Chapin Hall

Mary Sue Morsch is a Policy Fellow at Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. Morsch provides capacity development and implementation support to public and private child welfare agencies. She facilitates the translation of data, evidence, and research into strategic directions in both policy and practice. Morsch works across systems to develop a shared improvement agenda, embedding policies and practices to promote child and family well-being. Her areas of expertise include large child welfare system reform; public/private partnerships; consent decrees; program development, implementation, and monitoring; and performance contracting and management.

Prior to joining Chapin Hall, Morsch served a five-year court-appointed term as consultant in the Hill v. Erickson consent decree regarding services and programs for pregnant and parenting Illinois youth in the child welfare system. Previously, she served for 16 years on the executive team at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services where she played a leadership role in implementing major child welfare reforms in child protection investigations, intact family services, out-of-home placement, and permanency. Morsch also served as the administrator of the State of Illinois child support enforcement program and as executive director of a small nonprofit agency that successfully advocated for the passage of Illinois’s first income withholding law.

Morsch holds a Master’s Degree in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago.