Research
Youth Mental Health | AI & Data Science | Social Work & the Law
Youth Mental Health | AI & Data Science | Social Work & the Law
My program of research seeks to understand and improve professional decision-making within child welfare and child mental health systems to promote positive and equitable outcomes for children, youth, and families. I have worked primarily on research projects investigating the potential for innovative AI and data science tools, high-quality interprofessional collaboration, family-centered practice, and effective judicial procedures to produce better decisions, and I hope to continue exploring and developing evidence for these approaches in my future work.
This focus arises from my experiences as a former attorney and social worker in child welfare and mental health systems. First as a policy advocate, and then as an advocate for the rights and well-being of children in foster care, I observed that decisions to detect child maltreatment, determine appropriate services, draw on kinship bonds for family support, and secure permanent living situations for children and youth were often arbitrary and lacked appropriate evidence. These realizations drove me to seek comprehensive solutions for supporting professional decision-making and advancing equity through research, intervention development, and systems change.
Accordingly, I hope to conduct engaged research with agencies and practitioners in these critically important systems to maximize the rigor, sustainability, and impact of evidence for strategies to improve professional decisions in this area.
For more detailed information regarding current and past projects, please see my curriculum vitae here.
Press Articles
Suggs, B. (2024, November 26). In a new study, Georgia professor explores the use of artificial intelligence in the child welfare field. The Imprint.
Radio Interviews
Sauer, E. & Ridley, A. (Hosts). (2024, October 26). UGA Professor explores how AI may impact abuse investigations in foster care systems [Radio and audio podcast episode]. In Athens News Matters. WUGA.
August 2025-Present UGA Generative AI Teaching Fellowship
Primary Investigator Primary Investigator: Daniel Gibbs
Funding: UGA Center for Teaching and Learning ($3000)
· Developing a framework and curriculum for the integration of AI in evidence-based human services practice.
· Evaluating student AI-related learning and competency development through a mixed methods teaching evaluation.
January 2025 – Present North Carolina Behavioral Health Evaluation Learning Lab (NC-BELL): Child Behavioral Health Systems Evaluation
Co-Investigator Primary Investigator: Paul Lanier
Funding: NC Department of Health and Human Services - $90,000 (subaward)
· Conducting a mixed-methods landscape assessment of the state’s child behavioral health system
· Evaluating the complex effects of state’s historic $80 million investment on key outcomes within the behavioral health system
October 2024 – Present Georgia CommuniCare Preliminary Evaluation: Assessing Usability and Facilitators of Technology Adoption
Primary Investigator Primary Investigator: Daniel Gibbs
Funding: The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation - $75,000
· Conducting a mixed-methods usability and initial outcome assessment of an innovative information communication portal in the Georgia child welfare services system
· Analyzing secondary child welfare and application data to explore patterns of technology use and potential case impacts
March – December 2024 Georgia CommuniCare Initial Implementation Evaluation and Theory of Change Development
Primary Investigator Primary Investigator: Daniel Gibbs
Funding: Georgia Division of Human Services - $75,000
· Conducted individual interviews and group model-building sessions with child welfare stakeholders to assess and improve implementation of an innovative information communication portal in the Georgia child welfare services system.
· Developed a system dynamics-based theory of change for Georgia CommuniCare to document prospective outcomes, change mechanisms, and facilitators for maximum impact.
November 2023 – Present Embark Georgia Research Collaborative
Research Consultant Primary Investigators: David Meyers & Dr. Lori Tiller
Funding: Conrad N. Hilton & Robert W. Woodruff Foundations
· Analyzing linked child welfare, higher education, and Education and Training Voucher (ETV) program data to understand determinants of success for college students with foster care histories.
· Examining trends and impacts of college support programs and financial assistance for college students with foster care histories.
August 2023 – June 2025 UNC Creativity Hub: Systems Science for Youth Mental Health
Research Consultant Primary Investigators: Dr. Paul Lanier & Dr. Samantha Schilling
Funding: UNC Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research
· Conducted and analyzed group model-building sessions with individuals involved with the NC youth mental health system.
