Episode # 24: Dr. Jill Duerr Berrick
Welcome to our latest edition of WonkCast: People Power Policy.
In child welfare, powerful narratives cite evidence to drive discussion of major issues.
Evidence can add rigor and authority to arguments over how to craft policy.
How we talk about policy can undermine the rigor and authority it rests upon.
This isn’t an academic exercise; it underpins ongoing debates as varied as whether neglect is just poverty, and whether to abolish the child welfare system.
To dig into that relationship between evidence and policy debate, I sat down with a leading researcher in this space, Dr. Jill Berrick.
She’s a Distinguished Professor and the Zellerbach Family Foundation Professor of Social Welfare at UC Berkeley.
Her book The Impossible Imperative brings to life the tensions and tradeoffs inherent in child welfare, from front-line work with families to the policy that shapes it.
Our conversation unpacks where policy narratives drift from the evidence, how that changes what’s possible, and why it matters for what’s next in child and family policy.
Sponsorship Shoutout
Special thanks to Binti for their foundational sponsorship of WonkCast.
