Sharon CARTER

Research Associate

Child and Family Policy Center

Vanderbilt Institute for Public Policy Studies

1207 18th Avenue South

Nashville, TN 37212

Phone: 615-343-1039  Fax: 615-343-1761

E-mail: sharon.r.carter@vanderbilt.edu

SHARON CARTER:  BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

Sharon Carter who holds a Master’s in Science in Social Work joined The Child and Family Policy in February, 2000 as a Research Associate.  She brings with her fifteen years experience in the juvenile justice arena serving as Psychiatric Social Worker, Senior Criminal Investigator, Chief Criminal Investigator, Supervised Probation Officer, and Juvenile Court Administrator.

During Carter’s tenure at Davidson County Juvenile Court, Nashville, Tennessee, she was instrumental in forming the first Communities That Care Model program in Nashville entitled Vine Hill Community Collaboration Project under a grant from the Office of Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention.  The Hawkins and Catalino’s Communities That Care Model focus on the Social Development Strategy of risk and resiliency factors.  The Vine Hill Collaboration partnered Davidson County Juvenile Court with 12 community agencies to decrease delinquent involvement and minority over-representations among the children in the Vine Hill area. Carter spearheaded the first Family Unity Conferencing initiative in Tennessee.  This effort targeted prospective relative caregivers as out of home placements for children found to be neglect/dependant as an alternative to State’s custody.

Carter has been active on various Boards and Committees such as, Operation CAN, Inc., Vine Hill Community Collaboration Project, AmeriCorp, Mayor’s Task Force on Refugees and Immigration, Barriers to Youth Development Task Force, Laotian Gang Task Force, Family Preservation Team, Minority Over-representation Task Force and National Model Court’s Project with emphasis on Family Unity Conferencing, National Council on Juvenile and Family Court Judges.  Carter also served as Chairperson for the Program Committee, Eleventh and Fourteenth Joint Conferences on Juvenile Justice, Legislative Committee for the Tennessee Juvenile Court Services Association, and Juvenile Justice Committee, Mid-Cumberland Council on Children and Youth, YWCA Urban Services.  Carter currently serves on advisory committees for social work program re-accreditation for both Belmont University and Austin Peay State University.

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