Bender is the director of the Center for Child Welfare in the Department of Social Welfare at the UCLA School of Public Affairs. The Center on Child Welfare is an innovative university-agency training collaboration between the UCLA campus and one of the largest child welfare agencies in the nation and world, the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS.)

 

A licensed clinical social worker and an attorney in the state of California, she has extensive background in family and child welfare issues, particularly in conjunction with the Center’s work in designing, delivering and evaluating training programs for employees of DCFS and students entering the field of child welfare.

 

Prior to her work at the Center for Child Welfare, she served as the director of Stuart House, a public/private partnership staffed by deputy district attorneys, law enforcement investigators, child advocates, therapists, physicians and volunteers who provide services for suspected victims of sexual abuse.