The University of Georgia School of Social Work, in collaboration with Georgia State University School of Social Work and the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services, provide tuition stipends for DFCS staff who wish to earn a master’s degree in social work. The project is funded from 2019 – 2023 by the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute.
The first cohort for 2019-2021 has been selected. Contact the program director if interested in applying for the 2021 program period. Applicants must be current DFCS staff in administrative positions or have been identified by the agency as having management potential. The staff will receive child welfare-specific training in topics identified as priority areas by the school’s faculty and the professional community. The school also will offer new and revised child welfare-related curriculum to all students in the graduate social work program.
Funding for trainees is similar in all ways, other than funding source, to the Title IV-E students. Trainees will receive full tuition and fee coverage for up to two full academic years (four semesters). Yearly tuition costs are currently averaging $12,245 for MSW students. In addition to the scholarship in the form of tuition remission, trainees will receive a stipend of $1,000 for each year enrolled and an additional $500 for conference attendance and travel during the Fall and Spring semesters.
Advanced Standing students will receive funding for two semesters and one summer intensive. Yearly tuition for Advanced Standing students is presently averaging $16,195. Advanced standing students will not receive stipends during the summer intensive term, as Title IV-E students do not receive stipends during the summer. The recommended stipend is commensurate with the stipend amount provided by the Title IV-E program for full-time students.
Trainees accepted into the program sign a written agreement that upon graduation they will work in child welfare for one year for every year that they receive funding.
The university partners also will hold an annual summer training institute. The institute is open to current DFCS employees, child welfare-focused students in the federal Title IV-E program, and other community partners engaged in child welfare practice. It will provide workshops on key subject areas identified by the assessment, as well as training opportunities for field supervisors, said Dunnigan. The first summer institute will be held in 2020. For more information, contact the program director.
Contact
Allison Dunnigan, PhD
Assistant Professor and Title IV-E Program Coordinator
(706) 542-5409
allison.dunnigan@uga.edu