Cohort-3

Abigail Delyea is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba, as well as a full-time child protection worker with Winnipeg Child and Family Services, where she has provided ongoing service in a protection unit for over six years. Her pursuit of doctoral studies is inspired by her years in the social work field, where she continues to work with families and children impacted by child maltreatment and protection concerns in Winnipeg, Manitoba. For her MSW, Abigail completed a thesis focusing on international social work programming aimed at addressing physical and emotional punishment against children in Japan. Her doctoral research is directed at understanding the systemic impacts and barriers to addressing and investigating emotional maltreatment against children within the child welfare context.

Abigail is particularly focused on client-centered, strengths-based, and anti-oppressive ways of engaging in research, while also centering her practice in child protection around trauma-informed approaches. In her ongoing practice, she prioritizes walking alongside her families through collaborative working relationships and therapeutic alliances. Abigail is passionate about completing research to better understand the ways in which child welfare systems can be improved and shifted towards anti-colonial work with families and their journeys to healing.