Ferol Mennen
Associate Professor of Social Work Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work | USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work
Los Angeles, CA, UNITED STATES
Ferol Mennen focuses on child abuse, neglect, and post-traumatic stress disorders, as well as children's mental health services
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Biography
Ferol Mennen joined the USC faculty in 1988 after teaching at Southern University at New Orleans and practicing in mental health for 12 years. Specializing in children's mental health issues, she has worked in a residential treatment center, the outpatient adolescent unit of a psychiatric hospital, as an outpatient coordinator for inner-city community mental health crime, and in private practice. She continues to practice clinical social work privately on a sliding-scale and limited basis in Montrose.
Her primary research focuses on child abuse and neglect, mental health services to those children, and post-traumatic stress disorders in children, particularly in reaction to various forms of abuse. In addition, her interests include children's mental health issues; the provision of services to hard to reach, disadvantaged populations; social work education; and depression. She is co-principal investigator for "The Impact of Neglect on Adolescent Development." The majority of her publications focus on the effects of abuse in children and the treatment of women sexually abused in childhood.
Dr. Mennen teaches first year and mental health practice in the masters program, as well as adult learning theory in the doctoral program.
To reference the work of Ferol Mennen online, we ask that you directly quote their work where possible and attribute it to "Ferol Mennen, a faculty at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work” (LINK: https://dworakpeck.usc.edu)
Education (3)
Tulane University: PhD 1987
Tulane University: MSW 1973
Purdue University: BS 1966
Areas of Expertise (5)
Mental Health
Child Abuse and Neglect
Social Work
Social Work Education
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
Industry Expertise (4)
Health and Wellness
Research
Education/Learning
Social Services
Research Articles & Publications (3)
Child neglect: Definition and identification of youth's experiences in official reports of maltreatment
Child Abuse & Neglect
Mennen, Ferol E., Kihyun Kim, Jina Sang, and Penelope K. Trickett
2010 Objective The purpose of this study was to describe the nature of neglect in child welfare clients, to describe these experiences, to examine its typologies, and to understand how different types of neglect co-occurred with each other and with other types of maltreatment. Methods Case record abstraction was conducted on the child welfare case records of an urban, ethnically-diverse sample of youths (n = 303) identified as maltreated by a very large public child welfare agency. We utilized the Maltreatment Case Record Abstraction Instrument (MCRAI) which was based on the work of Barnett et al. (1993) as modified by English and LONGSCAN (1997)...
Emotional abuse in a sample of multiply maltreated, urban young adolescents: Issues of definition and identification
Child Abuse & Neglect
Trickett, Penelope K., Ferol E. Mennen, Kihyun Kim, and Jina Sang
2009 The main purpose of this paper is to use the Brassard and Donovan [Brassard, M. R. & Donovan, K. L. (2006). Defining psychological maltreatment. In M. M. Freerick, J. F. Knutson, P. K. Trickett, & S. M. Flanzer (Eds.), Child abuse and neglect: Definitions, classifications, and a framework for research (pp. 151–197). Baltimore, MD: Paul H. Brookers Publishing Co., Inc.] framework to examine and describe the nature of emotional abuse experienced by a sample of urban, ethnically diverse male and female youth (N = 303) identified as maltreated by a very large public child welfare agency...
Informed decisions in child welfare: The use of attachment theory
Children and Youth Services Review
Mennen, Ferol E., and Maura O'Keefe
2005 The purpose of this article is to help child welfare workers better understand and utilize attachment theory in their decision making with abused and neglected children. The authors review attachment theory, research on the effects of maltreatment on attachment, and research on foster care and attachment. Guidelines and specific interventions supporting children's secure attachments during involvement with the child welfare process (e.g., before placement, at time of placement, during placement, and at reunion) are provided...
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