Please take a moment to view an important joint video message from the
Clinical Social Work Association and the National Association of Social Workers.

Send a letter to your Senators in support of the Social Work Reinvestment Act!
http://capwiz.com/socialworkers/issues/bills/?bill=11274081

Send a letter to your Representative in support of the Social Work Reinvestment Act!
http://capwiz.com/socialworkers/issues/bills/?bill=11030061

Learn more about the Social Work Reinvestment Initiative:
www.socialworkreinvestment.org

Visit the Clinical Social Work Association:
www.clinicalsocialworkassociation.org

Visit the National Association of Social Workers:
www.socialworkers.org

Take Action!

On September 17, 2008, the House of Representatives unanimously passed H.R. 6893, the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act (H.R. 6893), by voice vote. This legislation targets specific deficiencies in the child welfare system and addresses some of the most important needs affecting foster children in America today, including extending federal foster care payments up to 21 years old, providing federal support for relatives caring for foster children, increasing access to foster care and adoption services to Native American tribes, and improving the oversight of the health and education needs of children in foster care. Major provisions of the bill include:

1. Helping Relatives Care For Foster Children – Continues federal assistance (at state option) to relatives assuming legal guardianship of eligible children for whom they have cared for as foster parents. Authorizes Family Connection Grants to increase involvement of relatives as caregivers and help them navigate public programs. Requires notification of close relatives when children are placed in foster care.

2. Extending Assistance to Foster Youth Up to the Age of 21 – Extends federal foster care payments up to the age of 19, 20 or 21 (at state option) for children living in supervised settings. Require youth receiving such assistance to be in school, work, or related activity. Extends adoption assistance and guardianship payments up to age 19, 20, or 21 (at state option) for children adopted or entering guardianship after attaining the age of 16.

3. Expanding Training Funds – Expands coverage of federal funds for the training of child welfare workers to include private agencies approved by the state.

4. Improving Oversight of Health Care – Includes overseeing plans for the health care needs of foster children, accounting for the assessment and treatment of health conditions and ensuring the continuity of care, medical records, and prescription drugs.

5. Promoting Educational Stability – Requires plan for ensuring the educational stability of children in foster care and mandate assurance of school attendance.

6. Increasing Aid for Tribal Foster Care – Provides direct federal foster care and adoption funding to tribal governments for children in their care. (more…)

Take Action!

Background
Last year the House passed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act (H.R. 2381/S. 1843). Sen. Kennedy introduced S. 1843 on July 20, 2007. It currently has 45 cosponsors. The Senate may bring this bill to a vote in the next couple of weeks.

Lilly Ledbetter is a woman who was denied her fair pay claim because the Supreme Court held that the discrimination began too long before she filed a complaint. Ms. Ledbetter did not file a claim sooner because she was unaware of the discrimination. As soon as she discovered the discrimination, she filed a law suit. This bill would allow individuals to sue for long term unfair pay because it considers each time a person is paid as a new violation of rights.

The bill amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to declare that an unlawful employment practice occurs when an unequal pay decision is adopted, when an individual becomes subject to the decision or practice, or when an individual is affected by application of the decision or practice, including each time compensation is paid. The bill accrues liability and allows an aggrieved person to obtain relief including recovery of back pay for up to two years preceding the filing of the charge, where the unlawful employment practice that has occurred during the charge filing period is similar or related to a practice that occurred outside the charge filing period.

Action Needed
A vote could occur any day now. Please call your Senators and urge them to vote yes on S. 1843, The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act. Let your Senators know that you are a constituent and a social worker requesting their support for better laws protecting women and minorities who are discriminated on the job for pay. Click on Take Action and the CapWiz system will provide you with the phone numbers of your Senators and a script to use when making the calls.

Take Action

New York Representative Edolphus Towns recently introduced, “Increased Student Achievement Through Increased Student Support Act (H.R.6654),” a bill that will have a tremendous impact on the lives of children by creating a better trained and prepared school social work workforce to address the psychosocial and emotional issues that can impede educational performance. Our nation currently faces a serious shortage of qualified school-employed professionals, putting students with issues that interfere with learning at greater risk for school failure.

The “Increased Student Achievement through Increased Student Support Act” seeks to address this shortage. It creates a federal grant program designed to increase the number of school social workers, school counselors, and school psychologists serving low-income local educational agencies (LEAs) by creating a pipeline between institutions of higher education and low-income school districts. Institutions of higher education with graduate training programs in school social work, school counseling, and school psychology that develop collaborative training and placement partnerships with LEA’s will be eligible to apply for federal grant funds to hire and pay participating graduates to work in those schools. Program participants who remain employed in a low-income school setting for a minimum of five years will be eligible for loan forgiveness. By expanding the number of school social workers in low-income, high-need schools, we can improve the school and life success for students throughout the country.

