Dr. Gretchen Perry
Associate Professor – Social Work

Gretchen Perry’s research focuses on cooperation and conflict in the family, including non-parental caregiving of children, such as grandparental care, fosterage and adoption, and in-law relationships and family homicide. In her research she uses qualitative and quantitative methods from ethnography and epidemiology, as well as structured interviews. She is especially interested in grandmothering, child protection research in Canada, and the impacts of immigration and employment in extractive industries on childcare and on outcomes for children and extended families. She comes to this work as a Cultural Anthropologist and registered Social Worker with a 25-year career in social services and social work with vulnerable individuals and families in Canada. This has allowed her to work across disciplines, using a culturally comparative approach in her seven years as an academic in New Zealand and Canada.