Research and Scholarly Excellence

For the past 10 years, the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) has partnered with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) to evaluate and strengthen the Child Protection Training Academy (CPTA), a statewide simulation training program for newly hired child protection specialists. Together, the partnership has helped prepare thousands of workers to enter the field with greater confidence, competence, and readiness to protect children and support families.

Launched in 2016, CPTA was designed to address limitations of traditional classroom training by giving trainees opportunities to practice real-world child protection skills in a safe, structured environment. Through realistic simulations, mock homes, trained actors, medical and courtroom professionals, and guided debriefing, participants experience the complexities of child protection investigations before entering the field. Trainees have the opportunity to conduct their first home visit, negotiate entry into a family's home, carry out a scene investigation, communicate with medical professionals, interview parents, take protective custody, and testify in a shelter hearing—all within a supportive learning environment that prepares them for the realities of the job before they encounter these high-stakes situations in practice.

Over the decade, the program has evolved from a single training site to a statewide model operated through multiple university partners. It also adapted during the COVID-19 pandemic, shifting to virtual and hybrid formats before returning to fully in-person training in 2025. Throughout these changes, the program’s mission has remained constant: preparing a competent and confident workforce through a strength-based, trauma-informed, family-centered approach.

CFRC’s role has extended beyond evaluation. Through ongoing collaboration with DCFS and training teams, CFRC has helped translate research findings into practice improvements. Regular meetings, data collection, and applied research have informed program enhancements, new simulation scenarios, and training innovations. Evaluation findings have been used to improve trainee experiences and support workforce development efforts across Illinois.

Research consistently shows that simulation training increases trainees’ confidence in key child protection skills, including safety assessment, family engagement, information gathering, and courtroom testimony. CFRC studies also found that participants develop metacompetence, or the ability to apply knowledge and skills effectively in practice, through experiential learning and debriefing. High trainee satisfaction ratings and steady gains in confidence have been documented throughout the program’s history.

The impact of the partnership has reached beyond DCFS. CFRC has secured additional grant funding to evaluate simulation training programs for children’s advocacy center multidisciplinary teams and adult protective services workers, with findings demonstrating similar benefits. Illinois remains the only state to provide full-scale simulation training statewide for all newly hired child protection specialists, making the program a national model for child welfare workforce development.

Looking ahead, DCFS will further expand simulation training beginning in FY2027 by integrating eight simulation days throughout a redesigned 12-week Foundation Training program. CFRC looks forward to continuing its close collaboration with CPTAs and advancing evaluation studies that strengthen the child welfare workforce and inform practice.