· Developed system maps and causal loop diagrams to enhance understanding of complex procedural, policy, and community factors that impact youth mental health crises.
(Updated August 2025)
Gibbs, D. J., Lanier, P., Rose, R., Hassmiller Lich, K., Ansong, D., Chapman, M. V., & Jensen, T. M. (in press). Assessing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on foster youth mental health services utilization. Journal of the Society of Social Work and Research. https://doi.org/10.1086/735082
Colvin. M. & Gibbs, D. J. (2025). The challenge within challenges: A common thread of instability in interorganizational child welfare practice. Journal of Public Child Welfare. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2025.2496986
Adams, G. B., Turpin, R., Tiller, L., Gibbs, D., & Meyers, D. (2025). Longitudinal analysis of Education Training Voucher utilization and post-secondary education enrollment among youth experiencing foster care, 2019-2023. Journal of Public Child Welfare. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2025.2487472
Gibbs, D. J., Konstanzer, J., Hassmiller Lich, K., Lanier, P., Ansong, D., Chapman, M. V., Jensen, T. M., & Rose, R. (2025). Mental health treatment delays for youth in foster care: Understanding system decisions and dynamics. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-025-01432-3
Gibbs, D. J., Phillips, J. D., & Villagrana, K. (2024). Stress, satisfaction, and turnover among child welfare workers: Examining associations with quality of interprofessional collaboration. Journal of the Society of Social Work and Research, 15(4), 719-743. https://doi.org/10.1086/724586
Gibbs, D. J., Loper, A., Farley, A., Afkinich, J. L., Johnson, I. C., & Metz, A. (2024). Implementing algorithmic decision-making tools in child welfare practice: Staff perspectives on use and usefulness. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 42(4), 277-311. https://doi.org/10.1080/15228835.2024.2402982
Lanier, P., Rose, R., Gibbs, D., Hyman, J., Kamdar, N., Konstanzer, J., & Hassmiller Lich, K. (2024). Psychiatric residential treatment facilities for child behavioral health services in North Carolina Medicaid. North Carolina Medical Journal, 85(3), 54-60. https://doi.org/10.18043/001c.117075
Gibbs, D. J., Lanier, P., McNellan, C., & Bryant, K. (2024). Identifying children at risk of maltreatment: Assessing the current landscape of Birth Match policies in the United States. Journal of Public Child Welfare, 19(2), 320-348. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2024.2319732
Gibbs, D. J., Frazier, K. D., Harper, M., & Yoon, Y. (2025). Georgia CommuniCare pre-evaluation report: Initial user impressions and theory of change development. Georgia Department of Human Services.
Coyne, M., Sherwood, J., Devine, K., Flores, M., Judelson, J. E., Johnson, K., Adams, G., Dozier, A., Gibbs, D. J., & Heller, D. (2024). Out of sight, out of mind: When children in foster care in California don’t meet their court-appointed attorneys. Advokids & Western Center on Law and Poverty.
Ansong, D., Brevard, K., Gibbs, D., Childs, S., & Francis, A. M. (2020). Harvey Kinship Project report: Helping abused and neglected children find permanent homes with their grandparents and other relatives. The Group on Evidence Building in Child Welfare, UNC-Chapel Hill School of Social Work.
Lanier, P.* & Gibbs, D. J.* (2025, March 13). Understanding system responses to youth mental health crises: A community-based system dynamics approach [Oral presentation]. European Conference for Social Work Research, Munich, Germany.
Dunnigan, A.* & Gibbs, D. J.* (2024, December 4). Georgia data update: Understanding state and national trends in child welfare [Oral presentation]. Georgia Child Welfare Summit 2024, Atlanta, Georgia.
Dunnigan, A.*, Gibbs, D. J.*, & Hetherington, E. (2024, July 24). Constructing a measure of therapeutic jurisprudence through consensus-building: A Delphi approach [Oral presentation]. International Academy of Law and Mental Health Congress, Barcelona, Spain.
