Child Welfare in the Court: A Collaboration Between Social Work and Law Faculty to Prepare Social Work Students for Work With the Courts

Abstract

Abstract This article reports on an innovative interdisciplinary short course in which social work students at a master's level work with law and social work faculty and law students in a simulated child welfare court experience. Social workers are called to work in a range of court settings including child welfare, criminal justice, and custody hearings. Social work students show interest in gaining knowledge and skills to raise their comfort level and gain competence necessary to work in these settings. The goals and structure of the course developed at the University of Maryland are described, in addition to lessons learned in its implementation. This description is followed by more general recommendations that have come from experience with the program and feedback received from participating students and faculty. KEYWORDS: child welfarecourtssocial work educationinterdisciplinary education Notes The authors would like to thank Andrew Reese, Kristen Peacock, and Debra Linsenmeyer for their support in and major contributions to the development of this course.