DOJ Graduate Research Assistant
Contact Information
Email: mlhiggins1@crimson.ua.edu
Office: 110 Farrah Hall
Phone: 205-541-6754
Areas of Interest and Expertise
- Child Sexual Abuse
- Foster Care
- Human Trafficking
- Trauma and Child Development
Education
- AAS, Business Finance, Jefferson State Junior College
- BBSW, The University of Alabama at Birmingham
Bio
Melody is married with seven children. She and her husband have been foster parents for the past nine years, and during that time, they adopted four of their children through foster care. She is currently working on her MSW degree at The University of Alabama. She has worked as a research assistant at The University of Alabama at Birmingham and for the past two years she has volunteered with Blanket Fort Hope, where she developed a training program on fostering victims of domestic minor human trafficking. She is completing a research paper titled: “A Qualitative Study on the Success of Prior Residents of a Faith-Based Group Home.” Melody has devoted her life to working with children in foster care at home and abroad, victims of human trafficking, along with supporting and advocating for all the oppressed.