This curriculum covers a combination of the following public child welfare competencies: ethnic sensitive and multicultural practice; core child welfare skills; social work skills and methods; and human development and social environment. Sections on assessment and intervention; treatment models, principles, and programs, self-help groups, the recovery process, and relapse prevention are included, as are models of the recovery process. website resources, and pre- and posttests. (78 pages)Hohman, M. M. (1998).

This curriculum, which may be used in whole or in part, offers an overview of foster care, background on the characteristics of kin and non-kin foster parents, and trends in foster care. Special emphasis is placed on foster care recruitment, training, and retention efforts as well as the foster care payment rate structure. A comprehensive look at the elements that comprise quality of care in kinship and non-related foster homes is included. The curriculum highlights the philosophical reasons for providing quality care, the history and philosophy of kinship care, a legal history and brief policy analysis of kinship care, and domains of quality. Practice tips for child welfare workers and administrators are included, as well as a chapter where kin and non-kin foster parents address their relationship with the child welfare system and recent child welfare policies affecting foster parents and kinship caregivers. (332 pages)Berrick, J. D., Needell, B., Shlonsky, A., Simmel, C., & Pedrucci, C. (1998).

This curriculum consists of five modules in PowerPoint format designed to be used by instructors in class sessions or assigned to students as web-based independent learning. Instructors may use and revise the presentations for their needs. Each module contains slides with narrative information and links to additional readings and relevant websites and will take 1-2 hours for students to complete. Modules typically include factual or reflection questions. Module I informs students about the history and current status of the issue of overrepresentation of African Americans in child welfare. Module II centers on theories to explain overrepresentation and explains the background, methods, results, and recommendations from a recent CalSWEC-funded study on worker factors in overrepresentation. Module III focuses on African American family strengths, values, and norms. It includes an important reading on strengths-based practice with African American families, links to websites that are African American-centered, and ends with linking students to the Harvard University site to take the Implicit Associations Test. Module IV focuses on cultural competency and antiracism theory and reflective exercises. Module V contains abbreviated material from each of the four preceding modules. Smith, L. A., & Shon, H. (2010).

National, state, or local-level data are limited with respect to the characteristics of immigrant children in the child welfare system, the proportion of immigrant children who reunify, or the constellation of services that may be associated with family reunification among immigrant families. To fill these gaps in the literature, practice, and policy, this project examined family reunification among Mexican and Vietnamese immigrant and non-immigrant children and identified promising practices to improve service availability and effectiveness. This study used quantitative and qualitative methods and was conducted in two counties in Northern California. This curriculum has five overall goals: (a) to understand common characteristics among Mexican and Vietnamese immigrant families in the U.S. and California and connections among parenting and acculturation; (b) to understand distinctive characteristics of Mexican and Vietnamese immigrants in the child welfare system, compared to non-immigrants; (c) to understand factors that contribute to reunification among Mexican and Vietnamese immigrant families involved in family reunification services; (d) to understand how the work of a child welfare worker influences service availability for Mexican and Vietnamese immigrant families; and (e) to understand the basic components of cultural competence and how these relate to service effectiveness with immigrant families involved in the child welfare system. Video clip (coming) and PowerPoint Presentation (coming).Osterling, K. L., & Han, M. (2013).

This curriculum focuses on issues related to mental health service utilization and outcomes among children in the child welfare system. In spite of the documented need for mental health services for these children, there is a lack of information on children involved with both the child welfare and mental health systems. In order to improve our understanding of the issues and needs of this population, this curriculum focuses on five areas: (a) demographic and system-related characteristics of children involved in both the child welfare and mental health systems; (b) clinical need for services, service utilization patterns, and association between mental health service utilization and child welfare outcomes; (c) policies affecting mental health service utilization by children in the child welfare system; (d) collaboration between child welfare and mental health systems; and (e) resources for collaboration and service provision for children and youth in both the child welfare and mental health systems. The curriculum will provide research highlights, conceptual frameworks, tools, and experiential opportunities to strengthen understanding of a wide range of issues related to mental health service utilization among children in the public child welfare system. (165 pages)Hines, A. M., Lee, P. A., Osterling, K. L., Tweed, M. (2007).

Research over the past decade has documented a strong relationship between substance abuse and problems of child abuse and neglect. Although many data collection systems do not gather accurate data on substance abuse and child welfare, most studies in the U.S. suggest parental substance abuse is a factor in one third to two-thirds of child involvement in the child welfare system. Parental substance abuse appears to be strongly associated with higher rates of physical abuse or neglect among families in community samples, higher rates of substantiated child maltreatment in cases referred into child welfare, higher rates of out-of-home placements, re-reports of abuse, and reentry into foster care. This study examined factors that help and hinder the process of collaboration based on in-depth interviews with respondents from substance abuse and child welfare fields working in five California counties with established formal collaborative policies and programs. This curriculum, which is grounded in the findings from the study, provides highlights of research and experiential activities in four primary areas that may be used independently or in combination: (a) overview of research on cross-systems collaboration, (b) promising models and elements for collaborative practice, (c) factors that help and hinder collaboration, and (d) facilitating communication and dealing with confidentiality issues across systems. (161 pages)Drabble, L., Osterling, K. L., Tweed, M., & Pearce, C. A. (2008).

Research over the last 20 years has documented a strong correlation between substance abuse and risk of involvement in the child welfare system. More recently, a growing body of research and policy analysis focused on addressing the needs of substance-abusing families in child welfare calls for “bridging the gap” in values and attitudes between child welfare and substance abuse treatment service delivery systems and developing collaborative models for intervention and case planning. This research-based curriculum increases awareness about how individual and professional values may impact interdisciplinary practice and is designed to develop skills for improved collaborative practice among child welfare workers, substance abuse treatment professionals, and other professionals working with substance abusing families involved in the child welfare system. This study examined similarities and differences in values and perceived capacity for collaboration between substance abuse and child welfare fields based on survey data from respondents in counties in California. The instruments used in this study, the Collaborative Values Inventory (CVI) and Collaborative Capacity Instrument (CCI), were developed by Children and Family Futures/National Center for Substance Abuse and Child Welfare. (123 pages)Drabble, L., Tweed, M., & Osterling, K. L., (with Navarrette, L., Pearce, C., Riberio, P., & Twomey, E.). (2006).

This empirically based curriculum addresses a number of issues related to disparity and disproportionality experienced by African American families involved with child welfare. It is well documented that for decades African American children have been overrepresented in child welfare throughout this country. Yet little is known about what strategies might be implemented in order to reverse this phenomenon. This curriculum is based on findings from a Community-Based Participatory Research Project that brought together African American community leaders and university faculty to examine both the historical evolution and prominent features of a cultural broker approach to promote engagement and partnership with the African American community and the county child welfare agency. This curriculum provides research highlights, historical perspectives, conceptual frameworks, approaches for community engagement, tools and experiential opportunities to strengthen social worker understanding, and knowledge and skills regarding issues related to disproportionality and disparity experienced by African American families in child welfare. It addresses five areas: the history of cultural racism and oppression in child welfare, the prevalence of racial disparities and disproportionality in child welfare, the role of community partnership and collaboration with African American families in child welfare service delivery, the cultural broker approach to community engagement in child welfare practice, and key considerations for improved child welfare partnerships with African American communities. (108 pages) Siegel, D., Jackson, M., Montana, S., & Rondero Hernandez, V. (2011).