Rural Child Welfare Practice: Stories from the Field

Drawn from real stories of rural child welfare practice, Rural Child Welfare Practice displays lessons learned from people working in the services field of child welfare. The casebook has 18 chapters illustrating rural child welfare practice rewards, challenges, strategies, and practice wisdom. Case vignettes include racial, ethnic, religious, sexual orientation, and rural diversity, with particular attention to working with Native Americans/American Indians as well as First Nation (Canada) and Aborigine (Australia) people. The book also covers a wide range of child welfare services - such as protective services, kinship care, and adoption - through a variety of perspectives. It is particularly useful for students, professionals, and educators exploring what today's rural child welfare experts say must happen to engage in effective rural child welfare practice with children and families.

Joanne Riebschleger, PhD, LMSW, ACSW, is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work at
Michigan State University. For over two decades, she practiced rural social work with children and
families. She is a consultant to a national child welfare workforce development project and served as
past Vice President to the National Rural Social Work Caucus. She has been a social work educator for
nearly two decades.

Barbara Pierce, PhD, LCSW, ACSW, is an Associate Professor at the Indiana University School of Social Work. She has over 30 years of social work experience working with children, youth, and families. Despite her urban upbringing and education, she practiced for most of her career in small towns and rural communities in Indiana and Louisiana and has developed a deep respect for those communities and the people who live in them. She has been a social work educator for 17 years.