Child Welfare Education Program (CWEP)

Degree Programs

The Child Welfare Education Program (CWEP) is a collaborative effort between the School of Social Work at Arizona State University (ASU) and the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS).

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 to 1) facilitate students' development of culturally responsive and socially just critical decision-making capacities, 2) instill in students frameworks for viewing both problems and collaborative solution-seeking through trauma and oppression-informed perspectives and relational and resilience theories, and 3) teach engagement, assessment, and intervention skills specific to case management with vulnerable children and families.

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

The Child Welfare Education Program provides financial and educational support to Social Work students at ASU who are interested in working in the field of child welfare.  Students enrolled in the program can receive payment of their in-state tuition and mandatory fees if they contractually agree to work for the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) upon graduation.  The CWEP offers funding packages to students in the BSW program, MSW full-time Advanced Standing Program, MSW full-time Standard Program, and to current DCS employees in the MSW part-time campus-based and MSW part-time online programs.  Students in each program take specialized courses designed to advance their competencies.  Students in the BSW and MSW full-time programs also complete their field placement in a Child Welfare Education Unit which is embedded in DCS.  Their training in these units consists of working with children and families who are involved with DCS through an on-going case and receiving coaching and feedback in their skill development.  They also participate in specialized trainings and workshops.