Gibbs, D. J.*, Konstanzer, J., Hassmiller Lich, K., Lanier, P.*, Ansong, D., Chapman, M. V., & Jensen, T. M. (2024, July 1). Mental health treatment delays for youth in foster care: Understanding system decisions and dynamics [Poster presentation]. AcademyHealth ARM, Baltimore, MD.
Gibbs, D. J.*, Lanier, P., Rose, R., Hassmiller Lich, K., Ansong, D., Chapman, M. V., & Jensen, T. M. (2024, June 30). Assessing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on foster youth mental health services utilization [Oral presentation]. AcademyHealth ARM, Baltimore, MD.
Gibbs, D. J.*, Konstanzer, J., Hassmiller Lich, K., Lanier, P., Ansong, D., Chapman, M. V., & Jensen, T. M. (2024, May 7). Mental health treatment delays for youth in foster care: Understanding system decisions and dynamics [Poster presentation]. 10th Annual Emory Health Services Research Day, Atlanta, GA.
Gibbs, D. J.*, Konstanzer, J., Hassmiller Lich, K., Lanier, P., Ansong, D., Chapman, M. V., & Jensen, T. M. (2024, January 14). System decisions and dynamics contributing to mental health services access for youth in foster care [E-poster presentation]. Society for Social Work Research Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
Gibbs, D. J.*, Lanier, P., Rose, R., Hassmiller Lich, K., Ansong, D., Chapman, M. V., & Jensen, T. M. (2024, January 12). Assessing the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on foster youth mental health services utilization [Oral presentation]. Society for Social Work Research Annual Conference, Washington, DC.
Gibbs, D. J. (2025, July 28). Generative AI in human services work: Potential benefits, legal risks, emerging practices. Together Georgia 2025 Legal Training Day, Athens, GA.
Gibbs, D. J. (2025, May 8). Artificial intelligence in child welfare practice: Opportunities and best practices for human services work. Annual Business Meeting and Child Welfare Conference of the Association of Administrators of the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (AAICPC), Denver, CO.
Gibbs, D. J. (2025, April 25). Integrating AI in child- and family-serving systems: Trends, opportunities, and lessons learned. Together Georgia 2025 Executive Retreat, Buford, GA.
Gibbs, D. J.* (2025, March 20). AI in academic life: Opportunities, risks, and strategies [Guest lecture]. UGA Social Work Education and Pedagogy Course, Athens, GA.
Gibbs, D. J.* (2025, March 19). AI use in child welfare: Charting the landscape and frontiers [Online oral presentation]. Alaska Impact Alliance, Anchorage, AK.
Gibbs, D. J.* (2024, November 6). Implementing algorithmic decision-making tools in child welfare systems: Practitioner perspectives on use and usefulness [Oral presentation]. Data Science and AI for Social Impact Pre-Seed Team Meeting, Athens, GA.
Gibbs, D. J.* & Trail, M.* (2024, September 11). The balancing act: What attorneys should know about AI integration in child welfare [Online plenary session]. 47th National Child Welfare Law Conference, Denver, CO.
Gibbs, D. J.* (2024, March 22). Using generative artificial intelligence to amplify social science research [Oral presentation & workshop]. UNC-Charlotte CEME Workshop Series, Charlotte, NC.
2025-2026 Generative AI Teaching Fellowship, University of Georgia Center for Teaching and Learning
2025 2025 Teaching Academy Faculty Symposium, University of Georgia
2024 UGA-University of Liverpool Faculty Summit in the Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Liverpool
2022 Systems Science for Social Impact Summer Institute, Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis
2020 Summer Research Institute, National Data Archive of Child Abuse and Neglect
2015-2017 Child Law Fellowship, University of South Carolina Children’s Law Center
2014 James B. McMillan Legal Fellowship, Mecklenburg County Bar
Data Collection: Group Model-Building, Survey Development, In-Depth Interview and Focus Group Design, Systematic Review Methods
Data Analysis: Multiple Regression, Multilevel Modeling, Structural Equation Modeling, Multiple Imputation, Panel Data Analysis, Advanced Data Visualization and Dashboard Development, Causal Loop Diagramming
Analytical Software: R, MAXQDA, Vensim, Stata, SAS, Mplus, NVivo, Tableau