Child Welfare

Rethinking welfare-to-work programmes in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons from CalWORKs in the United States. British Journal of Social Work.

Yu-Ling Chang
MinJee Keh
2025

This article examines the response of California's Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) to the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing the development of its welfare-to-work programs and practices, the underlying values driving these changes, and their effectiveness over time. It reveals a shift in CalWORKs from a strict work-first approach to a more flexible model that better addresses the diverse needs of families, highlighting both the challenges and opportunities for reforming welfare-to-work programs in the post-pandemic era.

Author Talk: Andrew Bridge discusses The Child Catcher in conversation with Jill Duerr Berrick

December 5, 2024

Kicking off Berkeley Social Welfare's "Cultivating Community in Challenging Times Event Series" on October 1st, bestselling author Andrew Bridge sat down with with Jill Duerr Berrick, Distinguished Professor and the Zellerbach Family Foundation Professor of Social Welfare, about his newly released book The Child Catcher.

The Child Catcher is the true story of the fight to rescue the children confined to a violent and secretive institution in the rural South.

Andrew Bridge’s bestselling memoir, Hope’s Boy, told the story of his survival after being taken from his...