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University of Minnesota Title IV-E Child Welfare Training Program
The Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare
(CASCW) in the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota was established in
1992 with Title IV-E ( Social Security Act) and matching foundation funds in
response to a nation-wide call for improvements to child welfare training
and public child welfare services . Title IV-E primarily reimburses
states for their expenses in providing out-of-home placement costs for children
removed from their homes due to abuse or neglect. The legislation also allows
states to contract to provide education and training to improve the quality
of services provided by the child welfare workforce.
In 2001, the Center provided technical assistance to the University of Minnesota - Duluth
campus to develop and operate its own Title IV-E training program. The two
campuses coordinate their activities, but specialize in different topic areas,
reflecting the needs and characteristics of their local communities. In 2004,
the Minnesota Child Welfare System's Area Training Center , which provides
training to current county child welfare workers, was incorporated into the
Center. All of these efforts are funded in part with Title IV-E funding.
University Training
Approximately 70 Master of Social Work (MSW) students per year are
supported at the two University of Minnesota campuses,
as well as a small number of doctoral students. Students accepting support
through the Title IV-E program must agree to work in public child welfare
upon graduation for a period of time equal to the amount of time they received
Title IV-E support. Special curriculum, learning opportunities and
internships have been developed for Title IV-E funded students. We provide
specific field integrative classes and special child welfare topic seminars
for Title IV-E students and support services to help these students through
their graduate education experience. Training child welfare workers to think
critically about the system in which they work is a major goal and a means
through which the Center works toward system change. A major challenge
facing the Center and the field of child welfare is the over-representation
of children of color in the public child welfare system in Minnesota . To
address the issue, both programs recruit a diverse group of applicants and
provide specialized support to students once they accepted, as well as emphasizing
cultural competence in their curricula and student internship experiences. Starting
this year, the Center is coordinating a program for Baccalaureate-level social
work students (BSW) at five state universities to increase the number of
Title IV-E trained rural child welfare workers. The Center also
provides forums and conferences for current child welfare workers, publishes
newsletters aimed at practitioners, and is expanding its website.
Impact
Since the program's inception , 314 Child Welfare
Scholars with MSW degrees have graduated and gone on to work in child welfare . A
follow-up study of graduates found that the vast majority (93%) remained
in child welfare, even after their employment requirement ended, and many
have gone on to leadership positions. These findings are consistent
with the experience of university training programs in others states, which
have found the majority (80%) of Title IV-E trained social workers remaining
in a field that traditionally has a high rate of costly turnover. A
2003 G.A.O. report highlighted the importance of a "stable and highly skilled
child welfare workforce" to achieving federal goals, noting that BSW and
MSW trained workers had higher job performance and lower turnover rates that
workers without this training.
The Child Welfare Scholar program consistently recruits, admits and graduates
a much higher percentage of students of color than the University as a whole
or is found in the state's public child welfare workforce. Fifty-percent
of the MSW graduates from the Title IV-E Twin Cities Campus are people of color;
67% of new students this year are students of color. The UMD
Title IV-E center is nationally known for its American Indian Program, with
its emphasis on regional and tribal child welfare services. The Twin
Cities programs operates two distance sites at Rochester and Moorhead , increasing
the number of graduate-level trained staff in rural areas.
The Center publishes practice- and policy-oriented newsletters, holds forums
and seminars, provides web-based information, and develops new child welfare
curricula. With university funds, we have established a child welfare data
project to better understand what happens to children in the child welfare
system and, this spring, we will try to bring together policy makers, practitioners
and researchers in an ongoing dialogue to address issues facing adolescents
in the child welfare system. We work with a wide network of community-based
organizations, universities, county and state agencies, in order to be responsive
to needs identified by those in close contact with the system.
Funding Structure and Issues
The university provides the matching funding that draw down the Title IV-E
funds. The federal financial participation rate for the student portion of
the program is 75%; once the 'penetration rate' is applied, the match rate
for the Minnesota program is approximately 50:50 for eligible activities. A
bill introduced last session (the Child SAFE Act--HF 4856 (Herger), and expected
to be introduced again this year, would substantially change the Title IV-E
program funding structure. As the Pew Commission report documented,
there is a real need to expand the flexibility of the basic program (which
funds out-of-home placements) so that states can serve a wider array of families
and provide more early intervention services. However, as currently drafted,
the changes proposed would likely not achieve the goal of improved services,
and would make it very difficult for states to continue to support university
training programs. We recommend creating a separate funding stream
for training (based on current funding levels), and giving the states increased
flexibility over the services they can provide to families with Title IV-E
funds. If future funding is capped, inflationary and caseload adjustments should
automatically occur.
For More Information
- Marcie Jefferys, Director, CASCW, 612-624-2279
- Jean K. Quam, Director, School of Social Work, 612-624-3719,
- Johanna Garrison, Acting Director, UMD Project, 218-726-8621; jgarriso@d.umn.edu
- John Engelen, University of Minnesota Director of Federal Relations, 612-626-8287;
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