Each year the state agency shall gather data and make a determination about the status of the child welfare/child protection job market. After reviewing data, the State agency will issue instructions on how graduating stipend students shall proceed with their required job search.  

Metro area: After consulting with county agencies and university partners, the State agency has determined this year to be a high vacancy job market in the metro area (MACSSA Region 5 - Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott and Washington) whereby most IV-E scholars should be able to find employment in a tier one position. As a result, a staggered job search will be required. This means graduate and undergraduate students will be required to submit a rigorous 3 month search for tier one positions in their specified geographic search parameters (within 50 miles of their post-graduation home location). If after completing a 3 month tier one job search a student does not secure a tier one child welfare position, graduate students will then be allowed to search for and accept a tier two position during their second 3 month job search. 

Outside of Metro Area: After consulting with county agencies and university partners, the State agency has determined this year to be a low vacancy job market outside of the metro area.  As a result, a concurrent job search will be allowed. This means that graduate and undergraduate students may search concurrently for both tier one and tier two positions in their specified geographic search parameters (within 50 miles of their post-graduation home location) during their initial 3 month search period. Graduate students will be required to complete a total of six months documenting a rigorous concurrent search (unless eligible employment is secured prior to the end of the required search period).

For IV-E scholars whose search radius includes both metro and non-metro areas, they will search the metro area as a high vacancy market and the non-metro area as a low vacancy market as defined above.

**On-line Tool to determine a 50 mile radius county search: https://www.statsamerica.org/radius/big.aspx

Internship Placements 

Universities should first work to secure tier one internships for undergraduate and graduate IV-E students to complete in the 2025-26 academic year. In addition, we acknowledge that placing IV-E undergraduate and graduate students in tier one agencies for their required internship placements may be difficult in the coming year as agencies continue to rebuild their staffing capacity. If universities experience difficulty in finding placement options, please reach out to Child Welfare Education Partnership Coordinator, Melissa Mendez, to request exceptions or ask for assistance in seeking appropriate internship placement options.