Jacquelyn McCroskey, who holds the John Milner Professorship in Child Welfare, was named the 2003 California Social Worker of the Year by the California Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers. For more than two decades, she has helped to create and evaluate systems change initiatives to improve outcomes for families and children in Los Angeles County.

Through her work with county, city and school district policy makers and philanthropists, she has investigated inter-agency collaboration and community partnerships across a broad range of organizations, service areas and settings. She uses data and scholarship, drawing on both qualitative and quantitative methods, to inform policy and guide improvements to government systems providing child welfare, juvenile justice, and early care and education services. Her research focuses on financing and organization of services for children and families, utilization of results and performance measurement, and the efficiency and effectiveness of services.

Currently, McCroskey co-leads the multi-university child welfare evaluation team funded by Casey Family Programs to support the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services in understanding the impact of a variety of community-based service initiatives, including the DCFS Family Preservation Program and Prevention Initiative Demonstration Project. She is a core team member responsible for creating the Los Angeles Children’s Data Network, a collaborative funded by First 5 LA to increase access to and utilization of timely accurate data on families with young children. She also leads a cross-disciplinary research roundtable of researchers from USC, UCLA and Cal State LA in the Los Angeles County Probation Data Project funded by the Keck Foundation under the auspices of the Advancement Project.

Through earlier efforts she helped to create the Family Assessment Form, working with the Children’s Bureau of Southern California to develop, test and disseminate a practice-based assessment instrument now used in child and family service settings across the country and abroad. Topics of recent publications include improving child and family outcomes through the LA Point of Engagement reform approach; using child and family indicators to influence communities and policy; evidence for family-centered community-based supports, services and capacity building; and the role of child welfare service systems in preventing child maltreatment.

McCroskey has held numerous appointments on commissions and committees that advise policy makers, including the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, the mayor of the city of Los Angeles, and the school board and superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District. She developed the Los Angeles County children’s budget and consulted with the county’s chief administrative office on its subsequent publication (1986 through 2006-07), and provided oversight on a series of Children’s Scorecards issued by the Children’s Planning Council (1994-2008). She helped to create and served on the Los Angeles County Children’s Planning Council (1992 through 2010), serving as its ex-officio commissioner on the First 5 LA Commission (1999 through 2009).

McCroskey was appointed to the Los Angeles County Policy Roundtable for Child Care by Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky in 2000, served as its first chair and has been elected chair again for 2011-12 and 2012-13. Among other responsibilities, the roundtable developed Los Angeles' Child Care Policy Framework adopted by the Board of Supervisors to guide policy and practice around early childhood care and education services (originated in 2009 and updated in 2011). She continues to lead other countywide efforts around data-driven planning, distribution of resources, and analysis of impact on the lives of children and families. In addition, McCroskey serves on the board of Special Service for Groups, consults with various public and private child and family serving agencies, and serves on a number of local and national advisory committees.