Center for Excellence in Child Welfare
The Center for Excellence in Child Welfare (CECW) was founded in 2024 by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Social Work as a premier training center. The center was created in response to the ongoing need to expand training opportunities that build and retain a highly skilled child welfare workforce, and provide for the integration of research to training and practice for child welfare professionals, caregivers, educators, and other professionals working with children and youth involved in the state’s child welfare system.
CECW was designed as a partner center to Illinois’ Children and Family Research Center (CFRC), an independent research center focusing on child welfare issues founded in 1996 in partnership with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Since 2016, the Child Welfare Office of Workforce Development (WD), funded by DCFS, has provided comprehensive state-of-the art training for the child welfare workforce and foster and adoptive caregivers, and is now the cornerstone of the CECW.
CECW is forming additional partnerships in order for professional learning opportunities to be expanded to address the needs of specialized populations such as early childhood, youth-in-care with disabilities, and youth-in-care involved with juvenile justice.
Child Welfare Office of Workforce Development
Through its partnership with DCFS, the School of Social Work provides staff and services for developing, delivering, and managing child welfare training and professional development programs required by state and federal regulations.
Youth-in-Care with Disabilities Training Project
Through partnership with West 40 Intermediate Service Center #2, the CECW offers training and resources for school-based mental health professionals on supporting youth with disabilities involved in the child welfare system.