Abstract
I am honored, humbled, and extremely excited to be writing my first editorial for Families in Society (FIS) as the incoming editor-in-chief. FIS has played a significant role in my career, as it has with many other fellow academic–practitioners, and I strongly believe in its central mission to provide a forum where innovative and leading research and scholarship are given open-minded consideration on the basis of sound scientific merit. My appreciation is given to the editor search committee of the editorial advisory board and subsequent appointment by the full board, whose members placed their belief and confidence in me to lead this journal.
It is also important to express gratitude to the outgoing editor, Dr. Sondra Fogel, for her service and dedication over the past seven years. Dr. Fogel has provided countless hours of mentorship to me since I started on the editorial board in 2019 and then became associate editor in 2020. Dr. Fogel’s kindness and experience, as well as her heartfelt dedication to social work and the journal, has created an atmosphere where the journal has improved by leaps and bounds on so many domains. Dr. Fogel’s leadership and vision have created an environment where the journal continues to disseminate and promote scholarship related to social work practice, policy, and research that influences the field, building on the work of recent past editors like Susan E. Mason, William E. Powell, and Howard Goldstein. In addition, successive members of the editorial advisory board and associate editors have contributed countless hours and expertise. Finally, none of this would be possible without the incredible amount of support provided by staff at Social Current and SAGE, particularly Kirstin Anderson, Julia Slater, and the peer review and production teams. I am delighted to have the opportunity to work more closely with them over the next few years.
It is an honor and a privilege to be the journal’s first Latina editor-in-chief in its century of publishing, which I do not take lightly. I acknowledge all the work the many Latina faculty have made prior to me which opened doors and provided the space for me to pursue opportunities. As a minority scholar, a mother to three young children, and a child to immigrant parents, our time has come to be the change, to challenge the status quo, and to move forward our dialogues around anti-racism and social justice. It is my vision to increase the vitality and diversity of FIS though representative advisory board members, peer reviewers, manuscript authors, and—importantly—the readership. The art, science, and practice of social work are such important elements of the discipline because they can strengthen families and communities and help all people achieve their full potential. That is why inclusiveness, transparency, and authenticity in scholarship will help advance transformational research and practice, which in turn supports efforts to ensure everyone experiences well-being and opportunity.
My new role as editor comes amid major events occurring in the United States and across the globe that cause uncertainty and chronic stress, including the continuing coronavirus pandemic, financial upheaval, devastating violence, challenges to democratic rights, and the attack on reproductive autonomy, to name a few. The response to COVID-19 is further demonstrating our lack of health equity across the world and how social determinants of health, such as the conditions and places where people live, learn, work, and play, affect health outcomes. In addition, the feelings of uncertainty, trauma, and stress are amplified by the public health crisis of gun violence occurring across the country, in horrific mass shootings where dozens of innocent children and adults are being slaughtered by gunfire. Gun violence is often rooted in racism, misogyny, gender bias, and other exhibitions of a culture that embeds white supremacy: in Laguna Woods, California, the victims were Taiwanese; in Buffalo, New York, they were Black; and in Uvalde, Texas, the children and teachers were Hispanic. In addition, our human rights are being opposed—basic reproductive rights—that as women, mothers, and humans we will not stand for. As social workers, we must fight for our roles in lawmaking and in policy change that does not take away self-determination. We get to choose and decide what is right for our bodies.
In this time of shared trauma and individual ordeals, we also must pause for our own mental health and then find a way forward to continue our work. We have to do self-care, family-care, and community-care. We need to ask ourselves, “How can social workers help?” Social workers bring hope, love, and connection. We bring the skills and knowledge to help in the individual, family, agency, community, state, and national domains. As social workers, we are fortunate enough to be agents of change, to partner with families and neighborhoods to investigate, research, write, talk, and to make noise about the issues and about the solutions. My hope is that FIS gives you the outlet to do this work. I am committed to engaging research and scholarship that creates access and opportunity, promotes prevention and positive intervention, and centers equity in the pursuit of advancing the whole individual, family, and community.
My enthusiasm in taking on the role of editor-in-chief also recognizes the high level of responsibility that this position brings. A central priority is to maintain the journal’s status as one of the profession’s most trusted and effective dissemination conduits for scholarship that bridges research and practice. My editorial team and other collaborators and contributors will continue to build on the foundation laid down by past editors going back to Mary E. Richmond in 1920. As partners in this core social work journal, and more widely in social work scholarship, we have an important role to promote and lead the theoretical and empirical work within this field. I look forward to sharing with you my goals and vision for the future in upcoming communications and engagement opportunities. In the meantime, continue submitting your research, participating as a peer reviewer, and contributing to the dialogue of social work research via our social media channels and website. I look forward to hearing from you!