Rhoda Smith, M.S.W.

Rhoda Smith is a doctoral candidate in social policy and social research at Loma Linda University as well as the Smith College School for Social Work’s 2016-2017 Bertha Capen Reynolds Predoctoral Fellow. Her research interests include mental and maternal health and wellbeing for children in the child welfare system, especially foster youth. Before starting the Reynolds fellowship, she was a lecturer in Azusa Pacific University’s M.S.W. program and the coordinator for the University Consortium for Children and Families, a partnership between the LA County DCF and social work schools in Los Angeles. Smith’s career has included extensive experience in the field of child welfare, including work as a social worker and supervisor, recruiter of staff and foster parents, and consultant to group homes for pregnant and parenting teens in foster care.