Photo courtesy of University of Alabama
191004_Debbi_Land
Debbi Austin Land of Hoover, Alabama, and Paul Vincent, a native of Montgomery, Alabama, were inducted into the Alabama Social Work Hall of Fame on Friday, October 4, 2019, at the Tuscaloosa River Market in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
Hoover resident Debbi Austin Land, the former director of the Clay House, a children’s advocacy center in Bessemer, recently was inducted into the Alabama Social Work Hall of Fame.
Land, who is recognized as a leader in advocacy for Alabama’s abused and neglected children, spent 21 years in full-time social work before retiring in 2015. In addition to being director of the Bessemer Area Cutoff Children’s Advocacy Center, also known as the Clay House, she served as clinical director of the Prescott House Child Advocacy Center in Bessemer.
Land also served as coordinator of Jefferson County’s child death review team and as a forensic interview training assistant for the National Child Advocacy Center in Huntsville.
“I interviewed over 3,000 children during my career, and all were a part of my heart,” she said.
Land graduated from Jacksonville High School in 1971 and earned her bachelor’s degree from Jacksonville State University in 1974. She received her master’s degree in social work from the University of Alabama in 1993.
She credited former Alabama School of Social Work faculty, particularly Gregory Skibinski, for helping steer her career toward child advocacy.
“I didn’t know what I wanted to do [in social work] until graduate school. I’d never heard of a child advocacy center,” Land said. “I’m very appreciative of the faculty at UA and the doors they opened for me and other students.”
Internships at child advocacy centers in the 1990s were scarce, Land said, so she worked continually to provide student internships at both the Prescott House and Clay House.
The other person inducted into the Alabama Social Work Hall of Fame in October was Paul Vincent, founder and former director of the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group. Vincent, a native of Montgomery, had a career in social work for more than 50 years, including 23 years as head of the Child Welfare Policy and Practice Group.
