SW 622 - Social Work with Children and Families

The major focus of this class is on social work in the settings of child welfare, education, and children’s behavioral health and social wellbeing. Because children primarily reside in family settings, an emphasis will also be placed on families, family dynamics, and family interventions. Students can expect content focusing on school social work; special education; adoption and foster care; the history of societal responses to child abuse and neglect; recent federal legislation surrounding children’s issues; recent research about child-focused programs and practices; the history of deinstitutionalization of children’s services; common children’s mental health diagnoses; commonly prescribed medications and the controversy of overmedication in children, recent federal legislation regarding the system of care; innovative and research based community based programs; current interventions and treatment modalities used with children and families (e.g. play therapy, CBT, narrative therapies, art therapy, experiential therapy, family-directed structural therapy, and solution-focused therapies); parenting strategies; issues surrounding divorce; and the implications of all of these issues for culturally competent direct practice. This course emphasizes an ecological and strengths perspective. Several issues that apply across all systems are also addressed. These include the tensions between a child focus and a family focus, pros and cons of various ways of organizing and financing services, the philosophy of least restrictive alternative, resiliency, culturally competent practice, and the importance of fairly and accurately measuring outcomes. This course assesses Social Work EPAS competencies 5, 6, 7, 8.
Credits: 3