Each year, the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare partners with School of Social Work faculty and researchers as well as centers to produce relevant training products for child welfare professionals. Training products were supported by Federal Title IV-E funds via grant #GK302 from the Minnesota Department of Human Services, Children and Family Services Division.
Center for Early Education and Development (CEED)
Podcast, Certificate Program, & Consultation Groups
Early Childhood Indicators of Progress (ECIPS) podcast episode features a conversation about Minnesota’s early childhood indicators of progress also known as ECIPs to help better support children and caregivers.
Online consultation groups and certificate program to train supervisors and front line workers in child welfare on reflective consultation supervision (RCS) and infant mental health. The online certificate builds foundational knowledge of child development for child welfare professionals. The curriculum includes a combination of monthly live discussions, reflective dialogue, and asynchronous learning, where participants engage in dynamic discussions with leaders and peers and complete a personalized professional training plan.
Center for Practice Transformation (CPT)
Training Workshops & Practice Tools
Mending Relational Ruptures: Skills Practice — 3-hour training focused on practicing rupture repair skills, including naming the rupture/process comments, affirming sharing, validating the other’s experience, exploring the meaning of the rupture, acknowledging contributions to the rupture, and inviting collaboration in how to move forward.
The Blueprint for Hope: Helping Clients Build a Vision for Recovery Workshop — 3-hour interactive workshop equipped child welfare professionals with the tools to help adults who may be struggling with negative behavior patterns, mental illness, and/or substance use challenges, to move beyond these behaviors and create a compelling vision for a life in recovery. Through hands-on practice with supportive techniques like strengths-finding, Socratic questioning, and therapeutic writing, participants were able to learn to inspire hope and empower their clients to build a future defined by their values and aspirations.
The Art of Offering Guidance and Information Practice Tip helps child welfare professionals effectively share information and guidance while maintaining a collaborative, person-centered approach. The resource highlights practical strategies rooted in motivational interviewing to support engagement, respect autonomy, and strengthen partnerships with children, youth, and families.
Improving Outcomes by Enhancing Our Working Alliance Practice Tip emphasizes the importance of building strong, collaborative relationships with children, youth, and families. The resource provides practical strategies for strengthening trust, engagement, and partnership to support positive outcomes in child welfare practice.
Motivational Interviewing With Youth In Foster Care Practice Card designed to support child welfare professionals in engaging youth in foster care through collaborative, youth-centered conversations. The resource provides practical prompts and strategies grounded in motivational interviewing to help practitioners build rapport, explore ambivalence, and promote youth voice, self-determination, and goal setting.
Supporting Young People & Families in Navigating Sexual Health Services in Minnesota guide designed to help child welfare professionals support young people involved in the child welfare system in accessing sexual health services, and building confidence around their health.