Mónica Ruiz-Casares

I am an associate professor in the School of Child and Youth Care at Toronto Metropolitan University and adjunct professor of psychiatry and associate member of the Centre for Research on Children and Families and the Institute for Health and Social Policy at McGill University. For a decade, I was a staff investigator at the Sherpa University Institute in Montreal, where I evaluated health and social services for migrant and refugee families and other culturally diverse populations. I was born in Spain and have lived and/or worked in all continents (except Antarctica!). A lawyer by training (ICADE, Spain), I obtained an MSc in Program Planning and Evaluation and a PhD in Policy Analysis and Management/Human Services Studies from Cornell University, an MA in International Development from The George Washington University, and postdoctoral fellowships in Social and Cultural Child Psychiatry at McGill University. I lead mixed-methods studies on child wellbeing/mental health and protection cross-culturally, mainly in contexts of parent-child separation in low- and middle-income countries. I am also interested in ethical and methodological issues involved in research with and by young people. I am a member of the board of directors of the American Evaluation Association, co-chair of the International Society for Child Indicators, and a credentialed evaluator with the Canadian Evaluation Society. I have worked in policy and program evaluation of human services internationally for more than 25 years. 

• CYC 8002: Child & Youth Care Research Methods, (Master of Arts in Child and Youth Care program)
• CYC 604: Social Research & Evaluation II

• Who Minds the Children? Clarifying the Role of Public Policies and Socio-Ecological Factors in Non-Adult Child Supervision in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
• International Survey of Children’s Wellbeing (ISCWeB) in Namibia
• Human-Wildlife Interactions: Nature, Causes, and Impact on Women and Children Across Cultures
• Linguistic Diversity and Interpretation in Health and Social Services
• International and Canadian Child Rights Partnership (T. Collins)

Special issues:

• Ruiz-Casares, M., Lacharité, C., & Martin, F. (2020). Special Issue: Child Neglect. Child Indicators Research, 13(2), 363-571.
• Collins, T. M., Grover, S., Ruiz-Casares, M., & Tisdall, E. K. M. (2017). Special Issue: Facilitating Child Participation in International Child Protection. International Journal of Human Rights, 21(1).

Journal articles:

