Social worker out to fill gaps in Bakken care - Billings Gazette
CROSBY, N. D. – A recent University of North Dakota graduate is helping fill a shortage of social workers in the Oil Patch, and now she hopes other students will join her. Skye Albert, who works as a social worker in Divide County, is the first UND graduate to benefit from a grant program designed to fill a need for child welfare workers in oil-producing counties. Sam Pulvermacher, director of social services for Divide County, had been the sole social worker in the county for about a year when Albert was hired. Now the agency has more resources, including someone who took over Divide County’s child-protective services cases along with cases in two other neighboring counties. But the region continues to have a shortage of social workers, which is what the grant program aims to alleviate, said Carenlee Barkdull, chairwoman of UND’s social work department. The $735,000 grant, awarded by the U. S. Children’s Bureau, helped Albert pay for her education and provided her a stipend during her internship with Divide County. Students who are selected to be part of the program through a competitive process commit to work in oil-impacted or underserved counties for at least one year. Source: billingsgazette.com
