Effective training equips newly-hired staff with the knowledge and skills to do the job, ultimately leading to improved outcomes for children and families. Additionally, studies have found that providing extra support during the critical first three months is a key organizational strategy to adequately prepare staff for the nature of the work.
Retention
Maintaining a stable workforce is key to achieving the Department's mission supporting positive family experiences and improving outcomes.
Standardization
Creating a standard training experience is vital to providing exceptional and consistent services to protect the vulnerable, promote strong and economically sufficient families, and advance personal and family recovery and resiliency.
Modernization
The Academy will use state-of-the-art technology informed by best practices to cultivate a modern, immersive learning experience for child well-being professionals.
The Academy’s new pre-service training will bridge the classroom and the field by uniting the two environments. Now, the trainer, supervisor, field support, and leadership will work together and communicate about each trainee’s progress and respond in realtime. All parts of the workforce will be clear on their role in supporting new workers. Leaders will be connected to the work, the development of staff, and support the use of aligned practice and language across the systems of care.
Effective preparation for a child well-being professional requires learning the information; experiencing the work; and committing to the personal discipline of growing daily in one’s ability to listen, engage, be empathetic, learn and manage bias, and make sound decisions to keep families safe. The Academy will offer a collaborative learning experience to set team members on a path to success.
| Program Features |
|---|
| Incorporates Virtual Reality (VR), simulations, and more structured field days |
| Updated curriculum with a focus on interactive learning |
| More supervisor participation |
| The Pillars (courses to be taken during the provisional period) |
| Provides support and additional training during the provisional certification period |
| The updated certification program standards require a knowledge test and performance assessments prior to taking cases |
The Academy will provide a supporting and immersive reality-based experience for child and family professionals that will set the foundation for a culture of resilience, support, and meaningful partnerships.
Critical Reasoning Tools
Uses a blend of Herbert Simon's work, classical theory, emotional intelligence, forensic science, and experiential learning theories.
Simulation
Live performers interact with trainees to accurately portray situations based on actual case scenarios.
Virtual Reality
This immersive learning resource is designed to accelerate the pace of learning and enhance child well-being professional's scope of awareness and family engagement skills.
MyALIGN
This customized digital platform for the child well-being professional aims to provide support, resources, a networking and coaching community, and data on worker well-being.
"The tools will help staff, especially new CPIs, push them to use the maltreatment index and dig into the CFOP more. I was amazed at how well the tools guided my thinking back to policy and help me slow down and verify my decisions."
- TRAINING PARTICIPANT
"These tools will not only improve critical thinking, but they will help slow the CPIs and supervisors down to review policy more often. I see strong benefits in statewide use of the good call tool and nexus to help map decisions and fact patterns because we will be able to target strengths and weaknesses in our decision making."
- TRAINING PARTICIPANT
"YES! I think all the trainers should be certified to teach this and we should spread it statewide beyond pre-service."
- TRAINING PARTICIPANT
The updated certification program standards require a knowledge test and performance assessments. New hires will be required to pass a knowledge exam of child welfare fundamentals before beginning discipline-specific training.
