Program Overview

CalSWEC’s Adults and Aging Program has launched the statewide Adult Protective Services (APS) Training Program for MSW Students to address the workforce development needs of California’s county and Tribal APS programs.

Funded by the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) and administered by CalSWEC, the APS MSW Training Program will build on the work of the pilot San Francisco Bay Area APS Training Program that was implemented from 2019 to 2021. The program’s central goal is to increase the number of MSWs working in county and Tribal APS units across the state by providing selected MSW students with specialized training and stipend support.

Under the current agreement between CDSS and CalSWEC, the APS MSW Training Program will provide specialized training and stipend support to 50 foundation and advanced-year MSW students at 10 universities in academic year 2023-24 and to 60 students at 12 universities in academic year 2024-25. Planned additional funding allocations will enable the program to serve 100 students at 20 universities each year by academic year 2026-27. Interested MSW students will apply to the APS MSW Training Program one year at a time, but may participate for a total of two academic years. APS trainees will be selected by participating MSW programs through a competitive application process. Selection will highlight applicants’ demonstration of long-term interest in and commitment to work in public Adult Protective Services settings.

Trainees in the APS MSW Training Program must complete identified MSW courses on social work practice, policy and research in the field of Aging and Adult Services, foundation year field training in public programs that serve aging and vulnerable adults and/or advanced-year field training in county and Tribal APS programs. APS trainees must also complete cohort-based training in national standards for APS service provision and associated evidence-based practices. Trainees are encouraged to focus all required research and community service projects on the needs of older and vulnerable adults and the agencies that serve them.

Trainees in the APS MSW Training Program will be awarded stipend funding of $20,000 per training year, based on full-time enrollment. Participating MSW programs will receive program coordination funding sufficient to recruit, select and coordinate student trainees and ensure the availability of curricular and field training resources for all trainees as necessary to meet identified training program requirements.

Graduates of the APS MSW Training Program are required to complete post-graduation service through employment in county and/or Tribal APS programs within the state of California. Trainees must begin service employment within 180 days of MSW graduation and the duration of the service obligation is the equivalent of 12 months of full-time service for each year of training participation. Graduates are responsible for completing and submitting all required documentation of employment used to satisfy the service obligation.

If you have any questions about the APS Training Program for MSW Students, please contact E. Maxwell Davis, Ph.D. or Jennifer James, Ph.D. at [email protected](link sends e-mail).

(Source from CalSWEC – UC Berkeley | School of Social Welfare)