Nancy Lucero

Dr. Nancy M. Lucero (Mississippi Choctaw), is a Research Associate Professor at the University of Denver, Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW), a Senior Research Associate at GSSW’s Butler Institute for Families, and a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Dr. Lucero has most recently served as Principal Investigator for the National Child Welfare Capacity Building Center for Tribes, a U.S. Children’s Bureau project that provides capacity building technical assistance to child welfare programs operated by American Indian and Alaska Native Nations. Dr. Lucero has experience designing and implementing trauma-informed practice models for tribal and urban Indian Child Welfare services. Her most recent scholarship has focused on advocating for trauma assessment for Native caregivers as an Active Effort under the Indian Child Welfare Act, providing case examples of Native families who have experienced trauma and become involved in the child welfare system, and articulating how Native child welfare workers incorporate cultural practices and cultural preservation efforts into child welfare services. Dr. Lucero is also interested in increasing understanding of the effects of multigenerational urban residence on the development and negotiation of Native cultural identity and cultural connectedness, and the means used by urban-based Native people to negotiate dominant culture service delivery systems.