About

Title IV-E

In 1980, through the passage of the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act (AACWA), the Social Security Act was revised to include Title IV-E. Title IV-E allows states to claim a portion of the cost of care of children in licensed foster care placements whose families would have been eligible for AFDC under the 1996 eligibility rules. Title IV-E also allows states to draw down federal dollars to cover a portion of the IV-E eligible training costs of workers who are or will be providing services to Title IV-E eligible children. The training can encompass both short and long-term training program, and it includes those “who are employed or preparing for employment in a public child welfare agency.” 

Title IV-E University-Agency Partnerships providing Title IV-E education programs to students in social work programs came about as a result of the passage of AACWA. There are about 45 states, including Arizona that have a Title IV-E education program. 

The ASU Child Welfare Education Program is one of the oldest programs in the nation. It began in 1988. It is a collaborative effort between the Arizona State University School of Social Work and the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS). The program provides paid tuition packages, and a specialized curriculum to social work students. The program serves students who have never worked at DCS and students in the part-time MSW program who are current DCS employees. Unique to the AZ program is that students who have never worked at DCS are provided a practicum placement in an ASU Child Welfare Education Unit. These units are embedded in DCS and work DCS cases. The practitioners are employees of ASU and have job duties specific to teaching, training, and coaching. The Principal Investigators of the grant are Dr. Elizabeth Lightfoot and Dr. Tonia Stott.

ASU Child Welfare Education Program

The mission of the program is to prepare social work students to empower families and promote the safety, permanency, and well-being of the children involved in Arizona's public child welfare system.

The goals of the program are:

1. Foster students' development of anti-oppressive and socially just critical decision-making capacities.
2. Prepare students to view problems and collaborative solution-seeking through culturally-grounded, trauma-informed, relationally-based, and resiliency perspectives.  
3. Coach students in the acquisition of advanced skills in engagement, assessment, and intervention that are specific to safety planning, the promotion of children’s felt and legal permanency, and the well-being of families.  

Students who are accepted into the program receive payment of their in-state tuition and mandatory course fees through Title IV-E funds. This is federal funding that is administered by DCS. Students who receive this funding sign a contract committing them to work for DCS upon graduation for a contracted amount of time. While working at DCS, students under contract receive the same rate of pay and benefits as all other DCS employees of their same grade and are able to promote within the agency when they are eligible.

The purpose of the program is to strengthen the public child welfare workforce by strengthening the competencies of child welfare social workers.