Continued from History of the Center

Implementation of Welfare Reform
In 1996, IDHW was under political pressure to rapidly implement a federally mandated package of state welfare reform policies and self-reliance supports, which had the potential of negatively impacting the child welfare system.  This pressure for reform coincided with a hiring freeze and other efforts to downsize state government, including prohibition on financing stipends for employees.  Concern regarding potential increases in numbers of child protection referrals, in a “no growth” child welfare infrastructure heightened the need for IDHW to develop partnerships with a broad range of community agencies, schools, informal sources of support and families themselves.  

This led to a renegotiation of the relationship between IDHW and EWU School of Social Work.  Both parties were motivated to redefine the agreement to: 1) continue providing relevant field-based learning experiences for MSW students as a recruitment and retention strategy; 2) provide training for agency staff and students on topics of significant importance to changing child welfare practice; 3) explore new methods of service delivery to vulnerable children and families, particularly through community development in rural areas; and 4) expand IDHW service capacities through the use of university student work-study resources.

In a designated frontier state like Idaho, the impacts of welfare reform could not be predicted: as categorical funds disappeared, community resources would be asked to fill the gap.  Unfortunately, like other rural states, Idaho lacked the community resources to respond quickly and effectively to the new policies.  The EWU School of Social Work had a longstanding mission to promote rural community development practice.

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