Michigan State University (MSU) is one of several universities that will form an institute to improve the national support network for abused children.
The U.S. Children’s Bureau gave participating schools $16.5 million over five years to create the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute. The Institute is charged with developing a more stable and skilled social worker workforce to better help abused children and their families.
Turnover among child-welfare workers is fairly high, ranging from 30 to 60 percent a year, according to Gary Anderson, director of MSU’s School of Social Work. In Michigan, this presents a particular problem because 40 percent of the public child-welfare leaders are eligible for retirement in the next five years.
“The federal government has basically said there is a crisis and they have to find a way to help states recruit, retain and prepare workers and leaders for the child-welfare system,” says Anderson, who is also the lead MSU investigator for the Institute.
The University of Albany, State University of New York will serve as the Institute’s hub. The National Indian Child Welfare Association and the universities of Denver, Fordham, Iowa, Michigan, North Carolina and Southern Maine will also participate.
Source: MSU
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
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