Online Modules

Refugee Families in Minnesota and their Experiences in the Child Welfare System - These Modules provide information for child welfare professionals about refugee families in Minnesota and their experiences in the child protection system.

A Review of Refugees' Involvement in the Child Welfare System - This 3-part module series assesses mental health services for refugees in child welfare. In these modules, Dr. Shannon describes the process that refugees go through when they arrive in the US and what structural services and supports they receive. 

Reducing Disparities Through Indigenous Social Work Education - This three-part module will help child welfare professionals learn about indigenous child welfare.

Gossip about Addiction Recovery in a Rural Community - This three-part deals with how child welfare professionals can help those with substance use disorders in rural communities.

Addiction Recovery in Rural Minnesota - A three-part module about seeking and maintaining recovery from alcohol and substance use disorders in rural and small town Minnesota.

Working with Parents - In this three-part module, participants will explore a variety of concepts in order to strengthen skills in work with parents, families, and children as child welfare professionals.

Interventions to Strengthen Parental Self-Efficacy: An umbrella review of systematic reviews - The module was designed by Jeffrey Waid, Kazi Abusaleh and Scott Marsalis and provides a holistic approach to child welfare practices through evidence-based interventions that promote Parental Self-Efficacy (PSE).

Engaging families and children in prevention and early intervention services - A three-part module on linking families to care.

Parent Centered Planning for Parents with Disabilities - In this three-part module series, participants learn about a new intervention for working with parents with disabilities: parent-centered planning.

Navigating the System: Addressing the Overrepresentation of Parents with Disabilities in CPS - This module deals with the overrepresentation of parents with disabilities in CPS and the ways to best serve these parents

Supporting Parents with Disabilities in Clinical & Macro Practice - This two-part learning module series focuses on how child welfare professionals can support parents with disabilities in both clinical and macro practice. 

Parents with Disabilities in Child Welfare - This training module, Parents with Disabilities in Child welfare, has three parts. In part one, we talk about historical context and prevalence for parents with disabilities in child welfare. In part two, we talk about parents with disabilities and related policies. In part three, we discuss social supports for parents with disabilities.

Parental Incarceration and Child Welfare - Developed by Rebecca Shlafer, PhD and Ed Morales, MSW, this three part series serves as a primer for child welfare workers who have contact with families affected by family incarceration. 

Intimate Partner Violence and Child Maltreatment - A two-part module on the co-occurrence of intimate partner violence and child maltreatment

Journaling to Support Recovery - In this three-part module, experts present a novel journaling intervention for those supporting addiction recovery - Positive Recovery Journaling.

New Support for Recovery - Two video modules for child welfare professions about new resources for people in recovery and medications treating opioid-use disorders. Supporting two-page guides are also available.

What Works for Addiction and Child Welfare? - In this module, addiction and recovery interventions and their relevance to child welfare practice are discussed. The module covers screening for problematic alcohol use and useful tools.

Addiction and Child Welfare - The module covers addiction, the brain science of addiction and its impact on families in the child welfare system.

Supporting Recovery in Parents with Co-Occurring Disorders in Child Welfare - In partnership with the Minnesota Center for Chemical and Mental Health (MNCAMH), CASCW created a three-part video series titled, Supporting Recovery in Parents with Co-Occurring Disorders in Child Welfare. This video series features experts discussing the unique challenges and resources needed to support parents struggling with CODs.

Strengthening Sibling Relationships for Youth in Care - The module explores the importance of sibling relationships, interventions that can improve aspects of the relationships, and strategies to improve sibling relationships for youth in care.

Siblings in Foster Care: Assessment Considerations for Child Welfare Professionals - This module provides an overview of sibling relationships and their influence on child development. Research regarding the impact of siblings on foster care placement stability, permanency, and well-being are discussed. Assessment considerations with siblings in foster care settings are provided.

Impact of Early Trauma on the Developing Brain - This module was developed to assist practitioners in understanding the impact of early trauma on the developing child's brain.

Resilience and Adult Attachment in Cases of Child Sexual Abuse - This module presents information on the skills needed to assess adult attachment to promote resilience. The viewer will learn the four styles of adult attachment, how they fit with the common factors model, and how they can be used as guidelines for practice.

Patterns of Disclosure in Cases of Child Sexual Abuse - The purpose of this training is to describe the conditions under which children disclose sexual abuse during forensic interviews when law enforcement and child protection professionals have reason to believe child sexual abuse has occurred.

Child Complex Trauma and Parental Belief System - The purpose of this module is to foster empathic understandings of children’s experiences of complex trauma and draw attention to the belief systems of parents who perpetrate complex trauma on their children.

