Brief Summary of Title IV-B and Title IV-E Funding at Texas State University

Title IV-B Grants (1988-97)  

Title IV-B Grant 1 (1988-90) developed the Texas State Minority Child Welfare Sequence which included a summer Intensive Spanish Language Institute for social work students, a child welfare elective and a child welfare related elective. The focus of this project was to recruit BSW graduates to address the broad needs of the child welfare population in central area of the state. Stipends were awarded to any BSW student who was interested in child welfare. Key partners were the Institute of Social Work and the Department of Modern Languages. The program was designed to respond to the needs of regional child welfare agencies, but the child welfare agencies were not actively involved in its development or implementation. 

Title IV-B Grant 2 (1990-92) continued the Child Welfare Sequence and had two additional components: more emphasis on the recruitment of minority students and a more explicit focus on the needs of the public child welfare agency. The partners expanded to include active participation of the personnel recruiter from the state department of public child welfare, the training director for the two nearby child welfare regions, and key administrators of both the state and regional offices. Students were strongly encouraged and recruited to accept employment at CPS. 

Title IV-B Grant 3 (1992-95) continued Grant 2, but it narrowed the focus of the program to students in the final college semester who were placed in full-time internships with CPS. Student interns participated in the Basic Job Skills Training (BJST) as part of their internship and were hired immediately following the internship. Because the students had passed the BJST during the internship, they were ready for employment. The partners were the same as in Grant 2, and there was increased commitment to the project because these interns were ready for employment immediately upon graduation. 

Title IV-B Grant 4 (1995-97) continued previous grants, but it expanded the focus beyond Texas State University and created a BSW student unit in the regional CPS. A consortium of three BSW programs was created. The training in the student unit was designed specifically for BSW students and built upon previous BSW education. Stipends were now available to students from the other Universities in the consortium. For the first time, students signed a contract requiring them to go to work for CPS or repay their scholarship. The partnership was expanded to include the new BSW programs. 

Title IV-E Contracts (1995-Present) 

Title IV-E Contract 1 (Spring 1995) was a partial year contract to develop the plan and hire additional faculty to assist with the curriculum development. Interns were selected to receive stipends for the fall semester. Partners included social work faculty, state and regional administrators of CPS, and regional training directors. 

Title IV-E Contract 2 (1995-96) allowed curriculum development and hiring of two additional faculty and a grant secretary. The faculty were hired to teach in the Child Welfare Sequence, and additional smaller classes related to child welfare were offered. The curriculum development component focused on developing modules and class presentations related to the generalist curriculum (practice, policy, and field courses). An innovative Spanish Language videotape and computer-assisted instruction program was developed specifically for social workers. A new contract for students requiring 1 year of employment with the CPS for each year of stipend assistance was negotiated. Faculty participated in inservice education activities at state and national meetings. Partners included faculty, state and regional administrators of CPS, and regional training directors. 

Title IV-E Contract 3 (1996-97) was an expansion of year 2. The program sought to integrate the curriculum modules into the existing BSW curriculum and pilot the modules in selected MSW classes. Additional curriculum units were developed in the areas of child welfare and grandparents, alcoholism, and respite care. In addition to the stipends for full-time internships, students competed for six mini-scholarships for poster presentations and videos of child welfare related topics. The program held an Invitational Roundtable with BSW faculty from other universities in the state and representatives of CPS to discuss developing more partnerships. A webpage of our family preservation activities and related links was established. The partnership was extended to include other BSW programs in the state. 

Title IV-E Contract 4 (1997-98) was built on the previous contracts. The theme for the year was collaboration. We visited and corresponded with other collaborations and partnerships to learn the best practices. We shared these at another Invitational Roundtable for Schools of Social Work in the state. Building on our work with BSW students, we provided stipends for MSW students and developed an enhanced working plan for their employment at CPS. Mini-scholarships, stipends for students, faculty curriculum development, and faculty inservice were continued. At the request of the region, we also worked on developing a second training unit for social work students based on the very successful first unit. The title of the BJST Training was changed to Basic Skill Development (BSD) to reflect the increased emphasis on continuous skill development. The project also examined outcome data from graduates and is working on developing plans to look at more data without creating additional work on the part of child welfare practitioners. The number of partners has increased and the frequency of meeting and discussing our goals also increased. 

Title IV-E Contract 5 (1998-99) was similar to the previous contracts. The dual theme is partnership and evaluation. We are visiting and corresponding with other partnerships to learn the best practices and evaluation strategies. We plan to share these at another Invitational Roundtable for Schools of Social Work in the state. Mini-scholarships, stipends for students, faculty curriculum development, and faculty inservice were continued. We have started a speaker’s series and bring experts to campus on topics related to family preservation and child welfare. The second training unit has begun. For the first time, we have offered stipends to students from any accredited social work program in the region. The project is meeting with other state and regional groups to look at new evaluation strategies. 

