Sarah Font is an associate professor of sociology and public policy. Her research focuses on child abuse and neglect, child protection, foster care, health and wellbeing, social policy, and state intervention. Font is currently working on a project investigating the impact of foster care and specific experiences within foster care, on the physical and mental health of children exposed to abuse or neglect.

Her most recent book, Foster Care and “Best Interests of the Child”: Integrating Research, Policy, and Practice, was published in 2020. Font has been featured in the Chicago Tribune and USA Today. Recent peer-reviewed publications include JAMA Pediatrics, Annual Review of Criminology, and Development and Psychopathology.

Before coming to Penn State, Font was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Texas at Austin. She holds a doctoral degree in social welfare from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from Western Michigan University.