• Ruiz-Casares, M., Thombs, B.D., Mayo, N, Scott, S, Andrina, M, Platt, R.W. The Families First program to prevent child abuse: Results of a cluster randomized controlled trial in West Java, Indonesia. Prevention Science [Accepted]
• Yamaguchi, S., Bentayeb, N., Holtom, A., Molnar, P., Constantinescu, T., Tisdall, E.K.M., Tuong, J., Iyer, S., & Ruiz-Casares, M. Participation of Children and Youth in Mental Health Policymaking: A Scoping Review [Part I]. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. [Accepted]
• Yamaguchi, S., Tuong, J., Tisdall, E.K.M., Bentayeb, N., Holtom, Iyer, S., & Ruiz-Casares, M. “Youth as ‘accessories’”: Stakeholder perspectives on youth participation in mental health policymaking [Part II] Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research. [Accepted]
• Gentz, S., Chouinard, L.J., & Ruiz-Casares, M. Time use and time use satisfaction: An examination of children’s out of school activities in Namibia. Special Issue “Searching for the Everyday in African Childhoods”, British Academy. [Accepted]
• Gonzalez, E. & Ruiz-Casares, M. “I wish every day was Saturday”: Newcomer youth and program facilitators’ experiences of a community-based resettlement program during the COVID-19 pandemic in Montreal. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2022.2061074 (external link) 
• Rousseau, C., Rummens, J.A., Frounfelker, R.L. Ruiz-Casares, M., & Cleveland (2021). Canadian Health Personnel Attitudes Toward Refugee Claimants’ Entitlement to Health Care. Int. Migration & Integration. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-021-00892-4
• Gonzalez, E., & Ruiz-Casares, M. (2021).  Negotiating child agency in childcare practices among immigrant families. Child & Family Social Work, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12869 (external link) 
• Gentz S, Zeng C, & Ruiz-Casares M. The role of individual-, family-, and school-level resilience in the subjective well-being of children exposed to violence in Namibia. Child Abuse Negl. 2021 Sep;119(Pt 2):105087. doi: 10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105087. Epub 2021 May 13. PMID: 33992423.
• Bérubé, A., Clément, M. È., Lafantaisie, V., LeBlanc, A., Baron, M., Picher, G., Turgeon, J., Ruiz-Casares, M., & Lacharité, C. (2021). How societal responses to COVID-19 could contribute to child neglect. Child abuse & neglect, 116(Pt 2), 104761. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2020.104761
• Grégoire-Labrecque, G., Lafantaisie, V., Trocmé, N., Lacharité, C., Li, P., Audet, G., Sullivan, R., & Ruiz-Casares, M. (2020). ‘Are We Talking as Professionals or as Parents?’ Complementary views on supervisory neglect among professionals working with families in Quebec, Canada. Children and Youth Services Review, 118, 105407. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105407
• Ruiz-Casares, M., Lacharité, C., & Martin, F. (2020). Child Neglect Indicators: a Field in Critical Need of Development Globally. Child Indicators Research, 13(2), 363-367. doi:10.1007/s12187-019-09712-9
• Klassen, C. L., Gonzalez, E., Sullivan, R., & Ruiz-Casares, M. (2020). ‘I’m just asking you to keep an ear out’: parents’ and children’s perspectives on caregiving and community support in the context of migration to Canada. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-19. doi:10.1080/1369183X.2019.1707647
• Collins, T, Jamieson, L., Wright, L.H.V., Rizzini, I., Mayhew, A., Tisdall, A.K.M. & Ruiz-Casares, M. (2020).  Involving child and youth advisors in academic research about child participation: The Child and Youth Advisory Committees of the International and Canadian Child Rights Partnership. Children and Youth Services Review, 109, 104569. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.104569
• Ruiz-Casares, M. & Gonzalez, E. (2020). La Participación infantil en la investigación sobre la protección de la niñez: El papel de los comités asesores de niños, niñas y jóvenes.  O Social em Questão - Ano XXIII - nº 46 - Jan a Abr/2020
• Merry, L., Hanley, J., Ruiz-Casares, M., Archambault, I., Mogere, D. (2019). Migrant families with children in Montreal, Canada and transnational family support: A protocol for a focused ethnography. BMJ Open, 2019 Sep 26;9(9):e029074. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029074.
• Cislaghi, B., Bukuluki, P., Chowdhury, M., Miranda Espinosa, A., Kenny, L., Kohl, A.,  Kusumaningrum, S., Harouna Brah, B., Love, C., Mathpati, M., Nkwi, P., Ona, F., Porter, J., Ruiz-Casares, M., Saldanha, N., Sulaiman, M., and Wessels, M. (2019). Global Health Is Political; Can It Also Be Compassionate? Journal of global health, 9(2), 020306. doi:10.7189/jogh.09.020306
• Moon, J., & Ruiz-Casares, M. (2019). Family’s Migration Experience and Distress Among Asian-Canadian Immigrant Youth. Journal of Comparative Family Studies, 50(1), 7-32. doi:10.3138/jcfs.009-2017
• Ruiz-Casares, M., Lilley, S., Thombs, B., Platt, R.W., Scott, S., Isdijoso, W., Hermanus, E., Andrina, M., & Mayo, N. (2019). Protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial evaluating a parenting with home visitation programme to prevent physical and emotional abuse of children in Indonesia: The Families First Programme. BMJ Open, 9(1), e021751. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2018-021751
• Nazif-Muñoz, J I, Nandi, A. and Ruiz-Casares, M.  2018. “Dataset and figures on time-series analysis of child restraint policy impact in Chile.” Data in Brief, 21, 2290-2315 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dib.2018.11.079 (external link) 
• Ruiz-Casares, M., Nazif-Muñoz, J.I., Iwo, R., & Oulhote, Y. (2018). Nonadult Supervision of Children in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Results from 61 National Population-Based Surveys. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 15, 1564.
• Nazif-Muñoz, J.I., Nandi, A.,& Ruiz-Casares, M. (2018). Protecting only white children: the case of child restraint legislation in Brazil. Journal of Public Health, 41(2), 287–295. doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdy105 †
• Ruiz-Casares, M. & Nazif-Muñoz, J. I. (2018). Non-adult child supervision practices in Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Child Abuse & Neglect 84, 217-228.
• Nazif-Muñoz, J.I., Nandi, A., & Ruiz-Casares, M. (2018). Impact of Child Restraint Policies on Child Occupant Fatalities and Injuries in Chile and its Regions: A Time–Series Study. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 120, 28-45. †
• Miconi, D, Beeman, I, Robert, E., Beatson, J., and Ruiz-Casares, M. (2018). Child Supervision in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Scoping Review. Children and Youth Services Review, 89, 226-242. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.04.040 †
• Robert, E., Merry, L., Benoît, M., Guimaraes, D. B., & Ruiz-Casares, M. (2018). Rien ne doit se faire pour eux sans eux : renforcer la participation des demandeurs d'asile, réfugiés et migrants sans statut et des organismes communautaires dans la recherche en santé. Canadian journal of public health = Revue canadienne de sante publique, 109(3), 312-315. doi:10.17269/s41997-018-0042-9 †
• Gentz, S., Calonge Romano. I., Martínez Arias, R., and Ruiz-Casares, M. (2018) Mental Health Among Adolescents Living With HIV in Namibia: the Role of Poverty, Orphanhood and Social Support. AIDS Care, 30(sup2), 83-91. doi:10.1080/09540121.2018.1469727 †
• Gentz, S., Calonge Romano, I., Martínez-Arias, R., & Ruiz-Casares, M. (2017). Predictors of Mental Health Problems in Adolescents Living with HIV in Namibia. Child and Adolescent Mental Health, 22(4), 179-185. doi:10.1111/camh.12247. †
• Ruiz-Casares, M., Steele, R., Bangura, R., and Oyat, G. (2017) Preventing Parent-Child Separation: Myths and Facts from a KAP Survey in Central and Western Liberia. Global Social Welfare, 4(4), 219-231.doi:10.1007/s40609-017-0090-8
• Rousseau C, Oulhote Y, Ruiz-Casares M, Cleveland J, Greenaway C (2017) Encouraging understanding or increasing prejudices: A cross-sectional survey of institutional influence on health personnel attitudes about refugee claimants' access to health care. PLoS ONE 12(2): e0170910. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0170910
• Ruiz-Casares, M., Collins, T. M., Tisdall, E. K. M., & Grover, S. (2017). Children’s rights to participation and protection in international development and humanitarian interventions: nurturing a dialogue. The International Journal of Human Rights, 21(1), 1-13. doi: 10.1080/13642987.2016.1262520

