Children and Families

Assistant Professor, Dr. Marilyn Lewis, is engaged in a research project that studies whether a woman's maternal bond to her fetus can be strengthened by receiving positive reinforcement for engaging in prenatal care and education programs.

Dr. Cynthia Fontanella, Assistant Professor, collaborates with scholars of Nationwide Children's Hospital to study child and adolescent psychiatry.  One of Dr. Fontanella's current research projects profiles children and adolescents with serious emotional disturbances who frequently access mental health care.

Dr. Gil Greene and Susan Saltzburg are provide weekly, live-supervision for the Intensive Family Therapy Internship at the Buckeye Ranch.  Social work students in the master's program who are focusing their training on clinical practice have the opportunity to participate in this unique internship experience for their advanced practicum requirement.

Assistant Professor, Dr. Alvin Mares, studies intervention programs to assist youth aging out of foster care in Ohio.  Dr. Mares partners with the Lighthouse Youth Services organization in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Lisa Dickson of Foster Care Alumni of America gives presentation
at the first OYIT Meeting held in Stillman Hall.

Dr. Mares also launched the Ohio Youth in Transition (OYIT) Alumni Support and Assistance Project (ASAP) in January 2009.  ASAP is a collaborative pilot initiative involving local counseling education professionals, staff and youth from four youth-serving agencies in Columbus, and OSU faculty/staff and students to better understand the experiences and to provide together support to youth emancipating from foster care and/or homelessness to independence.  An estimated 15-20 young adults (ages 18-24) will participate in the first year of the initiative, which will involve quarterly educational and planning meetings of all participants and monthly small counseling/support group meetings at each agency.  For more information, please visit the OYIT ASAP website or contact Dr. Alvin Mares (mares.2@osu.edu or 614-292-0425).