Christopher Wirt, LCSW-C, MSW '03
Christopher Wirt, LCSW-C, MSW '03
Director of Title IV-Education for Public Child Welfare
University of Maryland School of Social Work
Christopher Wirt is the current Director of Title IV-Education for Public Child Welfare at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. Chris has been a part of the University of Maryland Title IV-E Program since 2011, where he has served in roles as a seminar leader, trainer, assistant director and acting director of the program. In addition to his work in Title IV-E, Chris teaches courses focusing on Child Welfare Practice and Motivational Interviewing.
Before joining the University, Chris worked in direct practice for ten years in Maryland’s Child Welfare system, where he worked primarily with teenagers in foster care, followed by six years of supervising the Adoption Unit at the Anne Arundel County Department of Social Services.
Chris has been a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers (MINT) since 2018 and has offered MI Training to a wide variety of professionals, focusing primarily on using MI in a Child Welfare setting. In providing this training, he has enhanced the training with the innovative use of Standardized Clients to allow students the opportunity to learn, practice, and be tested on their clinical skills in a simulated setting.
Chris has presented at national conferences on topics related to Motivational Interviewing and Child Welfare and has numerous professional publications, including co-authoring a chapter in Child and Family-Serving Systems: A Compendium of Policy and Practice, which is pending publication by the Child Welfare League of America and The Ohio State University.
