The project will help child welfare educators and researchers to identify issues facing Title IV-E training. The database will enhance our abilities to conduct research in addressing workers’ needs.
The effective delivery of public and tribal child welfare services requires a competent and committed workforce, yet national research does not exist on the recipients of Title IV-E stipends. Through the National Title IV-E Data Warehouse, child welfare partnerships around the country will gain a broader, more comprehensive understanding of these students and the impact and reach of their training.
The IV-E database provides a national profile of students who have participated in professional social work education designed to build the capacity of the child welfare workforce and allows us to learn about the impact of graduates in shaping the future of child welfare services. Most importantly, the database will enhance our ability to provide a comprehensive, national-level view of University-agency partnerships that support the development of child welfare workers.
Times have changed. The time has come. We teach evidence-based and empirically supported practice, and it’s important to live up to that standard of evidence ourselves. Our students and sponsors deserve to know who we serve and whether we are realizing even the most basic investment goal of employment and service with child welfare. Our university will be participating so that we can benefit from a larger data set of child welfare partnership programs (supported by university, state, and federal IV-E investments). It’s time to tell our story!