Social Media Use in Child Welfare

I am collecting data to help us better understand the ways in which child welfare workers use social media and the kinds of benefits, needs, and concerns they express about its use. I would be most grateful if you would consider completing the survey if you are a current child welfare worker. If you can pass it on to colleagues that would also be great.

Dear child welfare administrators, workers and child welfare interns,

I am conducting a study to learn about the experiences of child welfare workers related to social media.  This survey takes approximately fifteen minutes to complete, and will help us understand the current use, agency policies, and needs for training related to social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. In the survey, participants are asked about their current use of social media, where they access social media, what kind of education they have received related to social media, about the policies and practices of their agencies, and about their opinions of appropriate social media use.

We ask that survey participants are currently child welfare workers or completing a university-supervised field placement in a child welfare setting. 

Please consider completing this brief survey.  If you decide at any time you do not want to complete the survey, you can easily exit out. The survey is anonymous. There is more information about your rights as a survey participant at this survey link: 

https://und.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_8kWiDefNiHr6D65

If you are a child welfare administrator and a professor, please consider passing this survey along to your employees/students in child welfare settings.  If you feel that sending this survey link to your students constitutes your own participation in research, you should consult with your IRB about your institution’s requirements.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Melanie Sage, PhD, LICSW

Assistant Professor

Department of Social Work, College of Nursing and Professional Disciplines

701-777-1224/Melanie.Sage@und.edu

What do you know about the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA)?

If you work in the legal system or with families, it is important to know about ICWA. If you are a human who cares about our history and our future it is important to know about ICWA. If you do not understand why it is important that we need ICWA then it is important to know about ICWA.

The Indian Child Welfare Act was passed in 1978 to protect families experiencing many years of unjustified mass removals from their children from their homes. Without children, the future of any culture is fleeting. Sadly, American Indian children are still removed disproportionately from their families. My current work in supporting our State Supreme Court in assessing and improving ICWA compliance has me doing a lot of reading about ICWA- current and historical practices- and the more I know the more clear it is that we are not doing enough to educate people who should know about the provisions, practices, and reasons for the Indian Child Welfare Act. Please share this infographic to help bring attention- plant a seed of knowledge .

The National Indian Child Welfare Association does great work in training and education- please also see their website for great resources.

You may have noticed a new page tab at my blog: I have added some tips for studying for the ASWB Social Work exam.  Good luck!

How do social workers use social media? An infographic

This infographic uses data collected from an online survey of students and practitioners around the US. I conducted this study along with colleagues- see citation at bottom.