Educational/Professional Background

Dr. Yu-Ling Chiu received her master's in Social Work from the Tung-Hai University of Taiwan in 2001 and her master's in Applied Social Sciences from Case Western Reserve University in 2008. In 2014, she earned her Ph.D. in Social Work from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and her dissertation was titled The Developmental Trajectory of Delinquency Among Adolescent Females. She received considerable practical experience in research conducted through her involvement on several research projects (e.g. the MacArthur project) at the Children and Family Research Center at UIUC during her Ph.D. study. She also had four years of post-master's practice experience in Taiwan before coming to the United States. As a social worker, she worked with both victims and perpetrators of child maltreatment and domestic violence, as well as immigrant mothers. She currently works as a research specialist at the Children and Family Research Center.

Research/Practice Interests

Yu-Ling believes research is an important tool to inform policy and practice. She is deeply concerned with the well-being of children, youth, and families in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. Her research focuses on the effectiveness of child welfare or juvenile justice related programs or services and workforce development.

Current Projects

As a research specialist, Yu-Ling currently works on multiple evaluation projects including Illinois DCFS Monitoring Reports of the B.H. Consent Decree, Illinois Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol reports, Program Evaluation of Child Protection Training Academy for New DCFS Investigators, Illinois Children Healthcare Foundation’s Children’s Mental Health Initiative 2.0, and Program Evaluation of Mississippi’s Child Advocacy Studies Initiative. Her past project includes Oregon DHS Differential Response Initiative evaluation project. She also assists with the Illinois DCFS SACWIS and CYCIS data analysis and grant writing.