Child protection, foster care, adoption: Training

TrainLink is a partner and provider access point for the department’s learning management system. The TrainLink website contains several Learning Centers as well as links to other department registration systems. Find class schedules, online learning modules and the training registration system. TrainLink keeps track of learner participation, including completed classes and certifications.   

Instructions on registering for training classes can be found on Countylink. 

Child Welfare Foundation Training is designed and developed for new child protection workers. It provides skill and practice intensive content, combining classroom and web-based modules. In-person classrooms are scheduled and facilitated using a cohort model to enable networking and professional development.

Minnesota Statute 626.559 requires that all individuals employed as child protection workers complete competency-based Foundation training during their first six months of employment. The Minnesota Child Welfare Training System (MCWTS) provides Child Welfare Foundation Training, which meets the requirement outlined in 626.559. 

Elements of Child Welfare Foundation training include:

• Three in-person classrooms. Each is three days, scheduled over the course of three months. Each classroom focuses on key concepts in child welfare, processes of the child welfare system, and application of child protection skills.
• Web-based modules (1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 12) are required to be completed prior to starting classroom one. Module 7 includes pre-work to be completed prior to attending classroom two. 

Modules 2, 8 and 13 are no longer required. Complete SSIS Essentials in their place.

• SSIS Essentials and SSIS Child Protection Worker Training. SSIS Essentials is a collection of eLearning courses to provide an introduction to basic navigation. Completion of SSIS Essentials is required before workers can register for SSIS Child Protection Worker Training. This is a one-day course focusing on data entry requirements for caseworkers. The instructor follows a child protection investigation from intake through permanency and case management. This course replaces the current SSIS Basics course. 

The registration and schedule for upcoming SSIS training is on SSIS registration page.

• National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative (NTI). NTI consists of eight online module trainings and must be completed no later than the end of classroom three. 

Contact Nadine Groven to register for training. 

To register: Supervisors must contact Myrna Klegin when a new child protection worker is hired. The supervisor must provide the new employee’s name and email, supervisor name and email. New workers should begin the Child Welfare web-based and NTI modules as soon as they are hired. 

In-Person Foundation Classrooms

CSP111C1 Introduction to Foundation Training

This classroom introduces new workers to public child welfare with foundational reflection and interactive activities on one’s personal identities and culture, disparities and disproportionalities, communication and trauma informed practice. Covers best practices for engaging fathers, co-occurring maltreatment and domestic violence, worker safety and self-care. 

Resources:

• Minnesota's Child Maltreatment Report DHS-5408I (PDF) - This 2017 Legislature report describes the state of children involved in Minnesota's child protection response continuum during 2016.
• Minnesota's Out-of-home Placement and Permanency Report DHS-5408Ha (PDF) - This report to the 2016 Legislature describes the state of children involved in Minnesota's out-of-home placement and permanency outcomes during 2015.

CSP111C2 Screening, Assessment, and Investigation

This classroom introduces new workers to the steps of screening, intake and investigation in the life of a case. Skills in interviewing and engaging families are practiced to support ongoing partnerships. Discussion and a case study are incorporated that address safety, risk, engagement, assessment, strengths and needs, culture, service plan development and child well-being. Indian Child Welfare Act and its application are covered as it relates to ensuring active efforts for eligible cases.

Resources:

• Minnesota Child Maltreatment Screening Guidelines DHS-5144 (PDF) - A guide to child maltreatment screening guidelines in Minnesota.
• Minnesota's Best Practices for Family Assessment and Family Investigation DHS-7059 (PDF) – Family assessment and family investigation, to provide direction regarding protocols mandated by state statute and recommended as best practice.

CSP111C3 Case Management, Court Involvement and Permanency

This classroom focuses on further steps of a case relating to review of placement activities such as identifying relatives, development of an out of home placement plan, entering case data, and permanency planning. A case study is incorporated to practice effective case planning, evidence gathering and documentation, court involvement, and child placement. Best practices and federal and state legal mandates are covered when working with American Indian families and tribes across the life of all types of cases.

Resource:

• Minnesota's Best Practices for Facility Investigation DHS-7593 (PDF) - Best practice for facility investigations in Minnesota regarding child maltreatment.

Courses available through the Child Welfare Training System (PDF). 

To register, go to the Children's Services Learning Center of TrainLink. Registration requires a unique key. To obtain a key: 

1.  Visit the Unique Key Request Form
2.  Complete and submit the form 
3.  A unique key will be sent in one or two business days

“Resource family” refers to foster care providers, adoptive and pre-adoptive families and extended family members who may be providing care for children.  Thousands of resource families in Minnesota are dedicated to improving the lives of children.  This information is also for licensing workers interested in training options for the people they serve. Training and scheduling requests need to be made by county or tribal agency contacts.

