Social Work Commons^™

Early Childhood Support Specialist Evaluation Report, Emilie Swenson Msw, Rachel Gallo Mph

Children, Youth, & Families

The Early Childhood Support Specialist (ECSS) at MaineHealth builds relationships with families who have children aged birth to three, a timeframe when infants and toddlers are rapidly developing, learning, and benefiting from family and community connections. The ECSS assesses a family’s strengths and needs to understand how that family can be supported and connected. The ECSS connects families to resources, provides referrals, coaches families on children’s social and emotional development, and generally serves as a point of contact to assist families with social, emotional, and medical needs. Ultimately, the intended outcome of this model is to increase family connections, decrease …

First Jobs Academy Enhanced Management Training: Curriculum For Employers Of Child Welfare Involved Youth, Amy Beaulieu (Ed.) Mssw, Lcsw

Children, Youth, & Families

First Jobs Academy Enhanced Management Training prepares community employers to successfully hire and retain youth in the child welfare system. Training sessions are designed to help employers understand the strengths and struggles these youth bring to the world of work in order to increase opportunities for success.

The Enhanced Management Training program provides employers with basic information and context about working effectively with youth, specifically youth in the foster care system. In the First Jobs Academy model, employers are called “business mentors” to highlight their importance in providing youth with direct support, modeling, and encouragement at the worksite. Business mentors …

First Jobs Academy Work Readiness Training For Child Welfare Involved Youth: Trainer Guide, Amy Beaulieu (Ed) Mssw, Lcsw

Children, Youth, & Families

This curriculum focuses on mastery of knowledge, skills, and abilities related to work readiness in four main competency areas:

Communication: Articulates thoughts and ideas clearly and effectively; demonstrates public speaking skills; writes work-related materials clearly and effectively.

Critical Thinking & Problem-Solving: Exercises sound reasoning and analytical thinking; uses knowledge, facts, and data to solve workplace problems.

Professionalism: Demonstrates personal accountability and effective work habits, such as punctuality, working productively with others toward a goal, and time and workload management.

Teamwork & Collaboration:Builds productive and professional working relationships with colleagues, supervisors, and customers; able to work with diverse teams; able to …

Colorado Training Needs Assessment, Helen Ward Jd, Michelle Lamm Msw, Kimberly Pukstas-Bernard Phd

Children, Youth, & Families

The Colorado Department of Human Services (CO DHS) has contracted with the Cutler Institute for Health and Social Policy to assess the professional development needs of child welfare caseworkers, case aides, and supervisors. This needs assessment will help guide the development of the new Child Welfare Training Academy established by Governor Bill Ritter in May 2009. The Academy will provide child welfare professionals across the state with the training, skills and knowledge to better protect the state's most vulnerable children from abuse and neglect.

Child Care And Children With Special Needs: Challenges For Low Income Families [Report], Helen Ward Jd, Lisa A. Morris Phd, Erin E. Oldham Phd, Julie Atkins Ma, Angela Herrick, Patricia Morris

Children, Youth, & Families

Findings from this mixed methods study include:

• Parents of young children with special needs face significant challenges finding and keeping child care arrangements for their child.
• Parents report significant problems with the child care arrangements they have used for their child with special needs.
• There are significant programmatic and financial barriers to supporting parents of children with special needs so they can work, and balance work and family.
• The combination of all of these problems and the particular demands of caring for a child with special needs often result in employment problems and job instability.
• Families of children with special …