The Handbook on Child Welfare Practice, 1st ed. 2021

This unique, multidisciplinary resource incorporates cutting-edge research and best practices in child welfare into a text that aims to teach and refine advanced child welfare skills for aspiring child welfare professionals. Featuring real-life examples and stories from the field, the handbook discusses existing methods and challenges in the field of child welfare practice. Chapters also include materials for instructors to use in classrooms or training settings.

Among the topics covered:

• Overview of child welfare policies and how the child welfare system works
• Assessment tools and strategies used to identify various types of child abuse and neglect
• Individual, family, and community-level approaches to preventing child maltreatment and preserving families
• Promoting stability after foster care placement
• Effective collaboration while working with special populations
• Clinical supervision in child welfare practice
• Strategies for healthy professional development of child welfare practitioners

The Handbook on Child Welfare Practice is a valuable resource as both a textbook in child welfare practice courses and a practical reference for child welfare professionals. This book will help develop a more knowledgeable and skilled child welfare workforce prepared to address the significant public health concern of child maltreatment.

Chapter 1: Introduction to Child Welfare Practice.- Chapter 2: How the Child Welfare System Works.- Chapter 3: Child Development and Well-being.- Chapter 4: Identifying Child Maltreatment.- Chapter 5: Trauma-Informed Child Welfare Practice.- Chapter 6: Child and Family Engagement in Child Welfare Practice.- Chapter 7: Child Maltreatment Prevention and Family Preservation.- Chapter 8: Assessment in Child Welfare Practice.- Chapter 9: Foster Care Placement.- Chapter 10: Permanency in Child Welfare Practice.- Chapter 11: Special Populations in Child Welfare Practice.- Chapter 12: Supervision and Professional Development in Child Welfare.

Jennifer M. Geiger, PhD is an Assistant Professor at the Jane Addams College of Social Work at the University of Illinois Chicago. Her research focuses on promoting access and success for youth in care and foster care alumni in higher education settings. She also conducts research to support and promote resilience among caregivers (kin and non-relative) for children and youth in care. Dr. Geiger has co-authored 35 peer-reviewed journal articles, and 6 book chapters on foster care and child maltreatment. She co-authored “Intergenerational Transmission of Child Maltreatment” and “Assessing Empathy” in 2017. 

Dr. Geiger received her Master of Social Work in 2004 and PhD in Social Work in 2014 from Arizona State University (ASU) in Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Geiger was a Doris Duke Fellow for the Promotion of Child Well-being and continues to be an active member of the network. Prior to returning to work on her PhD, she worked at the Maricopa County Office of the Legal Advocate as a Child Welfare Specialist. She worked alongside dedicated attorneys appointed to advocate for the best interests of children in foster care and ensure their social-emotional, psychological, educational, and medical needs were met. 

Dr. Geiger is the Principal Investigator (PI) for the Cook County Permanency Enhancement Project (PEP), a statewide partnership with the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services, which provides technical assistance to action teams in Cook County to address issues related to racial disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare system and communities. She is the Co-Founder for the National Research Collaborative for Foster Alumni in Higher Education (NRC-FCA), a national research collaborative to promote access and success for youth in care and alumni in higher education. She helped develop and implement Bridging Success at Arizona State University and the Sparking Success Scholars Program, recruitment and retentionpro