Jane received an M.A. in Family Social Science from the University of Minnesota in 2008 and a B.S. in Social Work, with a minor in Parent Education, from St. Cloud State University in 1992. Jane is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Family Social Science. Her early work focused on child abuse prevention, early childhood family education, and early intervention for children's mental health. In the last few years her work with families who adopt older children from foster care prompted her return to graduate school. Jane is interested in adoptive family formation of older youth (13 -17), how personality dispositions influence familial communication, as well as the process of emancipation for foster youth who age out of foster care.
