E. Kitch Childs

E. Kitch Childs (April 11, 1937 – January 10, 1993) was a significant American clinical psychologist and an activist known for her participation in the women's liberation movement in North America during the "second wave" of feminism during the 1960s and 70s. Through this work she advocated for minority women, prostitutes, gays and lesbians. She was a founding member of the University of Chicago's Gay Liberation and the first African American woman to earn her doctorate degree in Human Development at the University of Chicago.

Education Childs attended the University of Pittsburgh, and she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. She was so brilliant academically that she accomplished this during her early teen years.

Career After her graduation, Childs joined the United States Navy. As Childs prepared to enter the workforce, intense societal shifts were occurring. Many of these changes "were tied directly or indirectly to the writings, activism, and therapy done by feminist psychotherapists. "

In 1973, she started her first private practice in Oakland, California where she worked as a clinical psychologist for 17 years. During this time, Childs worked to establish her practice and steady clientele. She focused on inclusive, patient-centered care. An integral part of this was using a sliding scale payment method to limit barriers to her services. It was known that Childs would not charge certain clients for sessions.

Association for Women in Psychology Childs was a founding member of the Association for Women in Psychology (AWP). Childs as well as her two cofounders, Phyllis Chesler and Dorothy Riddle, formed the AWP in order to address the lack of organized research into the psychology of women. Initially the AWP was a group of female psychologists and activists who advocated within the American Psychological Association (APA) in order to address the grievances of female clients, psychologists, and councilors. Childs utilized this platform to advocate for marginalized women, namely black women and lesbians. In addition, she called for the APA to influence changes in the way these groups area treated in the fields of banking, medicine, legal issues, and education systems. She recognized that access to quality psychological services was disproportionately available to these marginalized groups. By 1973 the AWP had accomplished enough credited research into the psychology of women that it became recognized as "Division 35" of the APA.

Activism Childs was a lesbian, and an activist in queer, women's and Black spaces.

She was a founding member of the University of Chicago's Chicago Lesbian Liberation along with Vernita Gray and Michal Brody. At the time, the organization was named Women's Caucus of Chicago Gay Liberation. The organization helped organize the first pride in Chicago in 1970. She provided therapy for LGBTQ individuals, particularly those with AIDS. Childs was inducted into the Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame in 1993. This honor was given in recognition of her efforts to dismantle the American Psychiatric Association's position on homosexuality, which was listed as a psychological disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders until 1973.

Later life Only three years after moving to Amsterdam, Childs passed away due to heart failure in 1993.

Representative publications Childs, E. K. (1966). Careers in the Military Service: A Review of the Literature. National Opinion Research Center, University of Chicago. Childs, E. K. (1972). Prediction of Outcome in Encounter Groups: Outcome as a Function of Selected Personality Correlates (Doctoral dissertation, University of Chicago, Committee on Human Development). Childs, E. K. (1976). An Annotated Bibliography on Prison Health Care. Prisoners' Health Project, San Francisco General Hospital Medical Center. Childs, E. K. (1990). Therapy, feminist ethics, and the community of color with particular emphasis on the treatment of Black women. In H. Lerman & N. Porter (Eds.), Feminist ethics in psychotherapy (p. 195–203). Springer Publishing Company.