Earlier this month, the UW became a part of a new strategic approach aimed to improve the child welfare system in Washington and the lives of those who are part of it.

The organization, Partners for Our Children, uses a unique method for solving the problems within the system by incorporating the skills and services of the state, the UW and the private philanthropic community.

"It's the first of its kind," said Robin Arnold-Williams, secretary of the Washington State Department of Health and Social Services. "We don't know of any other partnership that brings all of these pieces together."

The UW is a major component in the partnership, as the organization is lodged in the School of Social Work.

"Part of our mission is to apply knowledge to solve social problems," said Edwina Uehara, dean of the School of Social Work. "[This is] what it means to be a great public research university."

The partnership will combine four different strategies: research and evaluation, funding, education and communication, all of which will be used to change the child welfare system.

Research will be a major component in understanding the challenges within child welfare, said Mark Courtney, director of Partners for Our Children and new faculty member of UW's School of Social Work.

"You have to understand the nature of the problem before you try to fix it," Courtney said.

Today there are 9,600 children in the state of Washington that cannot live at home with their own parents. According to Partners for Our Children's Web site, these children are more likely to face unemployment, poverty and problems with mental health later in life.

Funding through the donations of private donors is another important factor in the program. These private donations will give the partnership the independence to develop cutting-edge projects, reported the organization's Web site.

The partnership aims to provide more education and training for the work force, including foster parents and social workers, so they will be better able to support the children within the system, Courtney said.

Partners for Our Children plans to communicate what they learn to both policy makers and the general public. Through communication, the partnership hopes to educate the public and gain voter support while gaining a greater commitment from the public, said Uehara.

"These are our children. We've taken them away from their families," said Courtney. "Most people don't understand that."

While it took 10 months for the partnership to become established, it is expected that it will be a much longer period of time before results are seen.

"It will be a while — many years — before we really begin to see a large impact," Uehara said. "The system won't be refined tomorrow. It's a long-term project."

The main goal of the partnership is to benefit the children within the system, Uehara said. However, birth parents, foster parents and the general public of Washington will also see results.

"There isn't a segment of society that won't benefit from an improvement in child welfare," Uehara said. "Woes go beyond kids and families."

Reach reporter Shauna Nuckles at news@thedaily.washington.edu.