Book chapters:

• Ruiz-Casares, M. (2021). The Participatory Photography Assessment Tool (P-PAT). In Jamieson, L., Feinstein, C., Kapell, A., & Dulieu, N. (2021). Working together: Including children in research on violence against children. A resource pack for research practitioners. Edinburgh: End Violence Partnership Knowledge Network, End Violence Lab and Save the Children. p 97-98.
• Ruiz-Casares, M. (2020). Child-Headed Households. SAGE Encyclopedia of Children and Childhood Studies, 1, 296-298. Daniel Thomas Cook (Ed.). Thousand Oaks: SAGE Publications. ISBN: 9781473942929
• Ruiz-Casares, M. & Oates, J. (2018). Informed Consent. The Sage Encyclopedia of Lifespan Human Development. Marc H. Bornstein (Ed.) ISBN: 9781506307657.
• Ruiz-Casares, M., Gentz, S., & Beatson, J. (2018). Children as Providers and Recipients of Support: Redefining Parenting Among Child-Headed Households in Namibia. In Maria Rosario T. de Guzman, Jill Brown, Carolyn Pope Edwards (Eds.) “Parenting From Afar: The Reconfiguration of the Family Across Distance.” Oxford University Press.
• Ruiz-Casares, M. (2018). Children On The Move: Facilitating and Valuing Children’s Contributions through Research. In CRAN 9th Annual Meeting [Report]. Ottawa, ON: Landon Pearson Resource Centre for the Study of Childhood and Children’s Rights, Carleton University.