North Carolina's Child Welfare Education Collaborative (NCCWEC): One State's Long-Term Commitment Toward an Improved Workforce

Abstract

One state's Title IV-E child welfare social work education collaborative is delineated. This multi-year collaborative between public universities and the state's child welfare system has resulted in funding and field placements for 725 BSW and MSW students in 74 of the state's 100 counties. Further, 589 collaborative graduates have been hired in public child welfare. In addition, beneficial relationships among university personnel, local and state child welfare staff and administrators, and state legislators have enabled this collaborative to continue during difficult economic times. Finally, current challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations for future child welfare social work education initiatives are examined.

KEYWORDS:

• Title IV-E funding
• public child welfare
• child welfare education and training
• university and state child welfare partnerships

Notes

The North Carolina Child Welfare Education Collaborative (NCCWEC) is funded through a yearly renewable contract with the NC Division of Social Services. The authors would like to acknowledge numerous administrators and staff with the state Division who have provided ongoing support for the NCCWEC for more than a decade.

*n = 54 (MSW: n = 40; BSW: n = 14).