The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) is starting to ramp-up operations. The five-year project is intended to build research and best practices when it comes to the child welfare workforce. A consistent challenge for child welfare systems nationwide is a lack of adequately trained and staffed workforce. Lack of workforce and workforce development constantly comes up in any agency in crisis and becomes a barrier to implementing any best practice. A lack of staff impacts on children and families that deal with child welfare agencies (listen to NPR story in earlier article) yet if fails to get much legislative attention at the federal level and generally comes into play at the state level when a crisis occurs.
The QIC is a five-year project between the Children’s Bureau and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in partnership with experts from University of Colorado, Denver; University of Louisville; University of Tennessee, Knoxville; C.F. Parry Associates; CLH Strategies & Solutions; and Great Eastern Consulting. They will partner with 5–10 public and tribal child welfare agencies.
