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’sbehavioral health and social wellbeing. Because children primarily reside in family settings, an emphasis willalso be placed on families, family dynamics, and family interventions. Students can expect content focusing onschool social work; special education; adoption and foster care; the history of societal responses to child abuseand neglect; recent federal legislation surrounding children’s issues; recent research about child-focusedprograms and practices; the history of deinstitutionalization of children’s services; common children’s mentalhealth diagnoses; commonly prescribed medications and the controversy of overmedication in children, recentfederal 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, narrativetherapies, 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 culturallycompetent direct practice. This course emphasizes an ecological and strengths perspective. Several issues thatapply across all systems are also addressed. These include the tensions between a child focus and a familyfocus, pros and cons of various ways of organizing and financing services, the philosophy of least restrictivealternative, resiliency, culturally competent practice, and the importance of fairly and accurately measuringoutcomes. This course assesses Social Work EPAS competencies 5, 6, 7, 8.
Credits: 3