Presented each spring by the Northern Academy at UC Davis Human Services, the Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award honors one of Northern California’s outstanding social workers and seeks to highlight additional child welfare line social workers who reflect Duncan’s passion, skill and tireless commitment to working to improve outcomes for children and families. This is the third year the award has been presented.
In celebration of National Social Work Month, the Northern Academy is proud to announce the nominees for the 2024 Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award!
178 Northern and 143 Southern California attendees learned from statewide and national experts and participated in the important discussion on how to stop the separation of children from their families and communities, and instead keep them connected to those they love.
Sharing New Tools and Celebrating Successful Safety Organized Practice
As we surge into 2024 with a host of new and exciting changes, we’re happy to announce the release of a new and improved SOP Quick Guide and to feature a look back at one of many 2023 SOP Champions we'll be celebrating throughout 2024.
What is alloparenting? A December 2023 article from NPR highlights recent study and other research that illustrate the benefits of providing parents with more social supports and hands-on help with the care of infants and young children.
Putting Family First: The Kinship-Centric Child Welfare Model
The Center for Excellence Vision
Our vision is that every child finds solace and safety within the loving embrace of their family, especially during times of separation from their parents. The Center for Excellence is dedicated to ensuring that children remain unified with their families, communities, and Tribes.
Introducing new guidance on SOP & Family First Prevention Services integration, and reflecting upon the 2023 SOP Conference
With the 2023 California Safety Organized Practice Conference recently wrapped up, we couldn’t think of a more inspiring time to tackle the topic of SOP and Family First Prevention Services (FFPS) integration. The theme for this year’s SOP conference, collaborative engagement for prevention, said much about the monumental, infrastructure-wide shift underway toward prevention-focused services. The SOP Toolkit has some new tools to help with that.
For the first time in more than five years, the California SOP Conference welcomed social workers from throughout the state back to the UC Davis Campus for two days of learning, sharing and inspiration.
Hosted by the Northern Academy at UC Davis Human Services on the Davis campus June 21-22, the 2023 California Safety Organized Practice (SOP) conference proved a reinvigorating return to its traditional form after the 2021 conference was hosted as a virtual event due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Presented each spring by the Northern Academy at UC Davis Human Services, the Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award honors one of Northern California’s outstanding social workers and seeks to highlight additional child welfare line social workers who reflect Duncan’s passion, skill and tireless commitment to working to improve outcomes for children and families. This is the second year the award has been presented.
In our continuing celebration of social workers beyond National Social Work Month, we are proud to announce new nominees for the 2nd annual Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award
For those who submitted a nomination, thank you so much for taking the time to recognize one of your valued colleagues. If you didn’t get a chance to nominate this year: Don’t worry! We are already taking submissions for next year’s award.
To continue our celebration of social workers beyond National Social Work Month, the Northern Academy is proud to announce the first slate of nominees for the 2nd annual Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award!
Solution-focused questions are like a superpower: What we focus on grows; if we ask questions focused on solutions, we greatly improve our ability to enhance safety and stability for kids and families in care.
Child welfare work often feels like a thankless job. We can get so caught up in the day-to-day deluge of work that we don’t always pause to recognize good work when it is happening. There’s just so much work, and so many challenges, that taking the time to reflect on how much good is actually done, every single day, can seem impossible.
