This course provides an explanation of the key provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) in non-legal language, as well as recommended performance steps for state, county, and tribal child welfare workers. In addition, the course gives general information about Native American and Alaskan Native cultures.

This course can be used for both learning about the act and as a reference while handling an ICWA case. A Certificate of Completion is available for those who successfully complete a test. If you wish, you may begin the course by taking the Certificate of Completion test to gauge your knowledge of ICWA. After registering, you may return to the course at any time by clicking the Log-In button on the upper right corner of the screen.

Course Content and Format

In this course, the provisions of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 (ICWA) are presented in the order in which a child welfare worker might encounter them in an ICWA case. Along with an explanation of the law in non-legal language, the course gives the recommended performance steps associated with effective social work practice. Information is provided both to support practice and to ensure appropriate case records.

Audience


The audience for this program is people who are involved in the out-of-home placement of Indian children throughout the United States, including the following:

• Social workers from tribal social service agencies, including staff social workers, executive directors, and members of boards of directors
• State and county social workers, including staff social workers, supervisors, and training personnel
• Social work professors and student

Course Objectives

After completing this course, learners should be able to do the following:

1. Explain the circumstances that have shaped Indian child welfare policies
   
2. Explain the purpose of ICWA 
3. Explain ICWA and the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) principles of good social work
4. Use the ICWA performance path to handle a simulated case situation
   
   With the use of this course material, learners should be able to do the following: 
5. Explain how a child welfare worker should handle a case involving an Indian child in order to comply with ICWA
6. Explain how to handle the out-of-home placement of an Indian child in compliance with both ICWA and ASFA
7. Identify a resource for additional information about integrating ICWA and ASFA
8. Explain the optimum tribal response at various stages of an out-of-home placement of an Indian child
9. Explain cultural factors to consider when handling cases involving Indian children and families
10. Identify the rights of all parties when an Indian child is placed outside the home

Length of Course

The course is likely to take three to six hours to complete, including the test. It is divided into sections making it convenient to complete in several sessions.

Certificate and Continuing Education Hours

Learners may get a Certificate of Completion from NICWA demonstrating that they successfully completed the course. Passing a test with at least 80% correct answers is required to get the Certificate of Completion. The Certificate of Completion test may be taken at any time during the course to help learners gauge their knowledge of ICWA. If learners fail the test, they may retake it as many times as they wish.

Learners will also get a verification of continuing education hours from the Southern Child Welfare Training Partnership if they pass the NICWA test and complete and return the attendance log and evaluation to the Southern Partnership.

Technical Requirements

For this course to operate properly, your computer must have Netscape version 4.0 or newer, or Internet Explorer version 5.0 or newer. The site also requires Adobe Acrobat Reader® version 3.0 or newer.

To register:

Fee: There is no fee for state & country child welfare staff for this course