Evaluation Research in Child Welfare

Book excerpt: Since the 1980s, child welfare agencies and social work programs in more than 40 states have come together to address recruitment and retention issues by preparing social work students for child welfare practice—and to enhance the delivery of child welfare services. This book documents the outcomes of these partnerships to help you assess their value and sustainability! Evaluation Research in Child Welfare: Improving Outcomes Through University-Public Agency Partnerships is a critical examination of the diverse outcomes—and strategies for assessing them—of university/public child welfare agency partnerships designed to prepare social work students for public child welfare practice. This informative book addresses outcomes of these specialized training efforts which were supported by federal Title IV-E and Title IV-B Section 426 funds. Special attention is paid to programs addressing diversity and cultural competence through staff development. The book follows the process of tracking the career paths of students in several states (large and small, rural and urban), as well as cross-state collaborations that include university, agency, consumer, and student partnerships. From the Editors: “Rising drug problems such as crack and cocaine addiction, along with co-occurring challenges such as poverty, domestic violence, and mental health issues, have helped to reinforce the need to have the most effective services delivered by the most well-prepared staff. Moreover, such challenges compel the most relevant, scientifically based approaches, requiring a closer connection of public child welfare systems to social work education programs and related academic disciplines. The articles featured in this book serve as progress markers for this re-professionalization initiative. They constitute snapshots of some of the current progress in workforce development, including social work based education, training, and capacity building in public child welfare. They also reflect social work/public child welfare partnerships and the lessons that are being learned when the research, educational, and service resources of schools of social work are harnessed to build a better trained work force that can provide improved services.” In this informative book, you'll find a national overview of historical efforts to promote professional social work practice in child welfare, as well as examinations of: special challenges presented by privatized systems curricula and agencies training opportunities that grow from research partnerships the importance and impact of racial and ethnic diversity for future social workers the cultural competency needs of BSW and MSW students the differing cultural perspectives of universities and agencies—which must be bridged to create successful partnerships the benefits of these partnerships in terms of outcomes for students, clients, agencies, and social work education programs