Public Child Welfare Intensive Weekend
Rutgers School of Social Work's Public Child Welfare Intensive Weekend MSW Program, developed in collaboration with the Department of Children and Families and its Child Welfare Training Academy, was initiated during the 2006-7 academic year, during a time of heightened child welfare reform in New Jersey. The program, designed to enable public child welfare professionals to pursue their MSW while continuing to work, was intended to enhance the professional knowledge and skill levels of public child welfare employees with potential to assume supervisory or leadership positions in public child welfare, and to contribute to improved service provision and the retention of skilled MSWs in NJ public child welfare. In return for the educational support received from the New Jersey Department of Children and Families, students committed to 2 years post-graduation employment with the Division of Youth and Family Services (now the Division of Child Protection and Permanency).
Although state budget cuts resulted in the loss of funding for tuition support, the majority of students who began their MSW in the program graduated or have opted to continue with their studies. Since the program's inception, approximately 150 students enrolled in the program will have graduated by the end of 2012.
The Department of Children and Families continues to be supportive of employees who wish to pursue their MSW.
We commend our new Intensive Weekend students who are CP & P employees and our PCWIW alumni for their ongoing contribution to public child welfare services and to the children and families of New Jersey.
We are grateful for the pioneering efforts of the Department of Children and Families and its employees to work with us to develop an alternative approach to pursuing an MSW that is manageable for full-time human services employees that has now grown to encompass numerous fields of practice.