Program Goals

The goals of Children's Corps are:

• Improve retention of frontline child welfare workers
• Improve outcomes for children and families
• Create future leaders in the field

Logic Model

The program representative did not provide information about a Logic Model for Children's Corps.

Essential Components

The essential components of Children's Corps include:

• Designed to be a separate entity from the child welfare agency with which it is partnering; however the program is flexible in this part of its design to fit the needs of other jurisdictions
• Recruitment & Selection Activities:
• Recruit nationwide by posting the job position at hundreds of colleges/universities
• Present at most of the local campuses through career fairs and information sessions
• Conduct extensive outreach to recruitment outlets via phone, email, and in-person presentations
• Build partnerships with national and local service programs
• Use of a competency-based method of recruitment and selection
• Use of a competency-based application and interview scoring rubrics
• Use of various realistic job previews to use throughout recruitment, application, and interview processes
• Implement a comprehensive interview process to thoroughly assess candidates including group interview, case review, standard interview, case inquiry, and case write-up
• Use of behavioral interviewing techniques
• Preservice Summer Training includes:
• A 4-week training program to build foundational skills, knowledge, and awareness on a variety of topics including:
• Child welfare policy
• Engagement
• Safety & risk
• Family court
• Domestic violence
• Mental health
• Intentional team building and development of a support network
• Shadowing at child welfare agency where they will work is regularly scheduled throughout training
• Ongoing Support includes:
• Monthly support meetings for training and problem solving:
• Curriculum for support meetings based on a bi-annual needs assessments of the current Children's Corps members
• Common components of the curriculum include:
• Self-care
• Time management
• Working with difficult clients
• Special education
• Social events such as the holiday party
• A career night to look at ways you can build a career from frontline work
• Individual staff support and guidance
• Peer-to-peer support
• Professional mentorship opportunities
• Online resource group access
• Monthly newsletters and surveys to assess workload and ability to manage
• Career and graduate school guidance
• Children's Corps also offers support to partner agencies through feedback, data sharing, and training
• Children's Corps Program Staffing:
• 3 program staff including a Director and at least two Program Specialists who manage the day-to-day responsibilities of the recruitment, preservice training, and ongoing support. They are responsible for:
• Recruitment outreach and presentations
• Application reading and scoring
• Interview coordination
• Training preparation and implementation
• Coordination of all on-going support methods
• Nurturing the relationship with the local child welfare agencies and schools of social work
• Staffing also includes a portion of the CEO and Director of Programs time for technical assistance and oversight from the NYC office.
• Organizational Partnerships:
• Local child welfare agency (private or public) to help recruit and subsequently support workers for their agency and potentially provide conference room space as needed
• A local Social Work School for the summer training program (resources of where to look for affordable housing during the 4 weeks is given to participants) and potentially for conference room space for the monthly support group meetings and day-long interviews
• Local funders
• Any other service providers that affect child welfare system, such as mental health, education, substance abuse, etc.

Program Delivery

Recommended Intensity:

The interview process includes a 1.5-hour group interview and a 2-hour individual interview. The Summer Training Academy is full-time, five days a week for 4 weeks. The on-going support includes a monthly 3-hour meeting, monthly newsletters, and email, phone, or in-person meetings as needed.

Recommended Duration:

2-year commitment to the program, their agency of employment, and the families with whom they work

Delivery Settings

This program is typically conducted in a(n):

• Public Child Welfare Agency (Dept. of Social Services, etc.)
• School Setting (Including: Day Care, Day Treatment Programs, etc.)

Homework

This program does not include a homework component.

Resources Needed to Run Program

The typical resources for implementing the program are:

4-6 personnel, office space, and a strong ability to leverage partnerships with private/public provider agencies and schools of social work for larger meeting and training spaces

Manuals and Training

Prerequisite/Minimum Provider Qualifications

Preferably master's level degree in social work and/or experience working in child welfare

Manual Information

There is a manual that describes how to deliver this program.

Training Information

There is training available for this program.

Training Contact:

• Gabrielle Aiosa-Perrin
  gabrielle@fosteringchangeforchildren.org

Training Type/Location:

Training on the entire program or one of its components is provided onsite at Children's Corps or can be brought to other regions.

Number of days/hours:

Will be determined based on agency needs

Relevant Published, Peer-Reviewed Research

Currently, there are no published, peer-reviewed research studies for Children's Corps.

Additional References