About Us
The Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy (MNCWTA) is a collaboration between the Child Safety and Permanency (CSP) Division at the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) and the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare (CASCW) at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. CSP formerly was part of the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS).
Learn more about our history here. Also partnering in this critical child welfare training collaboration is the Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies (CRTCWS) and the Tribal Training Certification Partnership (TTCP) at the University of Minnesota Duluth providing their expertise in tribal child welfare and working with American Indian families, tribes, and communities.
Child welfare work requires a sophisticated set of knowledge, skills, and attitudes in order to provide effective services to children and families. The Minnesota Child Welfare Practice Framework outlines the competencies required for quality practice among front-line child welfare professionals and their supervisors. The framework provides the structure for our training and development opportunities.
Mission
Our mission is to train, develop, and support the skills, expertise, and well-being of Minnesota’s child welfare workforce while nurturing a commitment to equitable child welfare practice.
Land Acknowledgement
We, the Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy, collectively acknowledge that we are located on the traditional land of Indigenous people that once and still is occupied by the Ojibwe, Dakota and other Native peoples from the time immemorial. These lands hold great historical, spiritual, cultural and personal significance for these Native nations. It is essential to acknowledge that we unjustly occupy stolen Dakota land. By offering this land acknowledgement, we affirm tribal sovereignty, commit ourselves to actions and practices that address the injustices from which our institutions benefit, and hold ourselves accountable to the American Indian people and nations.
Trauma Acknowledgment
We acknowledge the trauma the child welfare system has perpetuated on black, brown and indigenous children and families, including the boarding school movement and the Indian Adoption Project which resulted in cultural genocide of entire generations of Native American people and communities. We also acknowledge slavery's deep roots and recognize the significant role that captive and free African Americans have played in building the United States of today. The persistence of the disproportionate separation, removal, and termination of family connections by the child welfare system causes trauma to black, brown and indigenous children and families.
By offering this acknowledgment of trauma, we affirm the right of people to bring their whole selves and stories into this space and aim to use our resources and time to disrupt the historical and systemic perpetuation of trauma and commit ourselves to cultivate practices that will heal, restore, honor, and respect black, brown, and indigenous families and communities.