Preparing Social Work Students for Child Welfare Careers: The Use of Title IV-E Training Funds in Social Work Education

Abstract

Child welfare agencies are seeking ways to improve the competency of their staff. As a result of partnership efforts between social work education programs and public child welfare agencies, an increasing number of BSW and MSW programs have accessed Title IV-E training funds to support the social work education of current and potential child welfare workers. This article reports on a survey of the use of this funding stream in social work education. It identifies (1) trends in its use, (2) characteristics of programs that do and do not receive funding, and (3) the impact of this funding source on social work education. The findings also reflect on the impact of use of Title IV-E funds on child welfare training in the United States.

Twenty-Five Years of the Children's Bureau Investment in Social Work Education

“…This study is a follow up to Zlotnik's original study of IV-E stipend programs in 1996 (Zlotnik & Cornelius, 2000), which found 29 states being served by 68 university-agency partnerships, as well as to the subsequent Pierce (2003) study which found 40 states were being served by 85 programs. The question was to see if more programs had emerged a few years past the Pierce study and to describe how these operate.…”

“…The purpose of such specialization is to recruit more social workers into the field and to prepare them to engage in best practices in the profession (Rheaume, Collins, & Amodeo, 2011;U.S. GAO, 2003;Zlotnik & Cornelius, 2000;Zlotnik, 2003). Some programs fund their students by working with their state child welfare agencies to draw down IV-E training funds (e.g., Kentucky), while other programs fund their students by obtaining 426 grants from the Children's Bureau to fund stipends for students.…”

Status of the Use of Title IV-E Funding in BSW and MSW Programs

“…Funding from Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, created by the Child Welfare and Adoption Assistance Act of 1980 , has become an important source of support for educating social workers for child welfare practice (Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2003;Pierce, 2003;Zlotnik & Cornelius, 2000;Zlotnik, 2003). Title IV-E funds provide a 75% federal match ''for the training (including both short-term training and long-term training at educational institutions, through state grants to the institutions or by direct financial assistance to students enrolled in such institutions) of personnel employed or preparing for employment by the state agency or by the local agency administering the state Title IV-E state plan'' (Children's Bureau, 2013).…”

Title IV‐E Programs: Preparing MSW Students for Public Child Welfare Practice

“…It has been shown that establishing formal interorganizational relationships between schools of social work and field agencies can result in more challenging student programs and more reciprocal activities (Bogo & Globerman, 1999). In most Title IV-E partnerships, students sign a legallybinding contract to work for the agency for a specified amount of time, usually one to two years, upon graduation (Gansle & Ellett, 2002;Lewandowski, 1998;Zlotnik & Cornelius, 2000). However, the goal of Title IV-E programs is to prepare students for PCW and to retain these highly-qualified and skilled child welfare workers at the agency long past their commitment period.…”

“…The available research suggests that most Title IV-E child welfare training programs successfully train MSWs to meet the needs of PCW (Scannapieco & Connell-Corrick, 2003;Zlotnik, 2002;Zlotnik & Cornelius, 2000). There is also evidence that Title IV-E MSW social workers are more likely to remain on the job (Okamura & Jones, 1999;Rosenthal & Waters, 2006) and may bring with them better skills (Okamura & Jones, 1999;Scannapieco & Connell-Corrick, 2003) than non-Title IV-E workers.…”