The University of Minnesota Duluth (UMD) Department of Social Work provides support for a range of programs on the Duluth campus and at distance education sites in Bemidji and Hibbing through the Title IV-E partnership between the Minnesota Department of Human Services and the University of Minnesota. The UMD program, directed by UMD Professor Dennis Falk, has been developed and implemented in collaboration with St. Louis County Social Services, the Fond du Lac Reservation, the Grand Portage Reservation, local community agencies, Bemidji State University, and Arrowhead University Center at Hibbing Community College.

The UMD Center for Regional and Tribal Child Welfare Studies focuses on five component areas; Child Welfare Scholar Student Support, Curriculum Development and Delivery, Distance Education Program, and American Indian Child Welfare Projects. The objectives of the overall project are to:

• prepare advanced generalist practitioners with a focus on child welfare
• collaborate with practitioners to identify and address the child welfare training needs of the northern region of Minnesota
• recruit a cohort of professionals from county and tribal agencies across Northern Minnesota that serve families and children at risk
• provide support and advisement to child welfare scholars with an emphasis on American Indian scholars
• provide child welfare field placements and instruction in settings serving diverse populations
• strengthen the MSW curriculum through the infusion of child welfare theory, practice and research
• enhance the cultural exchange and learning of child welfare issues through the creation of seminars designed for tribal and county child welfare scholars across the region
• collaborate with Bemidji State University and Arrowhead University Center to provide a distance education program for regions north of Duluth.