Pelton, Leroy H.

DIRECT QUOTE: email from UNLV Official to UNLV community Dec 16, 2016: "The UNLV School of Social Work faculty and staff are saddened by the news of the passing of Leroy Pelton, Professor Emeritus of the School of Social Work. An advocate for children’s welfare and the homeless, he was well respected both on campus and in the community, and he will be missed dearly. Our sincere condolences go out to his family and friends, his former colleagues, and the many students he taught during his tenure.

Dr. Pelton was a professor in the UNLV School of Social Work at UNLV from 1997 to 2013. An expert on child welfare and social welfare policy, Dr. Pelton taught previously at Salem State (MA), the University of Tennessee, and Rutgers, among others.

Dr. Pelton was one of the most influential scholars in child welfare research in the 20th century. He wrote prolifically and passionately about child welfare for over 25 years, from his seminal work, “For reasons of poverty: A critical analysis of the public child welfare system in the United States” (1989), up until work published this year in the journal Child Abuse & Neglect. With three additional books and numerous articles, Dr. Pelton advocated for changing child-protection focused systems prevalent across the United States and Canada to family preservation systems. He argued against laws, policies and systems that are structured to blame parents for situations that are often outside their control, such as poverty and the lack of both social supports and prevention services.

Dr. Leroy H. Pelton joined the School of Social Work at UNLV as Professor and Director from 1997-1998, coming as Professor Emeritus of the School of Social Work at Salem State College in Massachusetts. Dr. Pelton received his Ph.D. in psychology in 1966 from Wayne State University in Detroit. He received his M.A. in psychology from the New School for Social Research in New York, and an MSW from the Rutgers University School of Social Work.

During his tenure at UNLV School of Social Work, Dr. Pelton primarily taught social welfare and child welfare policy courses, not only in the School, but also in the Honors College and the Ph.D. program in public affairs in the Greenspun College of Urban Affairs. Prior to his academic career, Dr. Pelton worked from 1975 to 1981 for the New Jersey Division of Youth and Family Services, first as Program Development Specialist in the Bureau of Research, Planning, and Program Development, and then as Special Assistant to the Director of the Division."