Child Welfare Workforce Professional Education Program (CWWPEP)

• 9 BSW students and 2 MSW students are chosen.
• Students specialize in public child welfare in their elective course work and field placement during the year prior to graduation.
• Training includes two child welfare courses, a field seminar in public child welfare, trainings through the Ohio Child Welfare Training Center, and a field practicum in an Ohio public children's services agency.
• After earning a social work degree, a commitment to work for at least one year in an Ohio public children service agency, and successful hiring at an Ohio public children services agency, graduates will receive an employment incentive of $5,000.
• Note: Current employees (caseworkers, supervisors, and administrators) of an Ohio public children services agency are not eligible.

In the future, we hope that all Ohio Public Children Service Association (PCSA) caseworkers will:

• have MSW degrees and be considered the best trained and educated child welfare workers in the nation
• be competent, satisfied career professionals who continue to be enthusiastic, creative, and respected for their work
• work in supportive agencies with excellent supervision that provides personal reward and incentives that focus on the career line social worker
• be advocates empowered to coach and mentor children and families based on best practice standards

The mission of the CWWPEP is to develop creative child welfare leaders, policy makers, managers, and direct service practitioners who have the capacity for critical thinking and to promote best practice and highest quality service to children, families, and communities. The CWWPEP accomplishes this through the coordinated and integrated provision of quality social work education and training.

• ensuring that, in accordance with Ohio House Bill 448, all newly hired caseworkers shall achieve or shall have achieved, within five years of employment, an undergraduate or graduate degree in a job-related human services field
• reducing staff turnover in public child welfare agencies
• maximizing the expenditure of in-service training resources
• creating career ladders and ongoing professional development

1. Successful completion of two specialized, standardized child welfare courses and a year-long field placement in an Ohio PCSA
2. Graduation from the University of Akron
3. Employment in an Ohio PCSA within 180 days of graduation
4. Continued employment in an Ohio PCSA in fulfillment of the UPP student contract

Required social work courses and the two child welfare courses and internship in a PCSA that must be successfully completed by CWPEP graduates have been deemed by the CWWPEP planning committee to provide all the competencies equivalent to those  in Caseworker Core with the exception of the legal aspects Core module. CWWPEP students at some universities take the legal aspects module at an RTC before graduation. CWWPEP graduates who have not completed the legal aspects Core module must do so in their first year of employment at a PCSA.

Ohio House Bill 95 stipulates therefore that PCSA directors who hire UPP graduates MAY waive the required first year Core training requirements.