Title IV-E Competencies for MSW I
Introduction
The California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC) Curriculum Competencies for Public Child Welfare, developed for MSW students, are revised periodically to reflect current practice. The most recent version, completed in August 2002, marked the culmination of a revision process initiated by the CalSWEC Board of Directors’ Curriculum Committee and Title IV-E Project Coordinators from participating graduate schools of social work throughout the state. The resulting comprehensive draft included the suggestions of human services stakeholders throughout California who participated in statewide focus groups. A workgroup, drawn from the Project Coordinators and Curriculum Committee members, then met several times to refine the draft.
In crafting the final revision, the workgroup strived to integrate its efforts with the educational guidelines and accreditation standards set forth by the Council on Social Work Education, while preserving the essential elements, general sequence, and usefulness of the prior version. An additional goal was to render the competencies more readily usable by MSW students and faculty in classroom and field.
The current version divides the competencies into Foundation and Advanced categories, which correspond roughly to the first and second years of the MSW program. By eliminating repetition and reorganizing the competencies, the total number has been reduced significantly. The reorganization and elimination of repetition have reduced the total number significantly.
CalSWEC educational competencies are also woven into training models for ongoing professional development in California's Regional Child Welfare Training Academies. Future revisions of the CalSWEC Curriculum Competencies will more explicitly delineate a continuum of competencies related to in-service training as well as social work education.
The Child Welfare Services (CWS) Stakeholders Group
Public child welfare services in California are likely to undergo structural changes in the near future. In August 2000 the CWS Stakeholders Group was formed to address critical concerns facing public child welfare services and to determine which specific strategies will foster greater service quality, effectiveness, and efficiency. As public entities working with a highly vulnerable population, the state-supervised, county-administered child welfare service systems are revising their vision to incorporate advancing scientific knowledge and to address changing service needs through more effective modes of intervention.
The goal of the Stakeholders Group is to produce an implementation plan for the comprehensive redesign of the state’s public child welfare system. Reflecting current knowledge of child development during the critical years from 0 to 3, greater emphasis will be placed on prevention and family support, early intervention, use of multidisciplinary teams, strengths-based practices, equitable access to services, and the development of evidence-based practices.
As the work of the CWS Stakeholders Group continues, the CalSWEC Curriculum Competencies for Public Child Welfare will be refined to accommodate and reflect upcoming changes in California's child welfare services system.
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 (First Year)
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 understands the importance of a client’s primary language and supports its use in providing child welfare assessment and intervention services.
1.4 Student understands 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 basic knowledge and skills for practice of social work in any setting, with emphasis on child welfare practice. 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 apply a strengths perspective in an environmental context and to work collaboratively. At this level, students are able to evaluate child and family information and to take appropriate steps toward permanency planning. In addition, students demonstrate the professional use of self within the values and ethics of social work practice.2.1 Student is able to identify the multiple family and social forces contributing to child abuse and neglect.
2.2 Student demonstrates the ability to assess the interaction of factors underlying abuse and neglect and the capacity to identify strengths that act to preserve the family and protect the child.
2.3 Student recognizes and accurately identifies physical, emotional, and behavioral indicators of child abuse, child neglect, and child sexual abuse in children and their families.
2.4 Student is able to gather, assess, and present pertinent information from interviews, case records, and other collateral sources required to evaluate an abuse or neglect allegation.
2.5 Student is aware of forms and mechanisms of oppression and discrimination pertaining to low-income and single-parent families and uses this knowledge in providing appropriate child welfare services.
2.6 Student understands the dual responsibility of the child welfare caseworker to protect children and to provide services that support families as caregivers.
2.7 While incorporating knowledge of individual, family, and cultural dynamics, the student recognizes signs and symptoms of substance abuse in children and adults and is able to assess its impact.
2.8 Student understands the dynamics of family violence, and can develop appropriate, culturally sensitive case plans to address these problems.
2.9 Student recognizes the need to monitor the safety of the child by initial and ongoing assessment of risk.
2.10 Student understands policy issues and child welfare legal requirements and demonstrates the capacity to fulfill these requirements in practice.
2.11 Student understands the process of the legal system and the role of social workers and other professionals in relation to the courts.
2.12 Student understands how attachment, separation, and placement affect a child and family and how these experiences may influence a child’s physical, cognitive, social, and emotional development.
2.13 Student understands the principles of concurrent and permanency planning.
2.14 Student understands the importance of working together with biological families, foster families, and kin networks, including involving them in assessment and planning and helping them cope with special stresses and difficulties.
2.15 Student understands the value base of the profession and its ethical standards and principles, and practices accordingly.
2.16 Student understands and can appropriately utilize authority and power in professional relationships.
2.17 Student demonstrates the ability to assess his or her own emotional responses to clients, co-workers, and situations in which the worker’s values are challenged.
2.18 Student demonstrates the ability to engage and work with involuntary clients.
2.19 Student is able to engage and assess families from a strengths-based "person in environment" perspective and to develop and implement a case plan based on this assessment.
2.20 Student understands and utilizes the case manager’s role to create and sustain a helping system for clients, a system that includes collaborative child welfare work with members of other disciplines.
2.21 Student demonstrates knowledge of pre-placement preventive services.
2.22 Student demonstrates knowledge and understanding 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.
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. The competencies address internal relations, organizational requirements, and interdisciplinary and community collaboration. In this foundation competency, the student has acquired strategies for self-care and safety on the job. 4.1 Student understands the need to negotiate and advocate for the development of resources that children and families need to meet their goals.
4.2 Student is able to work effectively with agency personnel and clients in an environment characterized by human diversity.
4.3 Student understands client and system problems and strengths from the perspectives of all participants in a multidisciplinary team and can effectively maximize the positive contributions of each member.
4.4 Student is able to identify an organization’s strengths and limitations and is able to assess its effects on services for children and families.
4.5 Student is able to identify the strengths and limitations of an organization’s cultural competence and commitment to human diversity and how these are demonstrated.
4.6 Student is able to seek client, organization, and community feedback for evaluation of practice, process, and outcomes.
4.7 Student understands and is able to utilize collaborative skills and techniques in organizational settings to enhance service quality.
4.8 Student is aware of organizational risk management issues and is able to appropriately resolve potentially harmful situations.
4.9 Student is able to plan, prioritize, and effectively monitor completion of activities and tasks within required time frames.
4.10 Student is aware of potential work-related stress factors and is able to develop self-care and other strategies to render these harmless.
Last Updated: June 30, 2006