UCF nabs social work contract

The Florida Department of Children and Families chose UCF's School of Social Work to be the recipient of its four-year $1.3 million contract to train new child protective investigators and supervisors.

"The decision wasn't easy, we had it narrowed down to UCF and USF," DCF circuit nine operations manager Dawn Murray said. "UCF stood out for many reasons including its location and the foreseen ability to work together as a team. Thus far, we have no doubts whatsoever in our decision."

Director of the School of Social Work and principal investigator for this project, John Ronnau, has been working with the rest of the UCF staff to ensure that the program will teach the trainees all signs of child abuse and neglect, child development, safety and the proper communication needed to diffuse the situations a CPI may come in contact with.

More than 200 investigators in the counties of Orange, Osceola and Brevard have been hired by DCF and are going to be put through a seven-week training.

Classes held at both the UCF Cocoa and South Orlando campuses will eventually lead these trainees to become certified in their field.

Ronnau said he is extremely happy with the pool of applicants that were drawn while selecting the proper instructors for the program. All instructors have a wide range of experience in child investigations and surpassed his criteria in terms of eligibility.

Ronnau has hired two full-time trainers and one part-time trainer to instruct the classes. He is also in the process of choosing a graduate research assistance that will collect evaluation data, go to the training and sit and aid in all other areas of study.

All students enrolled in the course will be subjected to an extensive background check and required to sign a confidential agreement dealing with private information involving minors.

The UCF curriculum will include face-to-face classroom instruction, one-on-one consultations, supervised field training activities and online sessions.

Current CPI's are also required to receive 48 hours of in-service classes every three years in order to become recertified. All supervisors and program administrators will go through the training as well. After the training there is an assessment that is required to be passed with a score of at least 80 percent.

"The School of Social Work has a chance to impact what these people will be learning," Ronnau said. "CPIs do an extremely important job; they are serving some of the most vulnerable people in society, so it is important to us to uphold this honor we have been given."

Murray said she hopes this project will set a precedent continuing partnership with UCF in as many ways as possible, both during and after the contract. Based on the results of the program UCF will also be up for a possible contract renewal.

UCF alumna and Central Region Public Information Officer for DCF, Elizabeth Arenas said CPI's have a tough job that not many can do, yet it is a crucial job. They ensure that our society is safe and healthy.

"On behalf of The Florida Department of Children and Families, continuing education and providing the tools that are needed is extremely important to us," Arenas said.

"We are excited to be raising the bar on our professional training with such a top-notch university."