Multidisciplinary Institute for Child Welfare

Multidisciplinary Institute for Child Welfare chart. The University of Minnesota School of Social Work hosts the Multidisciplinary Institute for Child Welfare, which consists of the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, Minn-LInK, and the Minnesota Child Welfare Training Acadmey — The Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy is a collaboration with the Child Safety and Permanency (CSP) Division at the Minnesota Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF).

The Multidisciplinary Institute for Child Welfare is located within the University of Minnesota’s School of Social Work and houses several dynamic research and training organizations, including the Center for Advanced Studies in Child Welfare, the Minnesota Linking Information for Kids Project, and the Minnesota Child Welfare Training Academy.

As a collective, we are dedicated to improving the knowledge, skills and well-being of the professionals who work with children and their families. We engage and connect a wide diversity of people and professions.

New Esther Wattenberg Conference Center

The new space opened in 2025 to provide functional training space for child welfare professionals.

The Multidisciplinary Institute for Child Welfare is excited to announce the new Esther Wattenberg Conference Center. In 2025, the new training space officially opened in the Rosewood Office Building in Roseville, MN, to help provide functional training space for child welfare professionals. Check out the video to learn more.

About the center

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Land and Labor Acknowledgment

We acknowledge that the university and the land on which it is located, is the unceded traditional, ancestral, and contemporary land of the Dakota people, who are the First People of Mni Sota Makoce. By offering this land acknowledgment we affirm tribal sovereignty and work to hold the University, ourselves, our learners, and our partners accountable to indigenous peoples and Nations.

Additionally, we make a labor acknowledgment to affirm that the culture, economic vibrancy, and growth of the United States, as we know it today, was created through the enslaved labor and sacrifices of Black Americans and their descendants.

Each of these acknowledgments are critical elements of our work within child welfare, knowing that the horrors of human trafficking and violence and trauma are part of our history and the area of practice in which we choose to be allies and helpers. May history teach us as it demands changes in our practice.