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Ansong appointed to state committee on youth aging out of foster care

David Ansong, Ph.D., has been appointed by Governor Roy Cooper to serve on North Carolina’s Permanency Innovation Initiative Oversight Committee. Ansong is an associate professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work. Initially, he will serve a three-year term on the committee.

Created in 2013, the committee is charged with developing initiatives for foster care youth transitioning to adulthood in North Carolina. The committee identifies policies and services that can impact permanency and well-being in positive ways for youth aging out of the foster care system. The committee also implements methodologies that evaluate the effectiveness of those policies and services.

“Dr. Ansong is doing some impressive work in the child welfare field,” noted Gary Bowen, dean of UNC School of Social Work. “This is a great opportunity for him.”

Ansong is a Wallace Kuralt Early Career Distinguished Scholar at UNC School of Social Work. Currently, he serves as a faculty fellow at the School’s Global Social Development Innovations research center and as a faculty director with the Global Asset Building program at the Center for Social Development at Washington University in St. Louis.

He has served as principal investigator for the research project “Innovative Child Welfare Casework to Help Abused and Neglected Children Find Permanent Homes with Their Grandparents and Other Relatives,” for which he and his collaborators earned UNC-Chapel Hill’s prestigious Harvey Award in 2017. He has also served as a co-investigator for the Kinship Guardianship Assistance Program.

Ansong earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Ghana and his Master of Social Work and doctoral degrees both from Washington University in St. Louis.

He will be one of 12 appointed members on the Permanency Innovation Initiative Oversight Committee. Appointments are made by the Governor, the NC Senate and the NC House of Representatives.