FOR INFORMATION, CONTACT
Dorothy Seebaldt, M.A., M.S.W.
Madame Cadillac Building, Room 336
Direct: (313) 927-1488
E-mail: dseebaldt@marygrove.edu

PROGRAMS OFFERED
Certificate in Child Welfare

POTENTIAL CAREERS
Adoption Services, After School Programs, Child Development Centers, Child Protective Services, Day Care Services, Foster Care Services, Preschool Programs, Residential Care Services, Teacher Aide Services, Teen Parent Services, and Transitional Living Services.

FACULTY
Jann Hoge, Ph.D.; Diane McMillan, M.S.W. and Dorothy Seebaldt, M.S.W.

GENERAL INFORMATION
Marygrove College offers a multidisciplinary certificate program in child welfare. This certificate is intended to provide education and career opportunities for people in direct service jobs focusing on the well-being of children and their families. Those pursuing the certificate must have received at least a high school diploma or a GED. It is also designed for professional practitioners with a baccalaureate or higher degree, who want to increase their understanding of childhood development and are interested in developing specific skills to work with children as well as with the systems impacting children.

To receive a certificate in child welfare, you must complete a minimum of 17 credit hours
at Marygrove College. This includes 15 credit hours of required courses and two hours
of electives.

The three-credit hour field experience in child welfare may be waived if you are presently participating in a supervised work experience with children, or if the field practicum experience for your major is in a child welfare setting. In such cases, you would take another elective in the program.

CAREER INFORMATION
The number of children whose developmental and/or welfare needs must be provided
by persons other than their primary caregivers (nuclear family/birth parents), is rapidly increasing and will continue to expand. As family demographics in the U.S. change, the number of children being raised in dual-income, single parent, foster, and/or adoptive families is growing. These diverse types of family structure increase the need for care
of children by persons other than the biological parent.

If you are currently working or interested in gaining employment with one of the many programs serving children that receive federal funding, you are required to have at least some professional training in children’s development and welfare.

In addition to professional preparation, Marygrove’s child welfare program will provide you with skills to better understand the developmental needs of your own children, and it will help you to prepare for additional roles, such as a grandparent or relative caregiver.

If your major is child development, early childhood education, social work, sociology, or psychology, you can enhance and combine your career preparation with a certificate in child welfare.

CERTIFICATE IN CHILD WELFARE
The total credit hour requirement for the certificate is 17 hours, including:
PSY 205 Introductory to Psychology
CD/SW 268 Child Welfare Policies and Services
BIO 141 Nutrition through the Life Cycle
-OR-
CD 243 Early Childhood Health and Nutrition
SW 200/400A Special Topics: Substance Abuse
SW200/400B Special Topics: Working with Children and Families
SW 299* Pre-professional Field Experience

(*All Practicums must be arranged with approval of the director of the child welfare certificate program.)

A minimum grade of C in each of the required courses must be obtained in order to qualify for the child welfare certificate.

ELECTIVE COURSES
Select at least two credit hours from the following courses:SOC 306 Ethnic and Racial Diversity
SW 200/400C Special Topics: Working with Mental Illness
CD 213 Infant/Toddler: Care/Education
CD 223 Young Child Guidance
CD 226 Administration of Developmental Centers
PSY 240 Developmental Psychology
SED 250 Education of the Exceptional Learner
SOC 311 Deviant Behavior
SOC 345 Sociology of the Family

COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
See appropriate sections of this catalog.

12/05