The Handbook on Child Welfare Practice (PDF)

Jennifer M. Geiger, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her research focuses on promoting access and success for youth in care and foster care alumni in higher education settings. She also conducts research to support and promote resilience among caregivers (kin and non-relative) for children and youth in care. Dr. Geiger has co-authored 35 peer-reviewed journal articles, and 6 book chapters on foster care and child maltreatment. She co-authored "Intergenerational Transmission of Child Maltreatment" and "Assessing Empathy" in 2017.



Dr. Geiger received her Master of Social Work in 2004 and PhD in Social Work in 2014 from Arizona State University (ASU) in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Geiger was a Doris Duke Fellow for the Promotion of Child Well-being and continues to be an active member of the network. Prior to returning to work on her PhD, she worked at the Maricopa County Office of the Legal Advocate as a Child Welfare Specialist. She worked alongside dedicated attorneys appointed to advocate for the best interests of children in foster care and ensure their social-emotional, psychological, educational, and medical needs were met.



Dr. Geiger is the Principal Investigator (PI) for the Cook County Permanency Enhancement Project (PEP), a statewide partnership with the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services, which provides technical assistance to action teams in Cook County to address issues related to racial disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare system and communities. She is the Co-Founder for the National Research Collaborative for Foster Alumni in Higher Education (NRC-FCA), a national research collaborative to promote access and success for youth in care and alumni in higher education. She helped develop and implement Bridging Success at Arizona State University and the Sparking Success Scholars Program, recruitment and retentionprograms for