Prof. Springwater Retires from Board of Child Welfare League of America After 20 Years of Contributions
Julie Sweeney Springwater (SSW’94), an adjunct associate professor at Boston University School of Social Work, is retiring from the board of the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) after nearly two decades of service.
A coalition of hundreds of private and public agencies, the CWLA has served children and families since 1920.
Christine James-Brown, the president and CEO of CWLA, says, “It is difficult to condense into a few words a statement that describes the contribution that Julie Springwater has made to CWLA, its board, its agencies, and children and families that are vulnerable across the country. Julie has served on or led every major CWLA committee. She was board chair, vice chair and governance committee chair during one of the most challenging times for the organization.” Her leadership, James-Brown says, was thoughtful and inclusive.
“She understands how boards work and knows that organizations are at their best when they are well-governed. Beyond this, Julie always operated with professional integrity and never backed away from the challenges.”
Vicky Kelly, the board chair of CWLA and former child welfare director of Delaware, adds, “Julie exemplifies what it means to be a servant leader. Everything she does is about enriching the lives of individuals and families, building better and more inclusive organizations, and creating a more just and compassionate world.”
Springwater’s contributions to CWLA were recognized recently when the organization selected her to be one of three individuals invited to serve on the newly formed CWLA Chair’s Council which provides guidance and advice to the president and board chair on issues critical to its mission.
Springwater is an expert in child welfare, youth engagement, and nonprofit and public management. In addition to her work with CWLA, she serves as executive director of the New England Association of Child Welfare Commissioners and Directors at Judge Baker Children’s Center in Boston. She is also a member of the boards of the Massachusetts Network of Foster Care Alumni and USA Gymnastics, where she chairs the Safe Sport Committee.
In her faculty role at Boston University School of Social Work (BUSSW), Springwater teaches courses in human service management and strategic management, and is an advisor to on-campus students. She served as chair of the Macro Department from 2014-2019, and was director of the Human Service Management certificate program from 1996-2016. A BUSSW alum, she graduated from the Charles River Campus MSW program in 1994.
Springwater has received numerous awards for her practice and scholarship, including the 2018 Career Achievement Award from the National Staff Development and Training Association of the American Public Human Services Association; the Social Worker of the Year award from the Massachusetts Association of Professional Foster Care; and the Pride and Performance Award for Foster Parent Pre-Service Program from the Massachusetts Department of Social Services. Springwater is also a contributing writer and editor to numerous national and regional publications.
Prior to joining BUSSW as an adjunct faculty member in 1996, Springwater served as director of the Family Resource Training Institute for the Massachusetts Department of Social Services.