Class Descriptions

Integrative Seminar: Child Maltreatment

SW739

Course Description

This integrative seminar will integrate micro and macro levels of practice; research in child welfare and related fields, as the research relates to all levels of practice; the relationship of child maltreatment and other social problems; and perspectives from several disciplines, specifically social work, other mental health professions, law, and medicine, as these disciplines address problems of child maltreatment and child welfare. The seminar will highlight issues of social justice, disproportionality-particularly the over-representation of children and families of color in the child welfare system, and diverse populations, including children in general and poor children in particular.

Objectives

Upon completion of the course, students will be able to:

1. Understand the relationship of becoming a client in the child welfare system to poverty, racism, disadvantage, and discrimination.
2. Use this understanding in a critical analysis of a spectrum of interventions used with diverse groups of children and families.
3. Conceptualize and describe issues and interventions in child welfare from direct practice, community, administrative, and policy perspectives especially as it relates to diverse dimensions (including ability, age, class, color, culture, ethnicity, family structure, gender (including gender identity and gender expression), marital status, national origin, race, religion or spirituality, sex, and sexual orientation).
4. Demonstrate knowledge about research findings, as they relate to a range of child maltreatment and child welfare issues, policies, and programs.
5. Demonstrate knowledge about the relationship of child maltreatment and child welfare to other social problems.
6. Demonstrate knowledge about substantive material from other professional disciplines, such as law and medicine as they are related to child maltreatment and child welfare.

Design

This course will make use of lectures, discussion, small group exercises, student presentations, and media, especially videotapes about the issues covered in this course. Guest speakers from relevant disciplines and experts in issues addressed in the course will be employed. Students will be required to demonstrate specialized knowledge related to child welfare issues of their choice, which they will explore by means of critical reviews, literature reviews, visits to relevant programs, and direct contact with impacted individuals.