Profiles in Social Work

My Journey from Child Welfare to Aging

Cheryl Waites, EdD, MSW, ACSW

Like many baby boomers in the field of social work, Cheryl Waites, EdD, MSW, ACSW entered the profession hoping to change the world. After many years of practice in child welfare, along with years in the academy, she found that gerontology was “her call to make a difference.”

Dr. Waites remembers that her transformation began “at a point in her career when she looked around and saw her family, friends, and children aging.” She was “fascinated by the demographic shifts taking place in our society and the impact of the aging baby boomers, increased longevity, growth in the number of centenarians, caregiving demands, and the projected diversity of the aging population.” Dr. Waites was also concerned about social justice issues, specifically health disparity and access to quality health care. She became more aware of the workforce issues regarding the shortages of social workers who were prepared to work with older adults. Dr. Waites states “I saw an opportunity to make a difference by preparing the next generation of social workers for practice with older adults and their families as well as to engage in research that would inform education and practice.”

As a new associate professor at North Carolina State University, with a background in child welfare, mental health, and a few years of working as a consultant at a nursing home, Dr. Waites teamed with a colleague Dr. Othelia Lee and applied for a GeroRich grant funded by the Hartford Foundation.  She was delighted when they received the grant and remarks “this is when my transformation was launched.” As a GeroRich project director, Dr. Waites worked to develop innovative strategies and programs to promote the infusion of aging content and competencies into a social work undergraduate program. Dr. Waites states “I enhanced my knowledge regarding gerontology, competency-based education, and curricular change models and embraced an approach focused on intergenerational relationship building as the hook to motivate student’s interest in social work practice with older adults.”
Dr. Waites also has participated in several other GSWI programs. She was an Expert Trainer and CDI Mentor with the Gero-Ed Center and also participated in the NIA/NIH and Hartford Institute on Aging and Social Work, cohort I.

In 2006, Dr. Waites was selected as a Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar, cohort VII, which funded her research on the topic “Determining Health Promotion Strategies and Interventions: Social Work Practice with African American Elders.” Dr. Waites reports she was “thrilled to have the honor and opportunity to further develop her skills as a community-based researcher and her expertise in the areas of designing and evaluating practice applications and translational or applied research.” Her study explores healthy aging and health promotion environments in two African American communities: one urban and one rural. Using focus groups, she interviewed older adults ages 65 to 89 regarding how they remain healthy and vital and their access to resources and amenities (i.e. walking trails or nutrition programs) to help them do so. Waites’ data indicates that lack of transportation strongly affects the rural population’s ability to access wellness services, but the majority of the elders interviewed attempt to engage in healthy living practices as they age.  She plans to continue this study and to engage in translational research focused on health promotion and healthy aging.  

Currently, Dr. Waites is the Associate Dean at Wayne State University School of Social Work, which recently received three GSWI awards the; Hartford Partnership Program for Aging Education (HPPAE) grant, Curriculum Development Institute (CDI) Program and BSW Experiential Learning (BEL) Program. She continues to work with faculty and staff regarding gerontological curricula infusion, innovation, and research. In addition, Dr. Waites is the Co Director of the Wayne State University Gerontology Certificate Program and was recently appointed to the Michigan State Advisory Council on Aging. She has published several articles and made many presentations as an outgrowth of her participation in the Hartford GSWI programs. She is also editor of the new book Social Work Practice with African American Families: An Intergenerational Perspective, which was recently release.

“The GSWI Projects afforded me an opportunity to work with geriatric social workers, educators, and researchers locally and across the country” says Dr. Waites. “I benefited immensely from interacting with and being mentored by established scholars whose work has advanced social work research on aging and geriatric social work education.” The convergence of all these experiences has shaped her scholarship and teaching. Dr. Waites states “my interest and work have been positively advanced by the mentoring, training, and support received from the GSWI programs and the colleagues that I have shared these experiences with -- I have been so impressed by the commitment, scholarship, and service of leaders in the field.”
 “This has been a wonderful journey, thus far,” says Dr. Waites. She looks forward to continuing her research, scholarship and curricula innovation, with a goal of making a contribution to advancing knowledge and theory regarding healthy aging, health promotion, intergenerational relationships and culturally responsive social work practice with older adults and their families.

Updated on November 18, 2010

Click Here for a complete list of Profiles in Social Work