Molly (Mayer) Van Drunen
Researcher
Molly Van Drunen is a Researcher at Chapin Hall. She uses mixed-methods approaches on evaluation projects that support children, families, and their communities. Her work focuses on child welfare systems, with particular emphases on fiscal studies and studies of time use, system-level outcome analysis, and evidence use and interpretation in a continuous quality improvement context.
Van Drunen recently worked on a federally funded formative evaluation of the Alameda County Youth Transitions Partnership (YTP)—an intervention designed to meet the needs of youth in foster care who are at risk of homelessness—and continues to engage with YTP in their efforts to make program improvements. She is also involved in a multi-year randomized control trial studying an intervention focused on promoting research evidence use among child welfare providers. Van Drunen plays a lead role in Chapin Hall’s collection and analysis of workforce time use data, which can be used to analyze child-level costs related to child welfare programs and is often drawn on by agencies to inform decisions about resource allocation, prioritization, and aligning policy with practice in ways that leverage worker contributions to support children and families. In addition to the above, she works with the Center for State Child Welfare Data to administer its course, Advanced Analytics in Child Welfare Administration.
Previously, Van Drunen spent several years managing all funding proposal development activity for sponsored projects at Chapin Hall.
Van Drunen holds a Master of Arts in Social Service Administration from the University of Chicago and a Bachelor of Science in Family Studies and Human Development from the University of Arizona.
Master of Arts in Social Service Administration, University of Chicago
Bachelor of Science in Family Studies and Human Development, University of Arizona
Dworsky, A., Morton, M., Matjasko, J., Mayer, M., Gitlow, E. (2017, November). Voices of Youth Count. Youth count and brief youth survey: Technical report. Paper presented at the 39th Annual APPAM Research Conference, Chicago, IL.
Packard Tucker, L., Van Drunen, M., & Dworsky, A. (2020). Alameda County’s Youth Transitions Partnership Program – A practical example of using CQI to support successful program implementation. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
Packard Tucker, L., Dworsky, A., & Van Drunen, M. (2020). Alameda County’s Youth Transitions Partnership Program – A Promising Model for Supporting Transition-Age Youth in Foster Care. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
Feldman, S.W., Hollinshead, D., Van Drunen, M., Schmits, F., Packard Tucker, L., & Fluke, J. (2020). Tennessee Department of Children and Families IV-E Waiver Demonstration project: Final evaluation report. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
Feldman, S.W., Wulczyn, F.W., Van Drunen, M., Chen, L., Wang, J., & Schlecht, C. (2019). Time use, outcomes, and best practices: A study for the Division of Child Protection at the Administration for Children’s Services in New York City. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
Packard Tucker, L., Dworsky, A., & Van Drunen, M. (2019, September). Formative Evaluation Lessons Learned: Evaluating the Implementation of the Youth Transitions Partnership in Alameda County. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
Feldman, S., Packard Tucker, L., Schmits, F., Van Drunen, M., & Wulczyn, F. (2019, July). Strong families New York City: Final Title IV-E Waiver evaluation report. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
Kull, M., Dasgupta, D., Schlecht, C., Dworsky, A., Lynch, M., Hill, Z., Reed, A., Brennen, J., Moore, F., Mayer, M., Lockaby, T., Weiner, D., Haight, J. M., Axelrod, J., & Samuels, B. (2019, May). Capacity assessment and integration support for the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families: Final report. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
Haight, J. M., Wulczyn, F., Rhodes, E., & Mayer, M. (2019, January). A study of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services placement processes. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
Kull, M., Dasgupta, D., Dworsky, A., Mayer, M., Moore, F., Miller Haight, J., Lynch, M., Schlecht, C., Weiner, D., & Axelrod, J. (2018, December). Analyze, align, act: Capacity assessment and integration support for the Washington Department of Children, Youth, and Families: Interim report. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
Feldman, S. W., Kull, M., Price, K. M., Van Drunen, M. & Wulczyn, F.H. (2018). The Harlem Children’s Zone codification study: Final report. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago. (2015). Arizona Department of Child Safety independent review. Chicago, IL: Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago.
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