Successful Title IV-E Prevention Services Programs begin with a determined agency, ready to overcome the challenges of marketing stipend programs and supporting young adults through all levels of their education. Building buy-in for supporting postsecondary education within the workforce not only increases passion for driving title IV-E programs in the short term—it also builds a culture that welcomes lived experts as they begin their own social work careers.

Those were the takeaways from the second episode in a two-part series focused on Kentucky's Child Welfare PREP program. The University of Kentucky's College of Social Work developed pathways to careers in social work for young adults in the child welfare system as well as a workforce ready to support them. These innovative approaches market stipend programs to eligible youth and deploy modernized trainings—even a virtual reality investigator simulation—to make sure new staff are well-equipped and well-deployed when they begin their careers.