Child Welfare Partnership Education Program
The Child Welfare Education Program (CWEP) is a collaborative effort between the School of Social Work and the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS). The program assists students pursuing their Bachelor or Master of Social Work degree with a focus of study in child welfare by providing tuition assistance and educational support.
For more information about the Child Welfare Education Program please contact us at:
Child Welfare Education Program
Child Welfare Partnership
1600 SW 4th Ave, Suite 400
Portland, OR 97201
503-725-8010
FAX: 503-725-2140
The primary goals of the program are to:
- Recruit promising social work graduates into long-term public child welfare careers.
- Increase professional skills of public child welfare practitioners within DHS and enhance public awareness of the role of the agency.
- Promote increased work force diversity reflective of the changing multicultural nature of our state
- Develop and implement advanced curricula that increase the relevancy of social work theory to child welfare practice.
- Provide research opportunities and resources for examining the effectiveness of the social work educational process and the ways in which public child welfare can help children and their families.
Tuition and Educational Support
Students in the MSW program admitted to the Child Welfare Education Program can receive up to $6,000 per year toward tuition depending on the number of credits registered for each term. Students in the senior year of the BSW program can receive up to $6,000.00 to complete their studies. Students are funded through the use of federal Title IV-E funds. While receiving funding from the Child Welfare Education Program, students are required to be in field placements that work with Title IV-E eligible families, which include work with families whose children are in substitute care or at risk of being placed outside the home. Students financially supported by the Child Welfare Education Program also receive educational support while in the BSW or MSW program. Upon acceptance, students are assigned a faculty advisor attached to the Child Welfare Education Program who will support their educational development throughout the program. The faculty advisor serves as the liaison to the field placement experience.
Payback Obligation
Upon acceptance into the Child Welfare Education Program and before receiving Title IV-E tuition assistance, accepted students sign an agreement with the Oregon Department of Human Services that details the responsibilities of the agency and the student. The student agrees to work for DHS in a child welfare capacity upon graduation from Portland State University’s BSW or MSW program. The payback obligation is one year of employment for every year of tuition support. The exact period of the work obligation varies depending upon the length of each student's participation in the Child Welfare Education Program
Applying to the Child Welfare Education Program (MSW and BSW programs)
The Child Welfare Education Program requires a separate application (see link below) in addition to the School of Social Work application. Only those who submit an application for admittance to the School of Social Work by February 1 or those currently enrolled in PSU's BSW or MSW program are eligible to apply to the Child Welfare Education program. Students may apply for funding in any year of their MSW program and only in the senior year of the BSW program. Strong candidates will have experience working with children and families, familiarity with Oregon's public child welfare system and a desire to make a significant contribution to the field of public child welfare.
Frequently Asked Questions about the Child Welfare Education Program
Child Welfare Education Program Self-Assessment
It's Not Just a Job - A Realistic Preview of a Career in Child Protective Services (video link) (This is a realistic job preview video for the State of Arizona so there may be some differences for the State of Oregon Child Welfare.)
