Child Welfare Education Projects Director

Email: rllaury@central.uh.edu
Room: 436 Social Work Building
Phone: 713-743-5652

Personal Statement

Dr. Renita Laury is CWEP Director at the Graduate College of Social Work, University of Houston. Dr. Laury is an experienced leader with over 28 years of management and leadership experience with the State of Texas with the last 24 years working for Children’s Protective Services. In 2019, she received her Ph.D. in Educational Leadership from Prairie View A&M University, where her research consisted of public school educators and their decisions regarding child abuse, and how it impacted cultural biases or social indicators. She has a strong background in the Child Welfare System with expertise in child abuse/neglect where she began her career as a CPS Investigator, promoted to a CPS Supervisor, Program Director, and then Program Administrator before her retirement from Texas Department of Families and Protective Services. In the span of her career, she has trained on an array of topics such as Cultural Competency, Cross-Cultural and Trans-Racial Placements, Children with Special Needs and Disabilities, Confronting Biases and Developing Positive Family Attitudes, Resources and Information to Support Families, and Mental/Health/Common Diagnosis under the scope of child welfare.