Direct Practice in Children & Families
Direct Practice in Children & Families
The Direct Practice with Children & Families specialty provides advanced social work students with information, skills, and expertise relevant to social work practice with children and their families in a variety of settings including schools, foster care and adoption, child protective services, family crisis intervention, among others. The Direct Practice with Children & Families specialty is offered on-campus, in an online cohort (full and part-time), and through our Fort Worth cohort program.
Unique Grants and Funding Available
Title IV-E Stipend Program
The Title IV-E project delivers social work education to undergraduate and graduate students that will prepare them for careers in child welfare by way of delivering professional education to current CBC employees and recruiting BSW and MSW students to work in public child welfare. Through the children, youth and families course offerings, the enhancement seminars, and the practice symposium, students prepare for leadership and work in permanency planning and family preservation with children and their families in child welfare.
Project Match Made in Schools
Consider Project Match Made in Schools (Project MMS) and join a cohort of future educators and social workers committed to teaching/practice and holistically supporting some of the nation's most vulnerable students. The program pays for 100% of tuition and partial fees for one year towards a master's degree. Both M.Ed. and advanced standing M.S.W. scholars will gain valuable research experience, get hands-on experience working with students with disabilities, and learn to tackle outside factors that impact classroom success.
| Direct Practice - Children and Families | ||
| Advanced Micro Practice | SOCW 5311 |
Builds on the generalist perspective and the basic familiarity with social work processes (such as problem identification, assessment, contracting, plan implementation, and outcome evaluation) in the context of (1) existing psychosocial intervention modalities, and (2) the particular client characteristics that lend themselves to specific change modalities. Required of all Direct Practice students. Prerequisite: SOCW 5304, SOCW 5310, and SOCW 5551. |
| Direct Practice with Children & Families | SOCW 5362 |
Focuses on the characteristics, strengths, and service needs of children and their families. Addresses assessment and intervention skills to work effectively with a variety of child, parent(s), and family problems. Specific techniques considered include child therapy, play therapy, behavioral contracting, cognitive-behavioral interventions, and crisis intervention. Co-requisite: SOCW 5311. |
| Social Policy & Child Welfare | SOCW 5363 |
Examination of current policies, programs, and practices. Attention given to new perspectives on the delivery system and staffing in child welfare. Through analysis and research, students are provided knowledge for more effective practice in the field of child welfare. Prerequisite: SOCW 5303. |
| Suggested Electives | ||
| Personal Relationships | SOCW 5364 |
Explores theoretical and empirical data on diverse personal relationships at the follow stages of relationship: initiation, maintenance, and termination. Identifies areas for intervention. This course is also offered as SOCW 4320 in the BSW Program. Prerequisite: SOCW 5301 and SOCW 5317. |
| Clinical Assessment of Child Maltreatment | SOCW 5365 |
Examines knowledge/technique in child physical/emotional/sexual abuse, physical/emotional neglect, and exploitation interventions. Includes interviewing, identification, legal issues, assessment/evaluation, case management, intervention, follow-up. Prerequisite: SOCW 5311; Co-requisite: SOCW 5362 OR SOCW 5352 OR SOCW 5342. |
| Seminar in Gender Issues | SOCW 5366 |
This course is a second-year human behavior elective in the Children and Family Specialization. As such, this course focuses on gender issues from the perspective of human behavior theory, practice theory (as it relates to human behavior), and policy. Additionally, students must understand the historical, political, and socioeconomic forces that maintain sexism in society and in the practice of social work. The implications of environmental influences will be examined in terms of social justice, social work values, knowledge, and skills, as well as in terms of the structural and systematic arrangement and delivery of social welfare services at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. |
| Treating Parent and Child Relationships | SOCW 5367 |
Treatment strategies and evaluation methods and research findings relevant to the treatment of parent-child relationships; review of existing parent training literature and commercially available parenting programs. Co-requisite: SOCW 5311. |
| Seminar in Direct Methods in Couples Counseling | SOCW 5368 |
Examination of various psychological, social, and cognitive-behavioral treatment approaches to problems in intimate coupling. Emphasis is placed on the assessment of the sources and patterns of dissatisfaction and conflict, the selection and ordering of treatment strategies, and application of treatment techniques consistent with determined goals. Co-requisite: SOCW 5311. |
| Seminar in Family Therapy | SOCW 5369 |
Comparison of various approaches to working with the family as a total system; enhancement of cognitive understanding of similarities and differences in theory and goals of family treatment in many fields of practice; integration of strategies and techniques of each method into an individual style of therapy. Prerequisite: SOCW 5311. |
| Social Work in Schools | SOCW 5370 |
The purpose of this course is to provide an overview of the various social work related theoretical perspectives, models, and programs for intervention with children and their families in the school setting. This includes skills in assessment, prevention, and intervention in providing services to "high risk" students, such as students in poverty and students with disabilities, and addressing issues such as teen parenting, drug and alcohol abuse, and conflict management in the school setting. Co-requisite: SOCW 5311. |
| Inequities & Incarceration | SOCW 5371 |
This course develops a broad critique of the US criminal justice system and will take the student from international comparisons to critical social work and social science research that explores the inequities of mass incarceration. This course will focus on human rights theory, and major mental health and substance use issues within carceral settings. Diverse populations including juveniles, adults, people accused of crimes, and people at risk for criminal justice involvement, will be included and special attention paid to gender and racial/ethnic inequities among these diverse groups. Innovative approaches to smart decarceration including specialty courts and restorative justice will be explored. Prerequisites: none |
GET IN TOUCH WITH SSW ADMISSIONS
Dolores Bevins
Admissions Counselor II
Email: doloresbevins@uta.edu
Phone: 817-272-1044
Office: SWSH 203Q
Darlene Santee
Manager for Recruiting and Admissions
Email: santeed@uta.edu
Office: SWSH 203U
Brianna Gibbs
Academic Recruiter
Primarily Undergraduate Admissions
Email: brianna.gibbs@uta.edu
Phone:817-272-2551
Office: SWSH 203O