Title IV-E Field Placement Information
Visit the Field Instruction pages of the School of Social Work for additional information.
As stated in the MSW IV-E Handbook, Title IV-E Child Welfare students must have at least one field placement in a county social services child welfare unit or at the MN Department of Human Services, Family and Child Welfare Services Division.*
As you will see in the listings of field placements for Title IV-E students, there are several options for county placements. Many of the descriptions for county field placements list several options for field experiences within different county units, while some counties provide a separate description for each of their field experiences. When selecting a field placement it is important for students to recognize that some county social service placements will not fulfill the required IV-E placement.
In order to provide some guidance, in general, county field experiences fall into the following categories:
1. Acceptable for primary public child welfare field placement
- Child Protection
- Child Welfare
- Family Assessment (Alternative Response)
- Adoption (as long as it is not exclusively licensing/recruiting)
- Foster Care (as long as it is not exclusively licensing/recruiting)
- Administration, policy analysis, program planning in the above areas (for Community Practice students)
2. Acceptable for second placement (CW related for full program students)
- Children’s Mental Health
- Developmental Disabilities (with children/adolescents/families, not exclusive adult caseload)
- Chemical Dependency (with children/adolescents/families, not exclusive adult caseload)
- Collaborative positions housed at the County Agency (these are often joint school/county positions providing services to children and families)
- Community-based county programs
3. Not Acceptable
- Any field placement that works only with adults
If you still have questions about what kind of placement will fulfill your field placement requirements under Title IV-E, please contact the Title IV-E Field Placement Coordinator, Denise Morcomb.
*Upon approval from the Center, an exemption may be granted in the case of students who have had substantial (two years or more) experience in public settings of county or state child welfare services. Students who receive an exemption may choose a field placement from list 1 or 2 above or from any placement identified as “child welfare related.”
