Child Advocacy Studies
The Child Advocacy Studies minor provides students with knowledge and skills to deliver high quality services to children, youth and their families. The program’s goal is to prepare emerging practitioners to work effectively within various child-serving organizations and institutions. The program includes a focus on immigrant children and their families as well as children who are at risk or who have been impacted by violence and trauma. It also includes collaborative relationships with community-based providers that directly serve children and their families.
Shannon Saszik, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Psychology, Chair
Core Faculty
Catherine Korda, MSW, LCSW, Senior Instructor, Coordinator of CAST
Rachel Birmingham-Hoel, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Justice Studies
JeNai Stanley, MEd, Instructor, Justice Studies
Christopher Merchant, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Psychology
Molly Benning, M.A., LPC, ALMFT, Adjunct Instructor, Counselor Education
CAST-210. Children And Poverty. 3 Hours.
This course examines causes and consequences of childhood poverty in the United States. The impacts of poverty on physical, emotional, behavioral, academic and social outcomes will be explored. Further, the intersectional nature of poverty will be addressed, with focus given to how poverty differentially impacts women, girls and children of color. Strategies that successfully promote resiliency amongst children living in poverty will be identified.
CAST-301. Introduction To Child Advocacy Studies. 3 Hours.
This course provides a survey of the emerging field of Child Advocacy Studies, which researches and seeks remedies for the maltreatment of children and youth, including specific acts of violence and neglect, in the context of the pernicious effects of racism, poverty, sexism, and heterosexism, including the unique problems faced by immigrant and displaced children. The course examines the various economic, political, social and cultural circumstances that may contribute to the abuse and maltreatment of children and youth. It also teaches students about the strategies and tactics used by various local governmental and nongovernmental agencies, courts and medical establishments to address these problems.
CAST-302. Child Advocacy Studies: Youth, Risk, & Resilience. 3 Hours.
This course is designed to provide the student with a survey of the various psychosocial, developmental, and public health difficulties that are faced by children and adolescents with specific focus on prevention and intervention strategies that are being employed by mental health and social service professionals at both community and societal levels. This course will also introduce the student to the ways that prevention/intervention strategies are developed, employed, and evaluated.
Prerequisite: CAST-301 with a minimum grade of C.
CAST-303. Child Advocacy Studies: Assessment And Intervention. 3 Hours.
This course focuses on a combination of knowledge and skills necessary to provide direct service to children and families. The course supports students in gaining a beginning level of mastery in interviewing, assessment, and intervention in order to serve children, youth, and families in a variety of contexts, with a particular focus on issues of trauma and adverse childhood experiences. Students will gain knowledge in assessing for risk as well as for strengths and protective factors. In addition, the course considers both best practices for micro-level interventions as well as macro-level interventions to create systemic change.
Prerequisite: CAST-301 with a minimum grade of C and CAST-302 with a minimum grade of C.
CAST-304. CAST Internship Seminar. 3 Hours.
The focus of the CAST seminar course is to increase the student's sense of confidence in practicing as beginning level practitioners. This goal is achieved by building the student's awareness of her/his own strengths and limitations as a worker, along with the integration of knowledge, values and skills used in the generalist approach to practice with children, adolescents, and their families. Utilizing a collaborative supervision model, this experiential course supports students in achieving further mastery in the knowledge and skills obtained throughout the CAST coursework.
Prerequisite: CAST-301 with a minimum grade of C and CAST-302 with a minimum grade of C and CAST-303 with a minimum grade of C.
CAST-324. Black Girlhood Studies. 3 Hours.
This course examines the complexities of Black girlhood, particularly from the perspectives of Black girls and women. From an examination of adultification to early hypersexualization, this course offers a critical analysis of the various aspects and dynamics Black girlhood, and how concepts of race/ethnicity, class, gender, sexuality, and ability specifically impact Black girls. This course spans a wide range of topics, from schooling experiences and representation of Black girlhood in popular culture, to the ways in which Black girls exert radical and humanizing agency -- as artists, scholars, activists, and more, reframing dominant narratives about themselves and their communities.
Prerequisite: (100 - 399 or 100A - 399Z).