School for Social Work Presentation to Address Lives of Gay and Lesbian Adolescents

The narratives of gay and lesbian teenagers who have lived within the child welfare systems of three North American cities--Los Angeles, New York and Toronto--will provide the foundation of a presentation to be given at Smith College by Gerald P. Mallon, an assistant professor at New York's Hunter College School of Social Work, on Monday, July 19.

Mallon's presentation, titled "We Don't Exactly Get the Welcome Wagon: The Experience of Gay and Lesbian Adolescents in Child Welfare Systems," will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Wright Hall Auditorium at Smith. It is part of the Smith College School for Social Work's 1999 Summer Lecture Series.

Mallon will use material in his presentation from 54 in-depth interviews he conducted over a 20-year period with young gay and lesbian people who have lived in out-of-home welfare settings. Their stories, Mallon says, will shed light on the realities and discrepancies of child welfare systems as experienced by gay and lesbian adolescents. He will conclude his presentation with recommendations to child welfare practitioners and policy makers about how to improve child welfare to best accommodate gay and lesbian adolescents.

Mallon, whose book with the same title as his Smith presentation was named Best Academic Book of the Year 1999 by "Choices: The American Library Journal," is the former associate executive director of Green Chimneys Children's Services, the first mainstream child welfare agency in the country to operate special residential programs for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and questioning children and families. He is also the author of "Foundations of Social Work Practice with Gay and Lesbian Persons" and "Let's Get This Straight: A Gay and Lesbian Affirming Approach to Child Welfare." Mallon received a doctorate in Social Welfare from the City University of New York at Hunter College.

The presentation is the seventh installment of the School for Social Work's 12-part lecture series. All series events are free and open to the public. The Smith College School for Social Work, which was founded in 1918, enrolls 450 students each year in master's and doctoral programs.

July 8, 1999