Rural Child Welfare Practice Stories from the Field

Rural Child Welfare Practice provides students and practitioners with case studies about rural people as a diverse group, a topic rarely taught. This means that millions of rural people spread across the majority of the land in the United States, Canada, and Australia may not receive culturally-sensitive rural child welfare services. The casebook is drawn from real stories of rural child welfare practice. It displays lessons learned from people working in the services "field" of child welfare, while set within the geographic expanses of the "fields" of rural land. The text has 18 chapters illustrating rural child welfare practice rewards, challenges, strategies, and practice wisdom. All of the stories were drawn from real rural child welfare practice cases. The rural settings include the south, north, east, west, and middle of the United States. There is a Canadian and an Australian chapter. The case vignettes include racial, ethnic, religious, sexual orientation, and rural diversity, with particular attention to working with Native American/American Indians as well as First Nation (Canada) and Aborigine (Australia) people. The book covers a wide range of child welfare services (such as protective services, kinship care, and adoption) and does this from a variety of perspectives. For example, some stories are told by mental health and health services providers with special attention to child and family voice. Generalist practice interventions are detailed. Each chapter provides background information with professional literature, a case vignette, "take away" learning application, summary. In addition, each chapter has discussion questions, learning/teaching activities, recommended resources/readings, and a bibliography. It is likely to be useful for students, professionals, and educators for learning what today's rural child welfare experts say must happen to engage in effective rural child welfare practice with children and families.

Joanne Riebschleger, PhD, LMSW, ACSW is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work at Michigan State University. She grew up in northern rural Michigan. For over two decades, she practiced rural social work with children and families. She is a consultant to a national child welfare workforce development project and served as past vice president to the National Rural Social Work Caucus. She has been a social work educator for nearly two decades. Barbara Pierce, Ph.D., LCSW, ACSW is an Associate Professor at the Indiana University School of Social Work. She has over 30 years of social work experience working with children, youth, and families. Despite her city upbringing and education, she practiced for most of her career in small towns and rural communities in Indiana and Louisiana and has developed a deep respect for those communities and the people who live in them. She has been a social work educator for 17 years.