Penelope Lee Maza

Penelope (Penny) Lee Maza was born January 4, 1946, a true baby boomer in every sense of the word. She was born at Saint Vincent's Hospital in Toledo, Ohio as the third child and second daughter of Harry and Gertrude Maza. She grew up surrounded by her extended family in a private neighborhood called Birckhead Place and attended Fulton Elementary School and Jesup Wakeman Scott High School in Toledo. Being a White minority in her African American majority high school, she was elected student body president. She went on to undergraduate studies at The Ohio State University (OSU) in Columbus, Ohio where her scholastic achievements included being inducted into the Mortar Board National Honor Society. She obtained a bachelor’s degree and went on to graduate school at OSU obtaining a doctorate (PhD) in sociology. She stayed there to teach until she received an opportunity at the new University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida. She moved there and became a professor of sociology. At USF she enhanced her feminist credentials when she became aware of being paid less then male professors with the same or lesser qualifications. Using legal means, she successfully received pay equal to that of her male peers. Eventually, she felt she was not meant to stay in academia and took a postdoc position with the federal government. There she found her true calling by providing data-driven solutions, processes, and support to States, tribes, and communities in their quest to improve the delivery of services and outcomes for children in our nation’s foster care system and their families.

Dr. Maza worked in the field of child welfare for over thirty years. The majority of this time was with the Federal government with the exception of her time as the Research Director of the Child Welfare League of America. Dr. Maza’s federal service was with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (the Department) Administration on Children and Families Children’s Bureau. The Children’s Bureau is responsible for providing leadership to and administering federal programs that support state child welfare services. During her time with the Children’s Bureau Dr. Maza provided management and oversight to discretionary grants that supported innovative programs, solutions and partnerships for states, tribes and communities seeking to improve services to children in care; input on child welfare policies and regulations designed to improve child welfare service delivery; and supported the development of the Department’s monitoring of State public child welfare agencies. Her contributions were significant, she was instrumental in the development and implementation of the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) a national data collection system for information on all children in foster care and children who have been adopted with state agency involvement. In the early 2000s she was also active in the development and implementation of the data component of the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR) which monitors state child welfare services to help States and tribes achieve positive outcomes for children and families. Additionally, she was responsible for the data methodology that supports the adoption incentives (which began in 1998 and was established in the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997) designed to increase the number of children in foster care who find permanent homes through adoption or legal guardianship).

While her time with the Department included management and policy duties her heart was in research and data. Dr. Maza’s contributions to the field of child welfare were focused on supporting and improving positive outcomes related to safety, well-being, and permanency for the hundreds of thousands of children in our nation’s public child welfare system. Dr. Maza’s contribution to the field of Child Welfare includes more than 50 publications and other work which have not only influenced the operation of State child welfare and other programs but has also had an impact on and been incorporated into federal legislation. After retirement in 2008 Penny found time for reading but remained interested in her chosen field. She was awarded a 2012 Centennial Adoption Excellence Award. She was recently quoted in a USA TODAY article, “Broken adoptions, buried records: How states are failing adoptees” by Aleszu Bajak and Marisa Kwiatkowski May 19, 2022.

She died peacefully December 30, 2023, surrounded by family. She performed her aunting duties with joy and love for her three nieces, two nephews, three nephews-in-law, one niece-in-law, six great-nieces, and two great-nephews. She also leaves behind her brother, sister-in-law, many cousins, and many dear friends, colleagues, and neighbors from all facets of her life from childhood through her senior years. Penny was most devoted to the cats she shared her home with over the 43 years she lived in the Nation’s Capital. She showered each with love and attention and went to her rest with them. Per her request, there is no formal funeral.