Ruth White is one of the nation’s leading experts on the nexus between housing policy and child welfare.  She is executive director of the National Center for Housing and Child Welfare  and former Director of Housing and Homelessness for the Child Welfare League of America.  In that capacity she co-edited the landmark issue of the League’s journal, Child Welfare, documenting the extent to which children are needlessly held in foster care because their parents lack decent housing. She also coordinated conferences site visits, and advisory committees and wrote a newsletter concerning the Family Unification Program, which provides federal housing vouchers to families where lack of housing is keeping children and parents apart.

White has a Master of Science Degree in Social Administration from Case Western Reserve University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Work from Ohio State University.  She is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and a Founding Member of the National Network of Women in Community Development.