An Innovative Dual-Site Field Placement to Support Children’s Rights

Overview: To best protect children survivors' rights, this proposal presents a pilot, dual-site MSW field placement between a university research setting and a practice setting to serve children who lost their parents to intimate partner homicides. Student satisfaction, strengths and limitations of the dual-site field model are discussed.Proposal text: Introduction
For children who lose a parent to intimate partner homicide, their right to be cared for and protected from danger should be addressed by trauma-informed services (UNICEF, 1989). There is a need to develop competent trauma informed social work students and trauma informed partnerships in field education (Strand et al., 2016) and assist social work students in bridging the gap between theory and practice (Crumb et al., 2018; Hemy et al., 2016). Students reported high levels of satisfaction with supervision models that allowed them access two or more on-site supervisors and multiple formats of supervision (Cleak & Smith, 2012; Cleak & Zuchowski, 2019; Crumb et al., 2018; Smith et al., 2015).

In other interdisciplinary professions, research has shown that students benefit from interacting with colleagues in varied roles from diverse disciplines and practice settings (Hosken et al., 2016). For instance, students in rotational field placements shared that they gained exposure to different areas of practice enhancing their own learning and marketable skills (Hosken, et al., 2016; Vassos et al., 2018). Students in cross-sector field placements stated that they had more opportunities to collaborate, experienced cross sector skill development, expanded professional identity, and an increased awareness of shared social issues across service sectors (Greenblatt et al., 2019; Janssen Breen et al, 2019; Kay et al., 2018). These opportunities provide valuable field experiences to equip social work students with vital skills needed for a successful social work career.

Methods
The dual-site field placement took place at a large Southwest public research university with a combined internship of research and direct services where MSW first-year interns spent 16 hours in a direct service center for child survivors of intimate partner homicides as well as 8 hours in a research center on identifying risk factors of intimate partner violence. Data were collected including individual/joint supervision, staff feedback, and learning contract review. Findings were refined through ongoing discussions among supervisors from both sites.

Results
The collaboration between research and practice was found to maximize MSW students’ learning in field placement and centered on advancing direct services through research. Students were guided to integrate research knowledge and practice skills simultaneously, which is unachievable through traditional one-site field placement. Through bi-weekly joint supervision, agency staff’s feedback, and students’ evaluation, the findings showed that the dual-site field placement was innovative and effective, and can be used as a new model for social work field placement.

Discussion
Dual-site field placements have numerous implications that benefit students, Schools of Social Work, and social work profession. Students are provided with opportunities to integrate research and practice for child survivors. Schools of Social Work are able to better meet multifaceted student placement interests, and train future social workers in collaborative, interdisciplinary practice. Potential limitations to consider are capacity issues for Schools of Social Work, field sites, and field supervisors. The collective effort of dual-site field placement supports the rights and protections of children and families as we advocate for survivors’ rights, access to health and wellness care, and overall well being.