Since 2004, visiting international scholar Reginaldo Torres Alves Jr. has been closely studying the history of child welfare in his native country Brazil. Alves works as a psychologist at Brazil’s Child and Juvenile Court in Brasilia and is also a doctoral student studying with the clinical and culture psychology program at the Universidade de Brasilia.

After coming to the University of Alabama with his family a month ago to study with Debra Nelson-Gardell, an associate professor for the School of Social Work whose research focuses on forensic interviews with abused children — the two have been working together to examine the assessment techniques of abused children used in the U.S. and in Brazil.

“Part of our evaluations in Brazil is based on Dr. Nelson-Gardell’s articles regarding the assessment of the likelihood of children’s disclosure regarding the violence in her articles regarding the extended forensic interview model,” Alves said.

After being contacted last year by the Executive Director of the National Children’s Advocacy Center to host Alves’ visit to the UA campus, Nelson-Gardell became intrigued with the opportunity to compare research. She claims that the two also share an interest in qualitative analysis of forensic interview data.

“Once I communicated with Reginaldo, our conversation convinced me that both of our work, along with the School of Social Work community, would benefit from his coming to UA for us to work together,” Nelson-Gardell said. “He is learning from me and I am learning from him. I’ve come to appreciate the role of culture on a deeper level as a result of our work together.”

In addition to assisting Alves in his dissertation research by serving as an external to his home University’s dissertation committee, Nelson-Gardell will collaborate with Alves on a research paper comparing their countries’ forensic research practices.

Alves, who plans to stay at UA until July, also came to the University because of its connection to Alabama’s Child Advocacy Center in Huntsville. While there, he has been able to view interview processes firsthand.

Alves is scheduled to host a lecture on Brazilian child welfare today at noon in Little Hall. Dr. Nelson-Gardell will be there to assist him and will speak about U.S. child welfare on a stand-by basis.

“I’m going to talk about the history of the child welfare system in Brazil, since its early days in the 16th century and how our history shapes the way the protective institutions in my country deal today with child sexual abuse,” Alves told UA News. “In the seminar, people may have an appreciation of the cultural differences in the ways other societies dealt with children’s rights and the violations of their rights.”