in the Brown School’s Center for Social Development, attended the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) convening as an invited panelist in a policy dialogue hosted by Global Affairs Canada at the First Senior Officials Meetings in Gyeongju, South Korea. Presenting on the Grand Challenge to Build Financial Capability and Assets For All program, Huang highlighted social workers’ unique role in advancing financial inclusion for women and minoritized populations through both macro policy development and implementation. Dr. Huang will collaborate with the panel to produce a report on financial inclusion across APEC economies.