Heather Allan

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Heather Allan

Affiliate Faculty

Social Work

Biography

Heather Allan, MSW, brings a unique blend of academic insight and real-world experience to her work in child welfare research and program evaluation. She earned her BA in Psychology and Politics from NYU and went on to complete her Master’s in Social Work at the University of Denver. Heather is currently an Assistant Professor at the Kempe Center for the Prevention and Treatment of Child Abuse and Neglect, part of the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. Her work focuses on evaluation in child welfare and community-based settings related to child maltreatment prevention, family engagement, decision making, and racial disparities and disproportionality. At the Kempe Center, she leads several federal and state evaluation projects across the country, helping to shape and improve systems that support children and families. She’s worked directly with youth in group homes and nonprofits, and she’s designed and led evaluations on everything from child maltreatment prevention to organizational culture and decision-making in child welfare settings. Heather is skilled in both qualitative and quantitative research methods and knows how to turn complex data into clear, actionable insights for practitioners and policymakers. She’s published regularly in peer-reviewed journals, reports, and briefs, and she’s a frequent speaker at local and national conferences.

Published Works

    Orsi-Hunt, R., Allan, H., Wilson, A. R., Domek, G., Keeshin, R. B., Hoffert Gilmartin, B. A. (2026). Healthcare with unconditional positive regard: the KICS clinic medical home model for children in out-of-home care. Frontiers in Pediatrics, 14 https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2026.1739614. Allan, H., Rautkis, E. M., Pennell, J., Merkel-Holguin, L., Crampton, D. (2025). Family Meetings as System Reform to Address Disproportionality and Disparities. (pp 309-338). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54314-3_16 Allan, H., Hollinshead, D., Rockwell, K., Ender, K., Antwi-Boasiako, K., O’Leary, D., Middel, F., Fluke, J. (2025). Illuminating the complexity of decision making in child welfare using the decision making ecology: A scoping review. Children and Youth Services Review, 16908121. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2025.108121. Kerns, E. S., Maddox, J. S., Berhanu, E. R., Allan, H., Wilson, A. R., Chiesa, A., Orsi-Hunt, R., McCarthy, P. L., Henry, J. L., Smith, O. C. (2024). An Equity-Focused Assessment of Evidence-Based Parenting Intervention Research. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 27(2), 279-299. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-024-00479-2. Allan, H., Merkel-Holguin, L., Winokur, M., Drury, I. (2023). Working Towards Prevention for Families At-Risk of Child Maltreatment—Meeting Families’ Needs through Community Response in Colorado. International Journal on Child Maltreatment: Research, Policy and Practice, 6(2), 205-231. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42448-022-00145-6. Schwab-Reese, M. L., Drury, I., Allan, H., Matz, K. (2020). "Oh, this is actually okay": Understanding how one state child welfare training system adapted to the COVID-19 pandemic. Child Abuse & Neglect, 11004697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104697. Merkel‐Holguin, L., Schwab‐Reese, L., Drury, I., Allan, H., Hollinshead, D. (2020). Nothing about me without me: Children and young people's experiences with family group conferences. Child & Family Social Work, 25(1), 27-36. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12648. Corwin, W. T., Maher, J. E., Merkel-Holguin, L., Allan, H., Hollinshead, M. D., Fluke, D. J. (2020). Increasing Social Support for Child Welfare-Involved Families Through Family Group Conferencing. The British Journal of Social Work, 50(1), 137-156. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcz036. Drury, I., Schwab Reese, L., Allan, H. (2019). I’m From the Government and I’m Here to Help: How Can Public Health Perspectives Improve Outreach in Child Maltreatment Prevention Programs?. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 13(2), 127-147. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2018.1494666. Maher, J. E., Allan, H., Merkel-Holguin, L., Corwin, T. (2017). Using Multi-Site Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs to Evaluate a Common Practice in Child Welfare. (). SAGE Publications Ltd. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781526401311 Allan, H., Harlaar, N., Hollinshead, D., Drury, I., Merkel-Holguin, L. (2017). The impact of worker and agency characteristics on FGC referrals in child welfare. Children and Youth Services Review, 8129-237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2017.08.013. Hollinshead, M. D., Corwin, W. T., Maher, J. E., Merkel-Holguin, L., Allan, H., Fluke, D. J. (2017). Effectiveness of family group conferencing in preventing repeat referrals to child protective services and out-of-home placements. Child Abuse & Neglect, 6985-294. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2017.04.022. Williams, R. J., Merkel-Holguin, L., Allan, H., Maher, J. E., Fluke, J., Hollinshead, D. (2015). Factors Associated with Staff Perceptions of the Effectiveness of Family Group Conferences. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research, 6(3), 343-366. https://doi.org/10.1086/682730.