Professor Zoe Kessler receives Fulbright to conduct research in Latvia

Salem State University Social Work Professor Zoe Kessler was awarded a grant through the Fulbright Scholars Program for her research on the de-institutionalization of social care in Latvia.

By 2024, Latvia is scheduled to close all orphanages and institutional care for individuals with disabilities and shift to a home and foster care model. Kessler has been in Latvia since January 2023 interviewing policy experts, service providers, and other experts about the plan.

Kessler highlights the need for data on the impact of deinstitutionalization, particularly as other former Soviet bloc countries plan to implement similar policies.

“The research from this study will provide a new dimension to the established body of knowledge on children growing up in the social care system and would be one of the most comprehensive research projects on deinstitutionalization in Latvia,” said Kessler. “The outcomes of this study have the potential to impact the life trajectories of children and families in Latvia and beyond.”

Kessler said being awarded the Fulbright had an impact on her both personally and professionally, as a social work professor focusing on practice as well as the parent of a daughter that Kessler and her husband adopted in Latvia in 2014.

Kessler hopes to publish her findings after she analyzes her research when returning home in July. 

While in Latvia, Kessler is also completing a second project that examines the lives of young adults there who grew up in orphanages. This type of research, known as the Photo Voice Method involves participants photographing different things that express their identity.

“The goal is to inform people on the multifaceted lives of kids that grow up in care,” Kessler said. “The photos that are taken show their identity as young adults, what they are passionate about, what they do for work, everything.”

The photos will then be exhibited in May at Riga Stradins University in Latvia, Kessler added. She hopes to also bring the Photo Voice exhibit to Salem State, too. “I hope this research will have a positive impact,” she said.

Kessler is among three Salem State University faculty members who received Fulbright Awards during the 2022-2023 academic year. She is joined by Professor of History Michele Louro, who is in India conducting research related to the Red Scare, and Bertolon School of Business Professor John McArdle, who traveled to Kosovo as part of the Fulbright Specialist Program to help a university strengthen its economics program.