Action Needed:

Please contact your Representative and urge them to co-sponsor the “Increased Student Achievement Through Increased Student Support Act.” Click on the Take Action button to be directed to a page where you enter your zip code to get the phone number of your Representative. Let them know that you are a social worker who is committed to improving the lives of our nation’s children and you look forward to passage of this important legislation.

Thanks for your advocacy.

Nancy McFall Jean, MSW
NASW Lobbyist

Take Action - Ask Your Senators to Vote for S. 3335 on the Floor

The U.S. Senate may consider legislation to improve insurance coverage for mental health and addiction treatment as early as tomorrow, Tuesday, July 29. Please phone your Senators with the quick message below urging them to support this critical mental health and addictions treatment legislation.

Background:
The Senate leadership has added the mental health parity bill for private insurance negotiated between the House and the Senate to another bill, S. 3335, an unrelated tax extenders package. Please contact your Senators and ask them to vote yes on S. 3335 when it comes to the floor of the Senate.

Action Requested:
NASW members should telephone both of their Senators to urge they pass S. 3335, including the Mental Health Parity Act of 2008 (S. 558). Click on take action above. You will be directed to a page where you can enter your zip code into a box  to be directed to the phone numbers for your Senators. We are targeting all members of the Senate with the following message:
“I am a constituent, professional social worker and member of the National Association of Social Workers. The Mental Health Parity Act of 2008 (S. 558) will provide critical health care protection for 113 million Americans. Please vote for S. 3335, the tax extenders package, which includes this vital mental health legislation.  The Senate must pass lifesaving mental health and addiction parity legislation included in the bill before the August recess.”

Thank you for supporting this critical piece of NASW’s legislative agenda.

For Immediate Release: July 17, 2008

Washington—In a milestone victory, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) commends the U.S. Senate and House for overriding President Bush’s veto of the Medicare legislation, H.R. 6331, restoring funding for clinical social work payments cut in 2007 and greatly improving coverage of outpatient psychotherapy services. The final House vote on the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 was 383 to 41 and 70 to 26 in the Senate. Numerous Republicans joined united Democrats in overriding the veto.

“NASW is thrilled that mental services are finally receiving full recognition by this Congress,” noted Dr. Elizabeth Clark, executive director of NASW.  “We thank the thousands of NASW advocates who contacted their Senators and Representatives to support passage of the bill.”

The new law contains a rate increase for psychotherapy services cut in 2007.  The Medicare package was designed primarily to halt a scheduled 10.6% cut in all Part B provider payment rates, but the new law also contains little noticed mental health coverage improvements. Among these are a rate increase for clinical social workers billing Part B and a critical Medicare coinsurance parity provision that reduces beneficiary cost-sharing by 5% per year from 50% currently down to 20% in 2014 - reaching full parity with other Medicare outpatient benefits. This is a crucial legislative goal long sought by NASW and other mental health groups.

“Given strong pressure from the White House to narrow the bill, this is a huge victory for clinical social workers and psychologists who worked hard to restore psychotherapy rates in Medicare,” says Jim Finley, NASW lobbyist.  “The sentiment of mental health advocates on final passage was exuberant, as this is a major victory on Medicare’s outpatient mental health benefit.”

Clinical social worker and psychology rates will increase for psychotherapy and related services by 5% (adding $45 million in new spending) for 18 months from July 1, 2008 through December 31, 2009. This psychotherapy rate increase is above the rate given to other medical services under Part B, which all clinicians, including social workers will receive.

The law also provides for Medicare coinsurance parity on mental health services, reducing beneficiaries’ copayments by 5% per year, reducing the rate from 50% to 45% in 2009 and finally reaching 20% in 2014 – achieving full parity with Medicare outpatient benefits. This legislative goal has been supported by NASW and other mental health advocates since Medicare was enacted in 1965. In addition, the law postpones a rate cut for 18 months beginning July 1, 2008 and increases payments for all providers by 1.1% for 2009, including clinical social workers participating in Part B.

Contact: Allison Nadelhaft
202-336-8228
anadelhaft@naswdc.org

Theresa Spinner
202-408-8600 x468
tspinner@naswdc.org

Yesterday we asked you to contact your Members of Congress about H.R. 6331, the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008. Thanks to those of you who responded, we won the vote 355-59. We only needed 290 votes to win.  [Click here for more information on the Victory]

Call House Speaker Nancy Pelosi TODAY and ask her to keep the regulatory moratorium on all seven harmful Medicaid regulations in the Supplemental Spending Bill now moving to the House floor. The “Supplemental Spending Bill” refers to a short term funding bill paying for the Iraq war and a variety of urgent domestic spending needs. Whether you support the war or not, this is our best legislative opportunity to get the Medicaid moratoria passed and signed by the President. Advocates around the country are contacting the Speaker with this short message below.

