Hollee McGinnis
Email: hamcginnis@vcu.edu
Phone: (804) 828-5411
Pronouns: She/her
Hollee A. McGinnis, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the VCU School of Social Work. She is interested in promoting children’s mental health and well-being, informing socially just child welfare and alternative care systems, and global social work. Her research broadly examines the social and cultural determinants of children’s mental health and well-being, with a specific focus on improving outcomes across the life span for children with histories of early childhood adversity and child welfare involvement in the U.S. and globally.
This research interest is informed by her post-M.S.W. training in children’s mental health at the Yale Child Study Center and work as the policy director at the Donaldson Adoption Institute and founder of the nonprofit organization for adult intercountry adoptees and adoptive families, Also-Known-As, Inc.
Most recently, Dr. McGinnis completed a mixed-methods study funded by U.S. Fulbright and Korea Foundation centered on identifying risk and protective factors associated with mental health and academic outcomes among adolescents residing in orphanages in South Korea.
She was also a research affiliate on a CDC-funded multiyear randomized-controlled trial adapting, implementing and evaluating a trauma-based intervention, Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS), for adolescent girls involved in the child welfare system (Auslander, PI) through the Brown School’s Center for Violence and Injury Prevention.
Another aspect of Dr. McGinnis’ research focuses on the intersectionality of race, culture and adoption. At the Donaldson Adoption Institute, she led a study funded by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Beyond Culture Camp: Promoting Healthy Identity Formation in Adoption [PDF], on adoptive and racial identity development among same-race and transracial and transnationally adopted adults in the U.S.
Currently, Dr. McGinnis’ lab, Collaborative on Adoption & Alternative Care Research, is actively researching adult outcomes among U.S. adoptees, and exploring how connections with adopted peers appear through formal and informal networks contribute to mental health, physical health and well-being later on in life.
Areas of expertise
- Adolescent and Youth Mental Health
- Child Welfare Policies and Practices
- Transracial and Intercountry Adoption
- International Social Work and Global Issues
- Race and Ethnicity
Education and credentials
Ph.D., Washington University in St. Louis
Post-M.S.W. clinical fellowship, Yale University
M.S.S.W., Columbia University
B.A., Mount Holyoke College
Work
Selected publications
McGinnis, H.A. (2021). Expanding the concept of birthparent loss to orphans: Exploratory findings from adolescents in institutional care in South Korea. New Ideas in Psychology, 63, 100892.
McGinnis, H.A. (2021). Mental health and well-being of Korean adoptees over the life course. In Anderson Yoon, Sung Seek Mon, & Haein Son (Eds.), Understanding Korean Americans’ Mental Health: A Guide to Culturally Competent Practices, Program Developments, and Policies. Lexington Books: The Roman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
Cage, J.D., Coles, D.C, McGinnis, H., Yoon, S., & Pitts, B.E. (2020). Validating the factor structure of the drug-free schools and communities scale for child welfare involved youth. Journal of Public Child Welfare.
Auslander, W., Edmond, T., Foster, A., Smith, P., McGinnis, H., Gerke, D., Tlapek, S., Threlfall, J., Voth Schrag, R., Dunn, J., & Jonson-Reid, M. (2020). Cognitive behavioral intervention for trauma in adolescent girls in child welfare: A randomized controlled trial. Children and Youth Services Review, 119, 1-11.
Cage, J., Yoon, S., Barnhart, S., Coles, C., McGinnis, H., & Starns, A*. (2019) Measuring school engagement for child welfare involved youth: Assessing the dimensionality of the Drug-Free School Scale. Child Abuse & Neglect, 92, 85-92.
Threlfall, J.M., Auslander, W., Gerke, D., McGinnis, H., & Myers-Tlapek, S. (2017). Mental health and school functioning of girls with histories of abuse and neglect: The mediating role of future orientation and school engagement. School Mental Health, 9 (2), 194-204.
Auslander, W., McGinnis, H., Myers Tlapek, S., Smith, P., Foster, A., & Dunn, J. (2017). Adaptation and implementation of a cognitive-behavioral intervention for trauma for girls in child welfare. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 87 (3), 206-215. (ePub December 15, 2016).
Fong, R., McRoy, R., & McGinnis, H. (2016). Intercountry adoptions: Overview. In Fong, R. & McRoy, R., (Eds.), Transracial and Intercountry Adoptions. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
McRoy, R., Griffin, A., & McGinnis, H. (2016). Transracial adoptions: Overview and legal and policy issues. Transracial and Intercountry Adoptions. New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Baden, A.L., Gibbons, J.L., Wilson, S.L., & McGinnis, H. (2014). Pre- and post-adoption counselling needs in international adoption: Understanding the social ecology of triad members. In Ballard, R. L., Goodno, N. H., Cochran, Jr., R. F., & Milbrandt, J. A. (Eds.), The Intercountry Adoption Debate: Dialogues Across Disciplines. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Baden, A., Wilson, S., Gibbons, J., & McGinnis, H. (2013). International adoption: Counseling the adoption triad. Adoption Quarterly, 16 (3-4), 218-237.
McGinnis, H. (2012). All grown up: Rise of the Korean adult adoptee movement and implications for practice. In Judith L. Gibbons and Karen Smith Rotabi (Eds.), Intercountry Adoption: Policies, Practices and Outcomes. London: Ashgate.
Proctor, E. K., Powell, B. J., & McGinnis, H. (2011). Implementation Science and Practice. Oxford Bibliographies Online: Social Work.
McGinnis, H. (2006). From the ashes of war: Lessons from 50 years of Korean international adoption. In Rafael Art Javier, Amanda L. Baden, Frank A. Biafora, Alina Camacho-Gingerich (Eds.), Handbook of Adoption: Implications for Researchers, Practitioners, and Families. New York: Sage Publications.
McGinnis, H. (2006). Korea and adoption. In Kathy Sheperd Stolley and Vern L. Bullough (Eds.), The Praeger Handbook of Adoption. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.
McGinnis, H. (2006). The search for identity in adoption: understanding the meaning of one’s life. In Jean MacLeod & Sheena Macrae (Eds.), Adoption Parenting: Creating a Toolbox, Building Connections (pp. 452-457). Warren, NJ: EMK Press.
McGinnis, H. (2003, Spring). Adult Korean intercountry adoptees: A resource for adoption practice. Columbia University Journal of Student Social Work, 1 (1), 8-14.