Abigail Williams-Butler

Abigail Williams-Butler, PhD, LCSW, MS, is an Assistant Professor at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. Her research interests include 1) strengths-based science to identify mechanisms to promote positive developmental outcomes for families and youth in child-serving systems, 2) examining the intersectional nature of development and factors that influence this development over time, and 3) identifying innovative approaches towards trauma-informed care for youth and families involved in child-serving systems. Her work primarily focuses on outcomes for Black families and youth regarding developmental outcomes for those in child-serving systems.

Publications:

• Williams-Butler, A., Nartey, P., Farmer, A.Y., Hervie, V.M., & Naami, A. (2025). Understanding the oppression of Black girls and women within the global context: Illustrations from Ghana and the United States. International Journal of Social Welfare, 34(3), e70023. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsw.70023.

• Williams-Butler, A., Ludeke, R., Ghanem, N., Matthews, M., & Kawaii-Bogue, B. (2025). Theoretical considerations for engaging Black youth and families in child-serving systems: Strengths-based approaches, intersectionality, and culturally responsive trauma-informed care. Families in Society, 106(2), 427-446. https://doi.org/10.1177/10443894241304614.

• Williams-Butler, A. (2024). Intersectionality and the overrepresentation of Black women, children, and families in the child welfare system: A scoping review. Journal of Public Child Welfare. https://doi.org/10.1080/15548732.2023.2299494.

Media Appearances/Speaking Engagements:

• Williams-Butler, A. (2024, March). Elevating the parenting strengths of Black mothers receiving child welfare services: Intersectionality informed research. Paper presentation at the Morehouse School of Medicine. Atlanta, Georgia.

• Williams-Butler, A. (2023, January). Intersectionality in health care settings: Exploring racialized gender differences in mental health service use among African American youth in the juvenile justice system. Paper presentation at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Grand Rounds Talk. Cincinnati, Ohio.

• 6. Williams-Butler, A. (2022, December). Preserving Family Bonds Act Teach-In. Lecture at Brooklyn Defender Services. Virtual Presentation.

Previous Organizations: 

• University of Michigan

Accomplishments:

• Advance, Engage, and Mentoring Early Career and Racial Equity (eCARE) Program

• Early Career Faculty Fellow, Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice

• Exemplary Inclusion, Intersectionality, Diversity, Equity, and Advancement (IIDEA) Research Recognition

Awards:

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality grant awarded in September 2024 to support the project “Centering the Needs of Black Children in Foster Care: Healthcare Utilization and Coordinated Medical Homes.” 

Upcoming Projects:

• Williams-Butler, A., Thiruvenkadam, N., Zuch, M., Nayak, N., & Beal., S. (In Preparation). Conceptualizing the intersectional mental health service use needs of Black youth in foster care using the ADDRESSING model.

• Williams-Butler, A., Taylor, E., Cunningham, S., Nartey, P., & Hamby, S. (In Preparation). Examining protective factors for rule violation among Black adolescents and young adults.

• Williams-Butler, A., Kang, X., Spitzer, B., Cruce, A., Ma, R., Jin, H., Moon, D., & Raghavan, R. (In Preparation). Examining the role of social support in shaping perceptions of adolescent well-being by ethnicity and sex in the UK.

One line of my research focuses on how the framework of intersectionality can be used to understand how race, gender, and class oppression have influenced the passing of key policies and practices that precipitated the overrepresentation of Black youth and families in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. My goal is to identify multi-level protective factors among youth and families to aid in addressing these disparities.

"Just Takes" is an Op-Ed/thought piece/writing initiative at the Institute for the Study of Global Racial Justice. Affiliated-faculty and Rutgers Researchers on Race can submit pieces of writing of 500 words or less pitched to orient their research towards a more public audience and/or as relevant for a current issue in the broad area of global racial justice. 

See Dr. Williams-Butler's "Just Take" -  Intersectionality and Structural Gendered Racism: Theoretical Considerations for Black Women, Children, and Families Impacted by Child Protective Services - here: https://globalracialjustice.rutgers.edu/Just-Takes

There is a long literature on the structural gendered racism which has resulted in the overrepresentation of Black women and children in the child welfare system. This research group uses intersectionality as a guiding framework to examine how race, gender, and class oppression influenced the passing of federal child welfare legislation that precipitated the overrepresentation of Black women, children, and families within the child welfare system. (Roberts, 2002; Roberts, 2012, Roberts, 2014). Their study takes this literature one step further by identifying the mechanisms of how coded language played a role in the passing of federal child welfare policies

https://globalracialjustice.rutgers.edu/what-we-do/research-groups-and-projects