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To advance the education of the public child welfare workforce, the California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC) has developed a contract for a Title IV-E BSW program. Similar to the existing Title IV-E MSW program, this federally funded initiative will provide specialized education in child welfare at the undergraduate level. Consistent with the accreditation standards of the Council on Social Work Education, the program will include at least 400 hours of field placement, spread over two consecutive semesters or three school quarters.
This project was designed in response to expressed county need. In a number of regions in the state, particularly in rural areas, social services and child welfare staff may lack college degrees and/or specialized social work education. By making the Title IV-E support available at the undergraduate level, CalSWEC plans to enhance the educational opportunities for county employees and others who wish to enter the field of public child welfare. The BSW program, which will begin its Phase I in fiscal year 2004–05, is intended to complement, not replace, the existing Title IV-E MSW. In 2003, a taskforce composed of social work faculty, state agency leaders, and CalSWEC Title IV-E project coordinators began meeting to shape the program, devise a set of curriculum competencies tailored to the BSW level, and make recommendations to the CalSWEC Board of Directors.
Due to the current budgetary uncertainty in the state, the project will be rolled out slowly, with a very limited number of participating schools during Phase I. Building on the experience of Phase I, CalSWEC expects that additional schools will have the opportunity to participate over the following two years. Through the process of careful incremental growth, CalSWEC’s intent is to implement an effective, high-quality Title IV-E BSW program.
The BSW Curriculum Competencies that follow resulted from the efforts of the BSW Taskforce and Competencies Subcommittee. Working from the existing curriculum competencies for the MSW level, the subcommittee drafted the Foundation BSW Competencies. The BSW competencies were then accepted by the taskforce as a whole and approved by the CalSWEC board in August 2003.
Like the MSW competencies, the newly adopted BSW competencies will be woven into training models for ongoing professional development in California’s Regional Child Welfare Training Academies. As part of an emerging continuum of competencies and knowledge related both to in-service training and social work education, future revisions of the BSW competencies will be linked to a common core of knowledge, values, and skills shared by public child welfare professionals throughout California.
California Child Welfare Curriculum Principles
1. Every child has a right to a permanent home for his or her care and upbringing.
2. A caring family is the best and least restrictive environment for raising children.
3. A wide range of parenting practices, varying as result of ethnic, cultural, community, and familial differences, can provide adequate care for children.
4. The goal of child welfare is to promote the health and safety of children and their development toward a positive, productive adulthood.
5. In the circumstances of danger to a child, the state has a right to intervene in family affairs to protect the child. In such circumstances the safety of the child takes precedence over the rights of the parents.
6. Every reasonable effort should be made to preserve and strengthen a child’s existing family before an alternative placement is considered.
7. Services must be available, accessible, timely, and effective.
Foundation Competencies
I. Ethnic Sensitive and Multicultural Practice
A working knowledge of and sensitivity to the dynamics of ethnic and cultural differences are at the core of child welfare services. Culturally competent practice acknowledges that an individual’s culture is an integral part of overall development and selfhood and strives to use concepts of culture in a manner that enhances individual and family functioning. Given the increasingly diverse service population, cultural competency and understanding of the cultural norms of California’s major ethnic groups should be a criterion for competent performance throughout the curriculum. This section includes foundation knowledge, values, and skills for culturally competent child welfare practice.
1.1 Student demonstrates sensitivity to clients’ differences in culture, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.
1.2 Student demonstrates the ability to conduct an ethnically and culturally sensitive assessment of a child and family and to develop an appropriate intervention plan.
1.3 Student demonstrates understanding of the importance of a client’s primary language and supports its use in providing child welfare assessment and intervention services.
1.4 Student demonstrates understanding of the influence and value of traditional, culturally based childrearing practices and uses this knowledge in working with families.
1.5 Student demonstrates the ability to collaborate with individuals, groups, community-based organizations, and government agencies to advocate for equitable access to culturally sensitive resources and services.
