Programs

Bachelor of Arts in Child Advocacy

The Center for Child Advocacy at Montclair State University is proud to offer the Bachelor of Arts in Child Advocacy. 

The Bachelor of Arts in Child Advocacy will offer students an applied course of study in child advocacy.  As an emerging discipline, child advocacy includes part of several disciplines which will prepare students to advocate for children in a multitude of ways.  The program offers:

• A multidisciplinary view of the field of child advocacy through course work taught through the lens of psychology, social work and law

·         The opportunity for students to pursue bachelor level, entry level positions in public child welfare, child mental health, educational advocacy, among others

·         The requisite knowledge and outlook in child advocacy to help students as they pursue masters and doctoral programs in preparation for other careers as well as the new and emerging field of child advocacy 

The Bachelor of Arts in Child Advocacy consists of 33 credits. 

Students may earn an Undergraduate Certificate in Child Advocacy by completing the courses asterisked below for a total of 15 credits.

** CHAD 210 is approved as a Gen Ed course

Required Courses:                                                                           30 credits                                     

Electives                                                                                              3 credits    

Total credit hours………...........................................................……………..33 credits

Course Descriptions:  (required  courses)

CHAD   100 Introduction to Child Advocacy
This course will provide students with an overview of the field of child advocacy.  The role of the child advocate will be explored in a myriad of professional settings, with particular emphasis on New Jersey.  Ethical, legal, and professional responsibilities will be discussed. 

CHAD   200 Ecological Systems and the Developing Child
This course will provide students with an understanding of various levels of the child’s environment that impact on normal development from infancy through adolescence, with a particular focus on sources of resiliency that are most germane to current child advocacy efforts in child protection, education, and juvenile justice.

CHAD  202 Cultural Competencies in Child Welfare
This course will identify the three components of cultural competency that have been identified in the child welfare field:  value base, knowledge, and skills.  The course will focus on enabling students to examine the values that are necessary for a culturally competent understanding and response to child welfare, specifically, accepting the existence of biases and developing a commitment to a strengths-based model that relies on respect and working toward empowerment as a goal for intervention.  Culture is defined broadly, and the course will expose students to a range of belief systems common in different groups concerning child rearing and child maltreatment.

CHAD  210 Child Abuse and Neglect
This course will provide students with an understanding of the development and behavior of children with special emphasis on issues related to abuse and neglect.  Normative and psychopathological models of child rearing will be compared and contrasted.  Recent developments in the field of child abuse and neglect will be explored, with particular emphasis on primary prevention.

CHAD  212 Children and Justice
This course provides a multi-systemic view of child welfare issues. It reviews and discusses children’s rights from a systems perspective.  Societal issues of poverty, violence and isolation within a historical context are explored.  The course explores advocacy protocols and practice. 

CHAD  300 Interviewing Skills for the Child Advocate
This course will provide an investigation and analysis of the process and nature of different forms of interviewing techniques.  It will explore the intra-personal and interpersonal aspects of the communication process, particularly with children.  A framework for interviewing individuals from diverse backgrounds will be examined.

CHAD  302 Public Child Welfare
This course will provide an examination of the field of Public Child Welfare, its historical roots and the contemporary systems that have evolved to serve the needs of children at risk.  This course will provide an in-depth study of provisions made to respond to the needs of children, youth, and families for whom protection and advocacy are required to ensure their survival and quality of life.

CHAD   310 Child Welfare Research and Evaluation
This course will provide students with an overview of research processes and methods, focusing on program evaluation within the child welfare system.  Students will develop skills on how to appropriately interpret empirical research as well as how to apply research to best practices in child welfare.

CHAD  420 Practicum in Child Welfare
This course will provide students with a supervised field placement in an agency engaged in child advocacy.  The seminar will provide classroom instruction and discussion about issues related to the students’ placements.  Site supervisors will provide guidance and supervision regarding the tasks assigned.

CHAD  470 Seminar in Child Advocacy
This course is designed to meet the needs of undergraduate students who are exploring the field of child advocacy and its relationship to other disciplines that serve the needs of children and families.  This course will rely on specialists in the field to present research, knowledge of their field, opportunities and entry level requirements involved in becoming a professional in the student’s area of interest.

Course Descriptions: (Electives) 

CHAD  340 Current Social Issues in Child Advocacy
This course will review and discuss selected problems of social disorganization in the context of the family.  It will take a multidisciplinary approach in examining family problems related to poverty, drug abuse, and violence.  It will explore the causation of delinquency and examine the fragmentation of the family system.

POLS  205 Introduction to Public Administration
Literature and developments in the field of public administration; the federal bureaucracy in the policy- making process.

POLS  304 State and Local Administration
State political sub-systems, including their administrative and local sub-systems, federal- state relations, political institutions and groups in the states and in New Jersey.  This course helps students understand lawmaking and enforcement as functions of state and local governments.

POLS  310 Public Personnel Administration
The problems and processes in the U.S. of public personnel administration at the state and local level.

JURI  210 United States Legal System
This core course within the Jurisprudence major provides a fundamental understanding of the principles, ideologies, and political movements that have shaped American law and procedure.  It explores the evolution of the theory and scholarship of American law from its inception to the present.  Through historical and contemporary readings and classroom discussion, students will consider: the origin of law, the nature of social and political rights, as well as the reciprocal effects of law and social institutions upon one another.  Students will analyze legal opinions, statues, treaties, conventions, regulations and essays in the context of issues such as capital punishment, euthanasia, abortion, and civil rights.

LSLW  302 Legal Research
Study of principles, methods and applications of legal research.  Exploration of sources of law including case law, statutory law, and administrative regulations.  The use of a law library.  Familiarization with computer- assisted legal research. 

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