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Presented each spring by the Northern Academy at UC Davis Human Services, the Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award honors Northern California’s outstanding social workers who reflect Duncan’s passion, skill and tireless commitment to improving outcomes for children and families. Now in its fourth year, the award continues to celebrate those making a lasting impact in the field.

California’s child welfare workforce is predominantly comprised of passionate and committed individuals driven by a deep desire to change their communities for the better. Tasked with intervening in complex and distressing cases of abuse and neglect, however, these dedicated workers often experience compassion fatigue, secondary trauma and burnout as a part of their deep connection to the profession.

Collectively, our nation is in a period of profound change. The word “uncertainty” is everywhere—used by scholars, media personalities, politicians, colleagues and friends alike. It has become shorthand for something deeper: a widespread sense of disorientation, transition and not quite knowing what comes next.

Davis, California - UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education’s (CPE) Human Services program has been awarded a $5.2 million, three-year renewable grant from the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) to manage the Adult Protective Services (APS) Northern Regional Training Academy.

As in nearly all fields, digital tools of all stripes are now standard-issue in the world of social work and child welfare. But even as such tools offer tantalizing new efficiencies, they are in many ways a poor fit for the uncertainties and gray areas that make up the  challenging reality of child welfare services.