Title IV-E BSW and MSW graduates are honored at recpetion

     June 19, 2008 - James Payne, the Director of the Indiana Department of Child Services, told BSW and MSW graduates Tuesday that they will be joining an agency that is developing a national reputation for its reforms.

     “We are being recognized for the effort,” Payne said of efforts to improve services at the child services department over the last 3 ½ years.

     The agency has added hundreds of new case managers, but it’s not just a question of making the department larger, Payne told BSW and MSW graduates who participated in the IV-E child welfare training program.  “It’s to make it better.”

          As some 20 BSW and MSW graduates gathered to celebrate their graduation in the Commons of the Indiana University School of Social Work Building, Payne said one of the legacies of the IV-E program will be the partnerships and friendships between the child services department and participating schools of social work from around the state, including IU.  “That really set the stage for significant change,” Payne said.

     While the agency has seen improvements, it is still not where it needs to be, Payne noted. Looking ahead, he suggested Indiana needs to continue to look for ways to build upon the training and leadership skills child service workers receive, so “Indiana never again falls behind, never again becomes over-extended.”

     Payne thanked the students for their hard work and told them now it was time for them to go out and teach families to teach their children things they have learned.

     Dean Patchner told the students that Indiana’s child services program is becoming a model and credited the students with becoming a part of that, a step that will make a difference in children’s lives.

     Now with the skills they have learned, “you will make a difference,” Patchner told the students.

     The IV-E program utilizes federal and state dollars to help defray the school costs in exchange for a commitment to work at the child services department after graduation. In the case of the MSW students, who worked full-time and went to school part-time, if they spent 36 months in school, they owe the child services department 36 months.

      BSW students had their senior year paid for and are required to work for two years with the child services agency.

     Patricia Howe, the IV-E project coordinator congratulated the students for sticking it out as they juggled working and going to school. “I’ve seen a lot of you in my office at one time or another thinking now would be a good time to quit,” she said. Howe noted she was able to talk most of her visitors into continuing with the program.

      “Let’s take a minute to appreciate how hard you’ve worked,” she told the students.    

James Payne, the director of the Department of Child Services, address BSW and MSW graduates