Title IV-E Contract 6 (1999-2000) continued the work of previous contracts with stipends, curriculum enhancement, faculty training, and student projects. In addition, this year current employees of CPS are able to receive competitive stipends while going to school part-time for their MSW degree. Agency leadership has changed in both regions, and we are meeting regularly to continue adapting the curriculum and the agency programs to best prepare students for child welfare practice. The Invitational Roundtable will include schools from the region this year, and five committees from last year's roundtable are actively working on collaboration, evaluation, budget, field, and recruitment issues. The Co-Directors and faculty/staff are also collaborating with schools of social work at national meetings, including CSWE and BPD. 

Title IV-E Contract 7 (2000-2001) expanded on the foundation built by previous contracts. This year the emphasis was on recruiting more current employees of CPS to apply for stipends to obtain their MSW degrees. We continued our visiting and corresponding with other partnerships to learn the best practices and evaluation strategies. We shared these at the Invitational Roundtable for Schools of Social Work in the state. Incentives for learning projects, stipends for students, faculty curriculum development, and faculty inservice were continued. The project is meeting with other state and regional groups to look at new evaluation strategies and best practices in the field. There have been regular meetings with the state agency to develop model contracts across all the universities. The state agency has also been very active in planning for this year's Roundtable. 

Title IV-E Contract 8 (2001-2002) was our ongoing effort and improving training for public child welfare. We held constant the numbers of students that we are preparing and worked on the quality of our training and our partnership efforts with the agency. We had more CPS employee stipends but the numbers of BSW/MSW preservice stipends are expected to remain constant. This year we worked in partnership with the state CPS office to sponsor a mid-year, statewide summit on October 15 in addition to the 6th Annual Roundtable. We will continue our work with the statewide practice and evaluation committees and reach out to some more national partnerships and collaborative activities. We will continue collecting data to showcase the effectiveness of Title IV-E training. 

Title IV-E Contract 9 (2002-2003) expanded the work of improving training for public child welfare. We graduated our first group of child welfare employees in the distance education cohort in Victoria. This year we worked in partnership with the state CPS office to sponsor a mid-year, statewide summit in January in addition to the 7th Annual Roundtable. The Roundtable was held at the T Bar M Ranch in New Braunfels, and the facilities improved the interaction and work of the focus groups. We helped complete the first statewide evaluation, and the results were presented at the Roundtable. We hosted at satellite broadcast on working with involuntary clients in April, and students, faculty, and agency staff participated in the discussion. Two articles on our work (outcome results and evaluation strategies) were published, and many faculty gave professional presentations on child welfare issues. We revised our budget to reflect increasing tuition costs and decreasing state funding.  

Title IV-E Contract 10 (2003-2004) enhances the work of previous years by focusing on major curriculum updates. We are reviewing all our syllabi and are infusing more current child welfare content and modules throughout the curriculum. We have moved our physical location to the Swinney House and are working collaboratively with many new community agencies and departments across campus. We welcome the addition of the Rural Child Welfare Training Project to the Center for Children and Families and the School of Social Work, and we look forward to productive collaboration and sharing of curriculum innovations. The 8th Annual Roundtable is to be held at the T Bar M Ranch in New Braunfels in June. We are continuing our work with each region and strengthening those partnerships so that our students can receive the most appropriate education and skills for improving the lives of Texas’s children and families. 

Title IV-E Contract 11 (2004-2005) added a focus on Family Group Decision making to the curriculum. Together with the state and regional offices of the Department of Family and Protective Services, the project hosted a two-day workshop with the American Humane Association. The 9th Annual Roundtable was held at the T Bar M Ranch in New Braunfels in June. A special feature of this meeting was the addition of student panels and presentations. We also welcomed a new partnership with the First Generation BSW Child Welfare Project. These students receive pre-field support for their college education, and we hope that some of them will participate in the Title IV-E stipend program during their final semesters or in graduate school.  

Title IV-E Contract 12 (2005-2006) enhanced our ongoing curriculum development and stipend program by adding training for agency staff and for foster and/or adoptive parents to our focus. The 10th Annual Roundtable is scheduled for T Bar M Ranch in New Braunfels in June. We will also be providing trainings throughout the year for the agency. We are also working in partnership with the Department of Family and Protective Services to recruit new employees either through the stipend program or direct application. We are also updating our syllabi to align them with the major components of the Title IV-E program and to make sure that they contain the latest research and practice.

Title IV-E Contract 13 (2006-2007) continued to enhance our ongoing curriculum development and stipend program by focusing on training for agency staff and for foster and/or adoptive parents, especially in the areas of behavior management and infant brain development.  A midyear Roundtable meeting was held in December, and the 11^th Annual Roundtable is scheduled for T Bar M Ranch in New Braunfels in June. We will have participants from five states.  Ms. Joyce James will be the keynote, and the focus of the meeting will be about addressing issues concerning disproportion in child welfare in Texas. In addition, we continue working in partnership with the Department of Family and Protective Services to recruit new employees and offer MSW education to current employees.  We are also working on curriculum infusion by adding a novel with child welfare issues to several course syllabi.  We are working on updating our review of the literature for best practices in foster care and adoption and will post this on our web site. We regularly distribute a newsletter to current stipend students, alumni, and our agency partners, and in the fall we held an open house.