Petra Roberts
Associate Professor
Department: School of Child & Youth Care
Office: SHE-627, Sally Horsfall Eaton Centre for Studies in Community Health
Phone: 416-979-5000 x556128
Email: petra2.roberts@torontomu.ca
Education: BA (University of Winnipeg), BSW (University of Manitoba), MSW (University of Manitoba), Graduate Diploma (University of Manitoba, Population Health), PhD (University of Manitoba, Social Work)
Discipline: Child & Youth Care
Areas of Expertise:
Child & Adolescent Mental Health
- Child Welfare
- Family Therapy
- Immigrants & Refugees in the Sault Ste. Marie Community
- Insitutional Care in Middle & Low Income Countries
- International Child & Youth Care
- Out-of-home Care for Children in Canada & in The Caribbean
- Rural & Northern Practice
Research Interests
Role of Kinship and Community Care in Low-Income Countries; Historical Contributions and the Role of Women in Providing Out-of-Home Care for Children and Youth.
Dr. Petra Roberts is an Associate Professor in the School of Child and Youth Care, Faculty of Community Services at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). Trinidadian-born, she came to Canada in the 1980s and holds a BA from the University of Winnipeg and a BSW, MSW, Graduate Diploma in Population Health, and PhD in Social Work from the University of Manitoba.
She has over 20 years of practical experience in child welfare, child and adolescent mental health, family therapy, and rural and northern social work practice. She began her career as a Child Protection Worker in Thompson, northern Manitoba, and later worked as a Child Advocacy Officer in Winnipeg. She spent 14 years as a Mental Health Clinician with the Manitoba Adolescent Treatment Community Services Program. Also, she worked with the Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorder Program at Winnipeg’s largest hospital.
Dr. Roberts has held academic roles as an Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work at Algoma University, a lecturer at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine campus, and a sessional lecturer in the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Social Work. At Algoma University, she led the Diversity and Equity Committee and provided informal support and mentoring to students from Africa and to transfer students of colour from southern Ontario.
Dr. Roberts’ research focuses on children and families, mental health, child welfare, and out-of-home care in Canada and the Caribbean. Her work examines the gendered experiences of residential care and treatment services, narrative methodologies related to individuals who have lived in institutional care, and the role of Black women in community care. She also researches child sex trafficking in Trinidad and Tobago, working with service providers and NGOs to support knowledge dissemination, build capacity, and strengthen protections for children in residential homes and schools. She is currently the principal investigator on a project exploring the experiences of international students, immigrants, and refugees in the Sault Ste. Marie community.
Related Content
- Varieties of colonial child and youth care experiences and the role of the Anglican Church: Residential school survivor and a former resident of the Orphan Asylum in Trinidad and Tobago. An oral history project
- Gendered experience of transition from care: Comparative study Trinidad & Tobago and Ontario
Dr. Roberts' international experience includes serving as a Project Manager at the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre/Pan American Health Organization (CAREC/PAHO), where she evaluated communicable disease surveillance systems across several Caribbean countries. She has also remained actively involved in community work, serving on boards such as the Thompson Women’s Crisis Shelter and the Women’s Health Clinic in Winnipeg, and volunteering at St. Mary’s Children’s Home in Trinidad, where she developed programs and continues to provide informal consultation.
For the latest updates, please visit the faculty page linked below.