CSW CORE TRAINING ACADEMY

The curricula developed by the Center on Child Welfare over the past 20 plus years is designed to equip public child welfare employees with the essential knowledge, core values, and professional skills necessary to effectively engage and work with the children and families that DCFS serves. The UCLA Center on Child Welfare offers different levels of training for Child Welfare Services staff. Together with the mandates of DCFS

 BASIC CORE TRAINING

 The Core Training deliverable represents mandatory training provided to DCFS staff to ensure a common knowledge and skills needed to perform the tasks in Child Welfare Services. The Core training is composed of Child Welfare Social Work Practice, Supervision, and Management. The Basic Core Training courses are designed for entry level CSWs ranging from seven to nine weeks of full-time instruction clarifying professional and personal values teaching child welfare competencies.  The job of a Children's Social Worker requires critical knowledge and skills. The current continuous classroom experience is not designed to impact the learning and skills required of a seasoned and competent CSW but rather offers an introduction to DCFS policies and social work practice skills.

DIAGNOSTIC WRITING EXAM

The diagnostic writing exam is an exercise intended to give the trainee and Training Unit Supervisor an idea of how nearly the trainees writing conforms to the expectations of the Department of children and Family Services. The writing exam has been modified to allow trainees to construct essays based on either their own experiences, knowledge and understanding of challenges facing today's families’ or personal characteristics, strengths and skill which they bring to the profession of social work.

UCLA TRAINER/CONSULTANT

The UCLA Center on Child Welfare Trainer/Consultant is paired with a DCFS Training Section Training Coordinator who is out-stationed by DCFS at the UCLA Torrance Training Site. The two trainers coordinate and facilitate the UCLA anchored academies. The UCLA Trainer/Consultant is also responsible for training and coordinating UCLA modules that are presented in the other academies that are sponsored by partner universities.

CORE ENHANCEMENT TRAINING

Core enhancement training represents in-depth and specialized training on topics initially presented in the Core Academy. Enhanced training is an on-going series mandated by DCFS as part of the Department's overall training plan for all level of staff/management. These classes are developed for staffs that have the fundamental CWS skills and knowledge, but want to enhance their basic skills, knowledge or practice in a particular area. Other advanced classes may be requested by the counties based on their individual needs and developed for them. These advanced classes may relate to a newly adopted initiative, regulation or practice.