CWLA offers a variety of educational opportunities designed to advance quality services and innovation in child welfare and related fields.

CONFERENCES

CWLA-Practice Areas-Family

2016 NATIONAL SUBSTANCE USE CONFERENCE

This conference will focus on efforts to enhance cross-system collaboration for the benefit of children and families affected by Substance Use. The conference will afford the opportunity to discuss and disseminate important information on trends in policy and practice in this field. The conference will be held on August 1-3, 2016 at the Hyatt Regency, Orange County, California.

CWLA-Practice Areas-Family

2015 NATIONAL CONFERENCE

This conference was an extraordinary opportunity to learn from featured evidence-informed/based practices and real world solutions that demonstrate successful thinking in support of children, youth and families. Conference highlights included Hill Day, uniquely designed roundtable sessions, stimulating plenary sessions, panel discussions, an engaging exhibit hall and Gala Dinner. This year’s conference was held on April 27-29, 2015 at the Crystal Gateway Marriott, Arlington, VA.

NATIONAL KINSHIP CARE CONFERENCE

As kinship care continues to be a primary and valuable option for children who cannot live with their parents, emphasis on kinship care policy, practice, and research is necessary to continue to enhance services and supports for kinship caregivers and families. This conference highlighted our collective knowledge of best practice, policy, program and service development, and identified areas for further research. The conference was held on September 17-19, 2014 at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in New Orleans, LA.

For general information and access to past conferences and webinars, visit CWLA Events.

TRAINING

PRIDE MODEL OF PRACTICE

An evidence-informed, competency-based model to strengthen the quality of family foster care and adoption services by developing and supporting resource (foster and adoptive) parents as team members in child protection and trauma-informed care of children

UPCOMING PRIDE TRAINING

CWLA-Practice Areas-Family

KINSHIP CARE TRADITIONS OF CARING & COLLABORATING MODEL OF PRACTICE

An evidence-based model to strengthen kinship care, whether formally or informally arranged, by responding to the unique strengths and challenges of kinship caregiving families, and enhancing the competencies of child welfare professionals and other advocates to support them

UPCOMING KINSHIP CARE TRAINING

SUPERVISION TO ADVANCE SUCCESS AND EXCELLENCE

A curriculum to achieve agency mission and goals by developing supervisor and middle manager competence in implementing evidence-based best practices to improve staff performance and outcomes for children and families.

UPCOMING SUPERVISION TO ADVANCE SUCCESS AND EXCELLENCE TRAINING

MILITARY FAMILY SPECIALIST

CWLA, in partnership with Boots on Ground Consulting, Inc. is pleased to offer a certificate in working with military families for professionals interested in making a difference in the lives of military members and their families.

UPCOMING MILITARY FAMILY SPECIALIST TRAINING

WEBINARS

CWLA offers webinars on a variety of current and emerging topics of importance to social workers, caregivers, and others working with children and families.

UPCOMING WEBINARS

For general information and access to past conferences and webinars, visit CWLA Events.

E-LEARNING

CWLA partners with Relias Learning to provide access to a wide variety of online courses at a 10% discount for our members. Click here to access the menu of courses offered through Relias Learning.

CWLA offers a series of online courses on topics of particular interest to social workers, supervisors, and others who work with children who have experienced trauma. Current CWLA courses are briefly described below. Click here for a CWLA course.

Trauma Informed Treatment for Children with Challenging Behaviors This course defines complex trauma and explains its impact on the behavior of children, describes five critical developmental challenges that affect children who have been traumatized, and identifies research-informed, promising treatment approaches to address each of the five critical developmental challenges. Social workers, administrators, caregivers, teachers, and others who work with children who have experienced trauma will find this course helpful.
Calming Children in Crisis Children who have experienced trauma often have feelings of emotional pain that present as anger, which may be expressed in a way that places themselves and others at risk. This course provides skills for helpers to assist children in identifying and managing their feelings in a healthy manner. The skills taught are helpful for persons working with children in a wide variety of settings including family foster care, and residential and educational facilities.
Best Practices in Behavior Support and Intervention This course addresses the use of restraint and seclusion as behavior management tools, presents facts and myths regarding their use, and data regarding the negative outcomes they produce. Trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder, as well as their relationship to experiences of restraint and seclusion are discussed. More effective and therapeutic approaches to behavior management are presented.
Strategies for Supervisors: Reducing Restraint and Seclusion This course is designed to prepare direct service supervisors and other agency managers to create treatment environments that are effective in meeting the needs of children and families while successfully reducing the use of seclusion and restraint. Specific strategies for agencies and supervisors to implement that will aid in the elimination of unnecessary incidents of restraint and seclusion are presented.