A video excerpt of a November symposium, Supervision: The Safety Net for Front-Line Child Welfare Practice, is available on the NASW Foundation’s Social Work Policy Institute’s website.

The video features the first two hours of the meeting, with eight presentations by child welfare and workforce experts.

The website also includes a full report and action brief from the symposium and the opportunity to earn 2.0 CEs upon successful completion of an online post-test.

“Working with the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute and Casey Family Programs, along with NASW’s Center for Workforce Studies, we wanted to make this available so that schools and chapters can use this video in classes and for continuing education programs,” said Joan Levy Zlotnik, SWPI director.

The symposium gathered social work experts in the field, including agency directors and supervisors who work in the real world of child welfare, Zlotnik noted.

“This event helped build upon NASW’s child welfare advocacy efforts,” she said. “We encourage people to look at the video and the report that includes examples, strategies and details on the research that was discussed.”

Representatives from child welfare research, policy and practice, social work education and child welfare training discussed the critical roles of supervisors in child welfare services.

The need for increased attention to child welfare recently made headlines in Michigan. In February, the state’s Department of Human Services said it will hire more than 500 graduates to work in children’s protective, foster care, adoption and juvenile services to improve the system.

The NASW Michigan Chapter’s executive director, Maxine Thome, said child welfare is the foundation of social work . Since the hiring announcement, she said, “we are receiving calls from new graduates and social workers who are unemployed and seeking information about the DHS recruiting efforts.”