This week on From Sparks TO LIGHT we meet Gary Mallon, a fellow peregrino I met this summer while walking the Camino Primitivo in the north of Spain. As fellow east coasters, we bonded right away, and when I heard he was a social worker, I knew I had to have him on the podcast. I had so much fun talking to him about the work he’s done over the course of his career. He’s spent the better part of his life in the field of child welfare, working with kids in the foster care system. He’s warm, funny and really smart, and as climbed through the Cantabrian mountains this summer, the conversations we had made the kilometers zoom by.
Like me, Gary began his career in residential treatment, caring for children who could no longer live with their families, and also like me, his journey that began from his Catholic roots ignited a spark that fed his desire to make a difference in the lives of the children he met throughout his career. When I talked with him he was in Louisiana, doing work with the state’s child welfare system. If you listen carefully, you might hear a train or two passing by.
Gerald "Gary" Mallon is the Julia Lathrop Professor of Child Welfare and the former Senior Associate Dean of Scholarship and Research at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College in New York City.
For more than 46 years, Gary has been a child welfare practitioner, advocate, educator, and researcher. He is an internationally recognized expert on LGBTQ+ children, youth, and family issues particularly as they relate to child welfare and juvenile justice. His scholarship and practice has been recognized through multiple awards.
Gary is the author or editor of more than thirty-one books, several of which have been translated into Spanish, Japanese, French, and Italian. He has lectured and consulted extensively throughout the United States, and internationally. He earned his doctorate in Social Welfare from the City University of New York at Hunter College, holds an MSW from Fordham University and has a BSW from Dominican College.
He has been a foster parent and is the adoptive parent of now grown children. He lives with his husband, Martin and Bruno, his dog in New York City and New Orleans.
To learn more about Gary, check out his website: https://www.garymallon.com
Follow him on social media:
on Facebook @gary.mallon.79
On Instagram @geraldpmallon
On Twitter @mallong
To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of our theme music, please check out his website.
To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de Santiago.
Find Suzanne on Social Media
To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.
To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website.
To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de Santiago
Follow Suzanne on Social Media
This week on From Sparks TO LIGHT we meet Gary Mallon, a fellow peregrino I met this summer while walking the Camino Primitivo in the north of Spain. As fellow east coasters, we bonded right away, and when I heard he was a social worker, I knew I had to have him on the podcast. I had so much fun talking to him about the work he’s done over the course of his career. He’s spent the better part of his life in the field of child welfare, working with kids in the foster care system. He’s warm, funny and really smart, and as climbed through the Cantabrian mountains this summer, the conversations we had made the kilometers zoom by.
Like me, Gary began his career in residential treatment, caring for children who could no longer live with their families, and also like me, his journey that began from his Catholic roots ignited a spark that fed his desire to make a difference in the lives of the children he met throughout his career. When I talked with him he was in Louisiana, doing work with the state’s child welfare system. If you listen carefully, you might hear a train or two passing by.
Gerald "Gary" Mallon is the Julia Lathrop Professor of Child Welfare and the former Senior Associate Dean of Scholarship and Research at the Silberman School of Social Work at Hunter College in New York City.
For more than 46 years, Gary has been a child welfare practitioner, advocate, educator, and researcher. He is an internationally recognized expert on LGBTQ+ children, youth, and family issues particularly as they relate to child welfare and juvenile justice. His scholarship and practice has been recognized through multiple awards.
Gary is the author or editor of more than thirty-one books, several of which have been translated into Spanish, Japanese, French, and Italian. He has lectured and consulted extensively throughout the United States, and internationally. He earned his doctorate in Social Welfare from the City University of New York at Hunter College, holds an MSW from Fordham University and has a BSW from Dominican College.
He has been a foster parent and is the adoptive parent of now grown children. He lives with his husband, Martin and Bruno, his dog in New York City and New Orleans.
To learn more about Gary, check out his website: https://www.garymallon.com
Follow him on social media:
on Facebook @gary.mallon.79
On Instagram @geraldpmallon
On Twitter @mallong
To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of our theme music, please check out his website.
To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de Santiago.
Find Suzanne on Social Media
To learn more about Robert Maggio, the composer of "Where Love is Love," our theme music, please check out his website.
To learn more about Suzanne, visit her website.
To learn more about the inspiration for this podcast, please check out Suzanne's memoir, Estrellas - Moments of Illumination Along El Camino de Santiago
Follow Suzanne on Social Media