The purpose of the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) is to build the capacity of the nation’s child welfare workforce and improve outcomes for children and families. The NCWWI focuses on activities that support the development of child welfare leaders in public, private, and tribal child welfare systems. The NCWWI recognizes that child welfare leaders are change agents, and must possess certain competencies in order to do their jobs effectively and lead child welfare agencies into the future. Competencies are the knowledge, skills, and abilities that leaders acquire, and which are necessary to achieve job performance and attain agency goals. The NCWWI explored multiple competency models of leadership and adopted a competency framework that reflects the multi-dimensional nature of the child welfare field and the corresponding complex and diverse body of knowledge and skills. The following document describes the approach and resource documents used as the basis for the NCWWI competency framework. In addition, each competency is described in two parts: a definition and a proficiency ladder, with examples for each level.
