Hello everyone,
I am currently a CalSWEC Public Child Welfare recipient at UCLA heading into my second year of study. You guys have the basic idea of how the stipend works - that in return for two years of academic funding, you agree to provide your services to an child welfare agency for two years after graduation. I can provide some additional information based upon what I've been told at UCLA and going through some of the processes personally. From what I've been told, most people who receive CalSWEC funds in the Los Angeles area end up working for DCFS. The Dept. is currently extremely understaffed in terms of ER (emergency response) workers so most individuals will likely be slotted into that position when they go to work at the Dept. The responsibilities of this position involve going out to investigate claims of child abuse. When someone alleges a case of child abuse, they will usually send out an ER worker to investigate if the allegation sounds credible. At UCLA (and maybe at other schools as well), we are required to intern at DCFS during our second year of school too, so ultimately we will have worked for DCFS in some capacity for 3 years before we are free of our commitments. However, I know that there are students who are choosing to move out of the area and I believe that they have more flexibility in applying for non-profit type jobs. Just know that there ARE PLENTY of jobs of available in LA County DCFS. The turnover is unbelievable.
In terms of your concerns about having to pay back the stipend, the most likely reason would be early drop out from the work commitment. From my experience at UCLA, it is extremely difficult for you to get anything lower than a B and I have found the academic portion of the program to not be very challenging. Additionally, if you are able to act professionally at your field placement, you should be fine and be able to avoid getting held back due to failure to meet the field placement requirement. I have heard of multiple students who have had to repeat their placements, but I also thought that they were not very professional, and clearly their supervisors did as well. If you are able to make it through the 2 years of school, then comes DCFS. The work there is tough from what everyone has told me, and there are many problems with how the system operates. I think of this as a challenge for me to tackle, but I could understand why many people are easily frustrated by it. I would say that the best thing to do is just take a good look at your self and think about how much you can tolerate emotionally draining scenarios and sometimes having little power to change them. If you think you can tolerate them, or even LEARN to tolerate them, I say you should definitely go for it.
The number of CalSWEC awards are comparable in number at the different schools, so it is important to understand that your chances of receiving an award is greater if you apply to a school with a smaller number in its cohort. Last year, I was accepted into both UCLA and USC. I received the CalSWEC award for UCLA but didn't even get an interview for USC, even tho I got accepted for the Dean's Scholarship. A big reason may have been that UCLA accepted under 100 students while USC accepted over 500. If there are only 12 - 15 awards at each school, you can figure out what your chances look like at USC. Also, CalSWEC awards are given preferentially to those individuals already working for DCFS. The interview process is similar to a job interview, so if you google some questions that they commonly give you at job interviews, you should be fine. Best of luck to everyone!