Kristina Lovato

Dr. Kristina Lovato is an Assistant Professor of Social Welfare at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also serves as Director of the Center on Immigration and Child Welfare Initiative (CICW). She is also an inaugural member of the Latinx & Democracy Cluster at UC Berkeley. For over 20 years, Dr. Lovato has worked at the intersection of immigration and child well-being as a researcher, social work educator, and former bilingual social work practitioner. Her scholarship focuses on improving outcomes for Latin American-origin immigrant families and children impacted by immigration enforcement and/or public child welfare involvement. She employs critical theoretical and intersectional qualitative methodological approaches to examine the impact of restrictive immigration policies among youth and families who have experienced a forced family separation due to immigration enforcement. Dr. Lovato's research aims to better understand the lived experiences of immigrant communities to develop policies, systems, and services that are culturally responsive and equity-based regardless of legal status.