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The Partnership for Children has sponsored a number of professional exchanges since its formation in 1998. The early trips to Russia by American child welfare professionals and to the US by their Russian counterparts focused on how to set up a foster family care system. As foster families were recruited, trained and a foster care system took hold, our Russian colleagues began asking for dialogue about more advanced ideas in social work practice with families and children in crisis. In 2004 two professors of Social Work from the Greater Rochester Collaborative MSW program, a unique graduate program jointly sponsored by Nazareth College and SUNY Brockport, traveled to Novgorod to conduct a seminar on the most current ideas on working with families. The multi-day seminar was attended by about 30 psychologists and school personnel who work with families. Since that time several Russian child welfare staff have come to Rochester but an American presence in Novgorod has been lacking. In June the same two professors, Debra Fromm-Faria and Jed Metzger (a member of the Linkages Board and chair of the Partnership for Children) will return to Novgorod, again to meet with professionals. This time they will train on a nationally researched approach to working with families that emphasize making use of internal family resources and strengths as the engine for family healing. This approach may be especially useful in Russia where public resources to support families in their struggles are extremely limited.

 
For years, the Partnership on both sides of the ocean has discussed an exchange of students. This year that opportunity is being offered to social work students at Nazareth and SUNY Brockport. Jed and Debra have designed a special credit-bearing course that will include study in the US, the trip to Novgorod and a cross-cultural experience in social work practice. They expected two or three students to express an interest; at last count 15 students said they were prepared to take the course and travel to Novgorod! The trip will coincide with one of the special events planned for the 1150th anniversary of Novgorod. In June the city will celebrate “Hans Days,” to commemorate its participation in the Hanseatic League in the 14th and 15th centuries with special cultural and artistic events. A recent e-mail from Novgorod indicated that the psychology students at Novgorod State University were already preparing for the arrival of their fellow students. It should be a memorable experience for all those involved in this Partnership trip.