History: In fall 1991, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Social Work Program was awarded a five-year child welfare training grant from the US Children's Bureau, USDHHS. The purposes of this grant were to: (1) develop training programs for currently employed child welfare workers in the four counties (Brown, Outagamie, Shawano and Oconto) and the three Tribes (Menominee, Oneida, and Stockbridge-Munsee) that were the co-sponsors of the project, and (2) develop a sequence in child welfare at the Baccalaureate Social Work level.

During the next several months, additional counties and tribes expressed interest in joining with the original counties and tribes and UW-Green Bay to work together in the development and implementation of training programs. In total, 26 county social service departments and six tribes worked in partnership with UW-Green Bay to form the NEW Partnership for Children and Families. In addition, the then Bureau for Children, Youth and Families (now BPP) / Division of Community Services (now DCFS) / WIDHSS (now DHFS), and the UW Cooperative Extension became partners in the effort.

This cooperative effort resulted in the award of a Title IV-E training contract to UW-Green Bay for the purpose of developing and implementing a comprehensive training program for child welfare workers in counties and tribes that were partners in the endeavor. Title IV-E funds also provided stipends to students preparing for careers in child welfare.

DCFS supported the expansion of the Regional Training Partnership model and by 2003 all 72 counties and 11 Wisconsin tribes were a part of regional training partnerships. Aside from NEW Partnership at UW-Green Bay, the other training partnerships are: Western Wisconsin Partnership at UW-River Falls, Southern Child Welfare Training Partnership at UW-Madison, Milwaukee Child Welfare Partnership for Professional Development at UW-Milwaukee, and the Intertribal Child Welfare Training Partnership at UW-Green Bay.

In order to better meet the specific training needs of Indian Child Welfare Workers, the Wisconsin Child Welfare Training Council, UW-Green Bay, NEW Partnership, and DCFS supported the development of the Intertribal Child Welfare Training Partnership. The six tribes that were part of NEW Partnership joined the other five tribes in Wisconsin to form the ICW Training Partnership that began in January 2005.

The Wisconsin Child Welfare Training Council is the body that coordinates and integrates the work of the five regional training partnerships with each other and DCFS. It is comprised of county representatives from each partnership, tribal representatives, DCFS and BPP personnel, and each training partnership’s Director and Training Manager.

At present, 26 counties in Northeastern Wisconsin form the NEW Partnership for Children and Families. The NEW Partnership continues to receive an annual state Title IV-E Child Welfare Training Contract from DCFS/DHFS. The Social Work Program at UW-Green Bay has a separate state Title IV-E Child Welfare Training Contract with DCFS/DHFS for the purpose of providing stipends to BSW and MSW students who are interested in a career in public child welfare. Despite having separate contracts, the NEW Partnership and the Social Work Program work closely together to prepare (through education) and support (through training) public child welfare staff in northeastern Wisconsin.

Objectives of the Partnership:

The specific objectives of the Partnership are to:

1. Provide competency-based training for child welfare staff that is dynamic and responsive to new developments and changes in child welfare research, policy and practice from a national, state and local perspective. We seek to accomplish this by:
1. Utilizing needs assessment processes to identify training needs for NEW Partnership agencies’ directors, managers, supervisors and workers.
2. Providing training to NEW Partnership child welfare agency staff on foundational and advanced aspects of child welfare practice that addresses the increasing complexity of child welfare practice and diverse needs of local agencies, within the limits of available funding
3. Responding to training directives identified in the Program Enhancement Plan (PEP) and training needs identified by the county Quality Service Reviews based upon available PEP funding and with the input and prioritization by NEW Partnership county agencies.
4. Contributing to statewide capacity and system structures to develop, sustain, and deliver training.
5. Recruiting and developing quality regional trainers and curriculum writers to meet the changing needs of the NEW Partnership agencies.
6. Collaborating with the Social Work Professional Program to develop the child welfare education curriculum in concert with the child welfare training curriculum.
2. Evaluate all training offered in order to assess program goals and analyze the impact of training on child welfare practice in NEW Partnership.
3. Ensure efficient and effective administration of NEW Partnership. We seek to accomplish this by:
1. Continuing to pursue improvements in the human resources management systems of NEW Partnership.
2. Maintaining and enhancing the operations of NEW Partnership through strategic planning.
3. Identifying opportunities for and development and implementation of strategies to enhance and diversify funding for NEW Partnership.
4. Maintaining NEW Partnership’s fiscal processes.
5. Maintaining and enhancing the ongoing relationships with the Social Work Professional Program at UW-Green Bay, the University, NEW partners and members, DCFS, and all training Partnerships.
4. Support the development of the Intertribal Child Welfare Training Partnership by providing ongoing supervisor, staff and fiscal related support to the Intertribal Child Welfare Training Partnership.

Operation of the Partnership: At present the NEW Partnership staff includes a director, training manager, training specialist, full-time trainer, program manager, program assistant, financial specialist, and student office assistants.

Administrators from all of the participating agencies in NEW Partnership are invited to meet twice annually to advise the Steering Committee on policies, goals, and plans. In addition, a Steering Committee, comprised of nine administrators elected by their county peers, a representative from the Social Work Program, and Regional Office Area Administration, meets on a regular basis with NEW Partnership staff. A Professional Development Advisory Committee meets with the Training Manager to advise on the content of training, identify training priorities and needs, and provide input on the content of the BSW and MSW child welfare courses.

Fiscal Resources that Support NEW Parntership:The NEW Partnership for Children and Families is supported by a mixture of funding sources, including Federal Title IV-E funds, Federal Title IV-B funds, state funds provided by WI Department of Health and Family Services (DHFS) and UW-Green Bay, county funds provided by each of the 26 county agencies that are part of the NEW Partnership region, and in-kind resources provided by the county agencies, UW-Green Bay, and WI DHFS.

Project Staff

URL: http://www.uwgb.edu/newpart/
University of Wisconsin - Green Bay
NEW Partnership for Children and Families
Cofrin Library 750
2420 Nicolet Dr.
Green Bay Wisconsin 54311
920-465-2724

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