II. Core Child Welfare Practice
This category includes the foundation knowledge and skills for practice of social work in any setting with an emphasis on practice in child welfare. Content in this foundation category covers interviewing, assessment, and intervention, with special attention to problems and concerns related to child protection and family preservation. Students learn to work collaboratively and to apply a strengths perspective in an environmental context. Students are able to evaluate child and family information, take appropriate steps toward permanency planning, and demonstrate the professional use of self within the values and ethics of social work practice.
2.1 Student is able to identify the multiple factors of social and family dynamics in relation to child abuse and neglect, including the interaction of individual, family, and environmental factors.
2.2 Student demonstrates understanding of the strengths-based “person in environment” perspective, and is aware of strengths which act to preserve the family and protect the child.
2.3 Student demonstrates awareness and beginning understanding of the physical, emotional, and behavioral indicators of child neglect and abuse, child sexual abuse, substance abuse, and mental illness in child victims and their families.
2.4 Student is developing knowledge of the forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination in the lives of low-income and single-parent families and uses this knowledge in providing appropriate services.
2.5 Student demonstrates an understanding of the dual responsibility of the child welfare case worker to protect children and to provide appropriate services to enable families to care for their children, including pre-placement preventive services.
2.6 Student demonstrates understanding of the dynamics of all forms of family violence, and the importance of culturally sensitive case plans for families and family members to address these problems.
2.7 Student recognizes the need to monitor the safety of the child by initial and ongoing assessment of risk, especially for children with special needs.
2.8 Student demonstrates a beginning understanding of legal process and the role of social workers and other professionals in relation to the courts, including policy issues and legal requirements affecting child welfare practice.
2.9 Student is developing a knowledge base about the effects of attachment, separation, and placement experiences for the child and the child’s family and the effects on the child’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development.
2.10 Student is developing an understanding of the importance of evidence-based practice and has a basic understanding of empirical research.
2.11 Student demonstrates awareness of the principles of concurrent and permanency planning with regard to younger children as well as planning for older children about to terminate from the child welfare system.
2.12 Student is developing the capacity to utilize the case manager’s role in creating a helping system for clients, including working collaboratively with other disciplines and involving and working collaboratively with biological families, foster families, and kin networks.
2.13 Student shows understanding of the value base of the profession and its ethical standards and principles, and practices accordingly.
2.14 Student demonstrates awareness of appropriate use of power and authority in professional relationships, as well as the dynamics of engaging and working with involuntary clients.
2.15 Student demonstrates the ability to assess his or her own emotional responses to clients, co-workers, and situations.
2.16 Student demonstrates an understanding of the importance of the termination process, with clients and with systems.
III. Human Behavior and the Social Environment
The competencies in this section concern the stages of child and adolescent development, and the multiple socioeconomic factors influencing that development. The knowledge acquired regarding human developmental processes provides a foundation for assessment and intervention.
3.1 Student demonstrates understanding of the stages, processes, and milestones of physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development of children and young adults.
3.2 Student demonstrates understanding of the stages and processes of adult development and family life.
3.3 Student demonstrates understanding of the potential effects of poverty, racism, sexism, homophobia, violence, and other forms of oppression on human behavior.
3.4 Student demonstrates understanding of the influence of culture on human behavior and family dynamics.
3.5 Student demonstrates understanding of how the strengths perspective and empowerment approaches can influence growth, development, and behavior change.
IV. Workplace Management
This section contains a group of competencies concerning important aspects of agency practice. In this foundation competency, the student begins to acquire strategies for self-care and safety on the job.
4.1 Student demonstrates knowledge of the basic structure of the organization in which he or she works.
4.2 Student is able to work productively with agency staff, supervisors, and clients in an environment characterized by human diversity.
4.3 Student demonstrates awareness of community resources available for children and families and has a working knowledge of how to utilize these resources in achieving case goals.
4.4 Student has a working knowledge of collaboration with multidisciplinary teams and can work productively with team members in implementing case plans.
4.5 Student is able to plan, prioritize, and complete activities within appropriate time frames.
4.6 Student is aware of potential work-related stress factors and is beginning to develop appropriate self-care strategies.
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