Nominate a social worker for the Sarah Duncan Champion for Children and Families Award
In memory of one of California's outstanding social workers, Sarah Duncan, Human Services at UC Davis Continuing and Professional Education is seeking your assistance in recognizing and honoring Northern California child welfare social workers who reflect passion, skill and tireless commitment to working to improve outcomes for children and families. This is an excellent opportunity to focus on and to celebrate the hard work that goes into this vital profession, and to cherish those who have made it their life's work to improve the lives of others.
Please take a few minutes to make someone's week, year or even career
Sarah Duncan was a passionate advocate for children, youth and families who made significant, lasting contributions to Child and Family Teaming in California. Sarah embodied and championed authentic engagement and teaming in child welfare social work.
- Think about a social worker you have known or worked with, and identify who you think reflects Sarah Duncan's passion, commitment and skill for engagement and teaming with children, youth and families in child welfare.
- Submit a nomination form. Describe why this social worker is a strong representative of child welfare practice related to engaging and teaming with children, youth and families (e.g., share a success story about their work with a particularly challenging situation or client, share specific examples of how they are an example of best practice in family engagement, etc.).
Please Don’t Wait. Nominate!
The deadline for this year’s nomination cycle is March 10 and is fast approaching! Our goal is to announce winners throughout National Social Work Month in March.
Just as this important work has no true end, we will gladly accept nominations for the following award cycle beyond March 10, but we recommend you act now. If the loss of Sarah Duncan has taught us anything, it's that we should not wait too long to share our gratitude. Nominate someone today!
Once a nomination is received, we’ll reach out to you if we need additional information, including a photo of the nominated social worker, if selected. Selected social workers will be recognized throughout March through featured profiles on our website, social media and email communications.
Nominations are open for nominees in the following counties who are part of the Northern Academy service area: Alpine, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Colusa, Del Norte, El Dorado, Glenn, Humboldt, Inyo, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Modoc, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Plumas, Sacramento, Shasta, Sierra, Siskiyou, Sutter, Tehama, Trinity, Tuolumne, Yolo, Yuba, and the Karuk and Yurok Tribes.
About Sarah Duncan
Sarah Duncan, M.S.W., spent more than 22 years working with children and families in the foster care system, the latter 13 years working within county child welfare systems in Nevada and Sacramento Counties in the role of a social worker, supervisor and manager She was hired as a UC Davis Human Services instructor in 2018, then joined the staff of the Northern Academy in April 2020. In 2021, Sarah lost a nine-month battle with cancer, but her legacy and memory lives on in those who worked with her throughout her more than a quarter-century of service to children and families. Words like "engaging," "passionate," "champion," "inspiration," and "above and beyond" are not difficult to come by when talking to anyone who had the pleasure of knowing and working with Sarah. She was an incredibly bright, creative and giving person – an articulate, passionate advocate who was deeply committed to improving outcomes for vulnerable children, adults and families.
She was a bright light in the world. She is deeply missed, but never forgotten.