Douglas J. Besharov is the Joseph J. and Violet Jacobs Scholar in Social Welfare Studies at the American Enterprise Institute. He is also a professor at the University of Marlyand's School of Public Policy and the project director of its Welfare Reform Academy. He teaches courses on family policy, welfare reform, evaluation, and the implementation of social policy.
From 1991 to 1992, he served as the administrator of the AEI/White House Working Seminar on Integrated Services for Children and Families, a project designed to improve the delivery of services to disadvantaged children and their families. From 1975 to 1979, he was the first director of the U.S. National Center on Child Abuse and Neglect. Before this, he served as executive director of the New York State Assembly's Select Committee on Child Abuse.
His most recent book is Rethinking WIC: An Evaluation of the Women, Infants and Children Program, co-authored with Peter Germanis. He is also the author of Recognizing Child Abuse: A Guide for the Concerned, published by the Free Press. In addition, Mr. Besharov has written over 150 articles, and contributes to the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and The American Enterprise magazine.