Motivational Interviewing Techniques - This module provides a brief history of motivational interviewing and introduces the principles involved in it. The module relates motivational interviewing to child welfare practice and offers some techniques that can be used.

Adoption and Permanency - A three-part series on adoption and permanency from a historical context, the impact of adoption on trauma and grief and the influence of adoption and permanency on the development of identity.

Special Health Care Needs, Child Welfare and Vital Involvement - The aims of this module are to explore the strengths and supports of a specific family who is successfully raising fostered and adopted children with special needs, and to use the concept of Vital Involvement to identify meaningful interactions between this family and their environment. 

Service Navigation Workforce Study - A three-part series diving into the barriers to care families experience.

Educational Disengagement Among Youth Experiencing Homelessness and Unstable Housing - An overview of youth homelessness, an examination of a study on educational disengagement patterns and key takeaways and practical strategies to promote youth stability and well-being.

Risks, Outcomes, and Inequities in Out-of-School Suspension - A three-part series about the risks and outcomes of out-of-school suspension for children who have been involved in the child welfare system or child protective services.

Students' Risks for Out-of-school Suspensions - This module summarizes the results of a study on the relationship between students' child welfare system involvement, Indigenous heritage, and out-of-school suspension in Minnesota.

The Intersection Between Homelessness & Child Protection: An Integrated Administrative Data Approach - In this two-part module, viewers will learn about the intersection between student homelessness, child welfare involvement and education.

Supportive Housing and Implications for Child Welfare - This module discusses a recent study conducted on the impact of homelessness on child outcomes and the effectiveness of supportive housing in boosting such outcomes. It takes a specific look at how educational and child welfare indicators are affected by homelessness and supportive housing programs.

Domestic Violence Court: Data from Offenders of Intimate Partner Violence - The module for child welfare professionals goes into the process of DVC in Mille Lacs County, survey data and an overview of goals related to child welfare.

Intimate Partner Violence & Domestic Violence Courts - In this module the authors will describe for participants the impact and context of intimate partner violence for both women and children.

Positive Youth Development for Siblings in Foster Care - This training module describes risk, resilience and positive youth development (PYD), Camp to Belong (a brief, camp-based reunification program for sibling groups separated by foster care), and how PYD programming can support youth in foster care.

Indigenous Child Welfare: The Long Emergency and a Way Forward - In this two-part module, participants will explore the findings of a scoping study on Indigenous child welfare within Turtle Island (Canada and U.S.)

Risks and Protections for Black Girls' Receipt of Out-of-School Suspensions - This module presents research results regarding risks and protection for black girls’ receipt of out-of-school suspensions. The first study is a quantitative analysis of statewide data from the Minnesota Linking Information for Kids (Minn-LInK) project. The second study is a qualitative study of out-of-school-suspensions among Black students, aged 11-17.

Crossover Youth: Implications for Research and Practice - This module presents the results of a study on early involvement in the juvenile justice system among maltreated youth.

Health and Mental Health Literacy and their Link to Health Disparities in Immigrant and Refugee Families - Hee Lee, Ph.D. and Jennifer McHugh, MSW Candidate, present a concise overview of the compilation of Dr. Lee’s work on the impact health and mental health literacy have on immigrant and refugee children and the implications for child welfare practice. 

A Practitioner's Guide to the Family First Prevention Services Act - This one-hour module provides a practitioner-focused overview of the Family First Prevention Services Act.

Minnesota Tribal/State Agreement Training - This module aims to provide students and practitioners with in-depth training on the Minnesota Tribal/State Child Welfare Agreement, including legal and practice issues; key elements, strengths, and challenges; and case studies.

Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) - This module provides an overview of the historical context that led to the development of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA), the Minnesota Indian Family Preservation Act (MIFPA), and the Tribal-State Agreement. This module also includes a discussion of how ICWA is implemented and applied to cases.

Tending Our Garden, Cultivating Resilient Roots - This four-part series explores concepts of building resilient teams and creating plans to address individual and team-oriented plans for cultivating resilience in this interactive series of video workshops.

Reflective Supervision/Consultation for Child Welfare Workers - This series offers an in-depth look at reflective supervision/consultation, including child welfare worker testimony.

Secondary Traumatic Stress - This module introduces secondary traumatic stress (STS) and its impact on the child welfare system and workforce. 

Traumatic Stress Screening for Child Welfare Professionals - A three-part series walking through the Traumatic Stress Screening for Child Welfare Professionals.