Fortifying the Future of the Child Welfare Workforce

Currently almost 70,000 children and youth in California have an open case in the child welfare system, with more than 43,000 of them also in foster care¹. Child welfare workers are tasked with serving and protecting vulnerable children and families during times of crisis, and this difficult but important work requires extensive specialized education and on-the-job training. As of July 1, the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has transitioned the administration of the California Title IV-E public child welfare education program and subawards between two organizations—the University of California Davis, Continuing and Professional Education - Human Services and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) - Luskin School of Public Affairs. 

What is the California Title IV-E Education Program?

The California Title IV-E Education Program provides professional education and monetary support to undergraduate and graduate social work students who intend to pursue or continue a career in the field of public child welfare. The Title IV-E Education Program in California is the nation's largest consortium of schools of social work and public service agencies providing support for both the delivery of a specialized public child welfare curriculum as well as support for students who are committed to serving in public child welfare. 

The goals of the Title IV-E program are to: 

• Increase the number of public child welfare workers in California with BASW and MSW degrees
• Prioritize the enrollment of current state/county/Tribal social services staff
• Prioritize the enrollment of students who reflect the diversity of California’s child welfare population
• Provide specific program support through the provision of monetary support to students and a specialized, competency-based child welfare curriculum

A New, Decentralized Approach

There are 20 California universities with undergraduate and graduate social work programs that participate in receiving Title IV-E funding. Administration of the California Title IV-E Education Program has now been divided evenly between UC Davis and UCLA, geographically split by northern and southern California universities. This program was formerly administered by the UC Berkeley California Social Work Education Center (CalSWEC), and the full transition to UC Davis and UCLA took effect on July 1.

CDSS has worked closely with UC Davis and UCLA over the past several months to ensure the California Title IV-E Education Program is fortified statewide to support and prepare the incoming child welfare workforce. UCLA and UC Davis will each capitalize on its unique specializations, strengths and resources—UCLA will focus on program evaluation and UC Davis will focus on connecting the social work program curricula to the workforce development work that it already does for county child welfare staff and leaders.

“As a former Title IV-E stipend recipient and MSW graduate myself, I understand the critical importance of this program, and I am honored that UC Davis will be one of the sites to support it moving forward,” said Alison Book, executive director of UC Davis Human Services. “I am also grateful to CalSWEC for the vital role they have played in social work education and training over the past 30 years. UC Davis is honored to take on the Title IV-E education program during a time when it needed a home, and we look forward to partnering with CDSS, UCLA and universities across California to support the child welfare workforce in this way.” 

As stated in the announcement from CDSS: “This new approach to administering the program will provide more opportunities for collaboration to strengthen and enhance the quality of the professional preparedness that participating students receive, ultimately strengthening the quality of child welfare services provided to families throughout the state.” 

To accommodate the Title IV-E transition, UC Davis Human Services is in the process of creating a distinct, fifth program as part of its portfolio, with its own Title IV-E program director and team. Other programs under UC Davis Human Services include the Northern Academy, part of California’s regional training academy system for public child welfare; the statewide Resource Center for Family-Focused Practice; Custom Training and Services, which provides an array of training and workforce development services in virtually all human services topic areas; and a Research and Evaluation Team that supports human services evaluation projects.

“The chance to connect the amazing work that we already do for California’s human services workforce with students who eventually will work in child welfare in the counties we serve presents an opportunity to create truly transformational practice in our field,” Book added.

Learn More

To learn more about the California Title IV-E Education Program, visit the website.

¹ Data obtained from the the California Child Welfare Indicators Project