Prof. Azzi-Lessing Highlights Perspectives of Families, Youths & Frontline Workers at 2022 CWLA Conference
Lenette Azzi-Lessing, a clinical professor and department chair at Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW), worked behind-the-scenes and took center stage at the Child Welfare League of America’s (CWLA) annual conference this fall. A longtime contributor to CWLA, Azzi-Lessing participated in the conference planning, presented in the closing panel and facilitated a panel discussion on building equitable and effective relationships with families, youths, frontline workers, and communities.
The conference, which was described by Azzi-Lessing as “an urgent call to improve the quality and relevance of research in the child welfare field,” focused on challenging widely accepted concepts of evidence in child welfare, building more equitable and effective relationships between researchers and practitioners, and highlighting the perspectives of families, youths, and frontline workers in research.
Azzi-Lessing is a clinical professor, chair of the Macro Social Work Practice department, and coordinator of the Children, Youth & Families specialization at BUSSW. An expert in child welfare with more than 25 years’ experience as a social worker, agency leader, and policy advocate, her work focuses on improving the wellbeing of vulnerable children and families, particularly those living in poverty and child protective services.
Azzi-Lessing has worked with CWLA for more than thirty years. She is co-chair of CWLA’s Research Equity Committee, founding member of its National Committee on Racial Equity, a member of its National Joint Commission for Policy and Practice, and former co-chair of its National Committee on Prevention, Protection and Family Services. She was recently named a senior fellow of CWLA and co-edited a special double-issue of its Child Welfare journal on the ways in which poverty and racism impact child welfare involvement and the need and potential for transformative change.