The Supervision and Leadership curriculum is temporarily not offered while revision for this curricula takes place.

• Request agency training by emailing dhs.csp.training@state.mn.us
• Supervisor Forums (PDF)

The Minnesota Child Welfare Training System contracts with more than 60 trainers to provide classroom and other training for social workers, supervisors, and resource family providers who work in public child welfare.  

• Register for training
• Training of Trainers (PDF)

The training system seeks Independent contractors to develop curricula and/or provide training to county and tribal child welfare staff and to licensed child foster care providers. Training participants represent the full spectrum of diversity in Minnesota, and the department requests proposals from writers and trainers who reflect this diversity. Independent contractors are needed to:

• Develop new curricula and revision of existing curricula
• Deliver training statewide on days, evenings, Saturdays
• Consult on specialized child welfare projects.

The master trainer contract will be open from July 1, 2014 through June 30, 2019. Applicants can apply at any point through April 15, 2019 by submitting a proposal as described on this page.

For more information, contact Andrea Bartels at 651-431-4686 or send a message to dhs.csp.trainerproposals@state.mn.us.

To request training, send the following information to dhs.csp.training@state.mn.us: Title of training requested, preferred dates and times, and training location, including the street address, city, and zip code.

• Spring training's take place in April, May, and June; make requests for spring training in October.
• Summer training's take place in August and September; requests for summer training in January.
• Fall training's take place in October, November, and December; requests for fall training in April.
• Winter training's take place in January, February, and March; requests for winter training in July.

MN Second Annual Child Welfare Conference
Nov. 14-16, 2018
Advancing Excellence in Child Welfare: Striving for Permanency and Safety for Older Youth
Minnesota Child Welfare Conference

The Adoption Process and The Kinship Process Training
Oct. 8 - The Adoption Process - CSP 1201A
Oct. 9 - The Kinship Process - CSP 1201B
Washington County Government Center
14949 62nd Street North, Room LL16
Stillwater, MN 55082
For more information: The Adoption Process and The Kinship Process Training

St. Louis County Health and Human Services Conference 
Oct.11-12, 2018 at the Duluth Entertainment Center

The Adoption Process and The Kinship Process Training
Sept. 13, 2018 - The Adoption Process - CSP 1201A
Sept. 12, 2018 - The Kinship Process - CSP 1201B
Steele County Administration Center
630 Florence Avenue, Room 40, Owatonna, MN 55060
For more information: New Training Opportunities: Permanency for Children in Foster Care

Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless 2019 Annual Conference
Sept. 13-14, 2018
Duluth Entertainment Convention Center
For more information: Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless Conference

DHS Safety and Prevention Webinars
Safety and Prevention webinar series: Topic/Description (PDF)
Webinar registration instructions (PDF)

The Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act amended federal foster care Title IV-E, requiring states to support normalcy for all children in foster care. Children and youth in foster care need to experience the same types of developmentally appropriate and social activities that their friends, families and classmates — who are not in care — experience. This law permits foster parents, designated corporate foster care staff and residential staff to allow foster children to participate in normal childhood activities, including…, by applying the Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard.

This two-hour training is required for child welfare case managers of foster care placements, child foster care licensing staff, child foster care parents, and designated staff at corporate or residential facilities. Clarify; do they need to review these documents and then are considered trained?

• PowerPoint slides from the May 24, 2016 Virtual Presence Communication (VPN), Normalcy and Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard Training (PDF)
• Minnesota’s Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard Guidance DHS-7684 (PDF)
• Training Certificate  (PDF)
• Normalcy and Reasonable and Prudent Parent Standard Training” VPN, YouTube link from May 24, 2016

Those working with children or families are legally required to report suspected child abuse or neglect.

• Resource Guide for Mandated Reporters of Child Maltreatment Concerns DHS-2917 (PDF), is about Minnesota's mandated reporter statute.
• This web-based training, Maltreatment of Minors Mandated Reporter, takes about 45 minutes to complete.
• This information about maltreatment investigations in licensed facilities includes links to statutory requirements.

Course name: CSP204B Facilities Investigations 

Course description: Participants will build on existing knowledge, assessment strengths and skills in child protection investigations. They will gain specialized knowledge of the investigation processes to assess alleged maltreatment in a facility (child foster care, family child care or juvenile correctional facilities located within an agency’s jurisdiction). The course explores the “gray areas” unique to facility investigations, and the differing and complementary roles and responsibilities of the child protection investigator and the facility licensor. Participants review the process for facility investigations, including the intake process, evidence gathering, appropriate disposition and determination notices. It is expected that participants will have completed Child Welfare Foundation Training and is preferred that participants have completed forensic child interviewing training. 

To schedule this training course please email: dhs.csp.training@state.mn.us