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Family Violence, & Family-Centered Practice
As the School’s mission statement
reflects, the use of family-centered and community-based practice
approaches is central to the School’s curriculum which prepares
culturally competent social work scholars and practitioners with
a commitment to social justice and social work values and ethics.
The application of these theories and practice approaches to the
development, implementation and evaluation of social welfare policy
and practice with vulnerable populations, including children and
their families, is a focal point for curriculum, faculty research
and the activities of The National Resource Center for Family
Centered Practice (NRCFCP). The NRCFCP is a project of the School
with a mission of promoting family-centered, culturally responsive
practice across human service systems through research and evaluation,
training and technical assistance, and information dissemination.
The National Resource Center for Family Centered Practice has
had a home at the University of Iowa for more than twenty-five
years. Beginning as a small training project funded by the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services, the Center was one of
the first organizations in the country to promote home-based,
family centered services- later known as "family preservation."
Over the years its scope has expanded to many different service
systems and to provide a range of services including training
and technical assistance, research and evaluation, and information
dissemination – throughout the U.S., in several U.S. Protectorates,
and through collaborations in Europe, Asia, North, Central and
South America, and Australia.
The NRCFCP also coordinates collaborations between the School
of Social Work and public child welfare services in Iowa through
the Iowa Child Welfare Research Partnership, a group composed
of representatives of the Iowa Department of Human Services and
faculty and professional staff of Iowa’s two public universities
with accredited schools of social work. The goal of the ICWRP
iis to improve child welfare practice and outcomes by strengthening
research collaboration between participating organizations.
At
Iowa, I have been involved in several community and State projects,
including the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, the Women’s
Resource and Action Center, and the University Child Welfare Agency
Partnership. These practice experiences have enriched my research,
my teaching and my life."
I wandered
into Iowa from the East Coast, where I grew up and spent my early
working years, and never found a good enough reason to leave.
After earning my MSW I was drawn to the National Clearinghouse
for Home Based Services, a small child welfare project at UI that
was spearheading a national movement to infuse family centered
principles into traditional child welfare services. My long standing
affiliation with this project, now the National Resource Center
for Family Centered Practice, has provided me with unique opportunities
to implement and evaluate child welfare policy and practice on
a national and state level. While working as a macro-practitioner
with the Center, I received my Ph.D. in Sociology at UI, specializing
in social stratification and quantitative research.
I am involved with several exciting research projects that combine
the Center’s work in building the capacity of child welfare
workers to support families with a parallel capacity for child
welfare organizations to support their employees. I also have
a professional interest in social work’s role in the coercive
functions of the state, and in how social work values, ethics,
knowledge and skills can be applied to counter the current policy
climate that is increasingly hostile to vulnerable children and
families."
At
Iowa, I have been involved in several community and State projects,
including the Domestic Violence Intervention Program, the Women’s
Resource and Action Center, and the University Child Welfare Agency
Partnership. These practice experiences have enriched my research,
my teaching and my life."