Social work has a special mission to alleviate and eradicate discrimination, to advocate for social and economic justice, and to work with individuals to improve their quality of life. Social work education is concerned with preparing students to do social work practice competently across populations and contexts (CSWE, 2008). In 2003–2004, Lambda Legal collaborated with the Child Welfare League of America to hold a number of listening forums examining the experience of LGBT youth in out-of-home care. Stakeholders, including LGBT youth and social work child welfare practitioners, were asked about casework and experiences with the child welfare system. During the sessions Lambda Legal found that youth and practitioners alike felt that social workers were not adequately prepared to work effectively with LGBT youth in out-of-home care (Woronoff, Estrada, & Sommer, 2006). These findings echo concerns in the social work literature about the treatment of sexual orientation and gender identity issues in social work education (e.g., Mackelprang, Ray, & Hernandez-Peck, 1996; McPhail, 2008; Morrow, 1996; Van Den Bergh & Crisp, 2004; Vanderwoerd, 2002; van Soest, 1996), as well as the environment in social work programs for lesbian and gay students (e.g., Martin, 1995; Messinger, 2004; Newman, Daley, & Bogo, 2009; Towns, 2006).
Social workers are often the frontline providers in child welfare, making it especially critical that they are prepared to work competently with LGBT youth in out-of-home care. These young people are highly vulnerable to discrimination and stigma (Mallon, 2001). The 2003–2004 listening forums provided insight into the frustrations and lack of preparation felt by both practitioners and clients (Woronoff et al., 2006). Although the 2001 and 2008 CSWE Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS; CSWE, 2001, 2008) require programs to attend to diversity in curriculum and program environment, the listening sessions suggested that practitioners need additional resources to provide effective services to LGBT youth in out-of-home care.
As part of an endeavor to improve the quality of social work services to LGBT youth in out-of-home care, Lambda Legal also collaborated in 2009 with the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) to develop a training curriculum on working with LGBT youth in out-of-home care settings (Elze & McHaelen, 2009) and gave advanced train-the-trainer education to 40 master trainers around the nation.1
The listening forums also suggested that, in the first instance, greater focus is needed on how well schools of social work are training their students to work with LGBT individuals. How much LGBT-related content is included in social work programs? What methods are used to train students? Social work education literature addresses these questions only in part. However, there has not been a recent national study of the breadth of student preparation that includes social work courses and the educational environment.
In 2007, Lambda Legal approached CSWE about conducting a study of social work programs that would fill this gap in the literature and provide critical information about additional resources needed to prepare students to provide competent and respectful services to LGBT individuals, especially LGBT youth in out-of-home care. A summary of findings from this study follows, along with recommendations for programs and steps CSWE will take to develop resources to assist in this work.