Message: Please contact Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) by Tuesday afternoon, June 10, and urge her to “keep all seven Medicaid rule moratoria in the Supplemental Spending Bill.” E-mail her at AmericanVoices@mail.house.gov or call the Capitol switchboard toll free at 866-340-9281, and ask for the Speaker’s Office to leave her the voice message quoted above.

Background

This week House leaders struck a tentative deal under which three of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Medicaid regulations - targeted case management (TCM), provider taxes, and outpatient clinics- would be stripped from the Medicaid moratorium package in the supplemental appropriations bill nearing the House floor. Four other Medicaid rule moratoria would remain in the supplemental bill, these include protections for administrative and transportation claiming and rehabilitation services, all are important to social workers in some states and settings. However, NASW and its coalition partners urgently seek inclusion of all seven Medicaid rules in the moratorium package. We are particularly concerned with restoring the moratorium on the targeted case management rule to the supplement spending package. If restored, this rule on case management services would protect professional social worker services now offered in many states. NASW has detailed background information on the Medicaid rule moratorium bill on our Advocacy webpage at:

http://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/alerts/2008/032608.asp

Thank you for your support of social worker services.

For further information, contact Jim Finley at NASW: jfinley@naswdc.org

Send a letter to YOUR Senators in support of S. 2858!

WASHINGTON—In concert with a global celebration of the social work profession, two U.S. Senators, who are also trained social workers, have introduced legislation that will help the nation’s 600,000 professional social workers better serve families and communities in need.  Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-MD) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) today introduced S. 2858—the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act—to address a nationwide shortage of social workers.

Additional original co-sponsors of the Senate bill include Senators Daniel K. Inouye (D-HI) and Gordon H. Smith (R-OR). Congressman Ed Towns (D-NY) introduced a companion bill in the U.S. House of Representatives in February, which now has more than 45 co-sponsors.

Both Senate and House bills seek to create a Social Work Reinvestment Commission to study policy issues associated with recruitment, retention, research and reinvestment in the profession of social work. Specifically, the Commission will study how issues such as fair market compensation, educational debt, labor trends, knowledge development, workplace safety, and state-level licensure have impacted the social work workforce.

In addition, the bill’s proposed demonstration programs would fund competitive grants in the areas of workplace improvements; research, education and training; and community-based programs of excellence. These grants will support efforts underway within the private and public sectors, in the post-doctoral research community, at institutions of higher learning, and within community-based organizations. For more information, please visit www.SocialWorkReinvestment.org

“I’m fighting to address the social worker shortage, not just as the Senator from Maryland who is standing up for her constituents, but also as a professionally trained social worker. I have provided these very services and realize what will happen if my constituents cannot get them,” said Senator Mikulski. “I will continue to fight for social workers and the people who rely on the critical work they provide to our nation’s most vulnerable citizens.”

“As a certified social worker, I know firsthand how critically important their skills are to communities,” said Senator Stabenow.  “Without trained social workers, individuals in dire need of health, educational and family support services simply fall through the cracks unserved. This legislation brings much needed funding to stem this shortage of social workers and the vital services which they provide.”

Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers, said, “We are honored that two of the most distinguished members of the U.S. Senate are providing leadership for this campaign. Investments were once made to educate and train the social work workforce.  In recent decades, though, such support has been limited, and the profession has found it increasingly difficult to recruit new social workers and to retain experienced social workers. America’s professional social workers need greater support to continue providing millions of struggling individuals and families with valuable mental health, social, and psychosocial services.”

Dear Colleague,

Over the years, NASW has asked you to speak out on behalf of many causes and issues. You have always risen to the occasion. Significant strides have been made in areas such as children’s health care, employment nondiscrimination, and fair pay legislation.  Your advocacy has resulted in the enhanced mental health, social and psychosocial functioning of clients across the country.

I am calling on you today, however, to ask each of you to take a small action, that when combined, can ensure the future of the profession.

On February 14, 2008 the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act (H.R. 5447) was introduced in the United States House of Representatives by Congressman and fellow social worker Edolphus Towns (D-NY) along with original cosponsors Rep. Christopher Shays (R-CT), Rep. Susan Davis (D-CA), Rep. Ciro Rodriguez (D-TX), Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA), Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), and Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-OH).

This groundbreaking legislation bears the names of two of the United States’ greatest social justice advocates and social workers and serves as an investment in the professionals that will care for the millions of aging baby boomers, wounded veterans, the ever-increasing numbers of people diagnosed with cancer, over six million youth with a serious mental illness, and the millions of people living with HIV/AIDS among others. Yet, insurmountable education debt, insufficient salaries, and serious safety concerns are threatening the profession.  The Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act (H.R. 5447)will explore the many successful efforts already undertaken by our nation’s social workers, while examining the persistent challenges to these efforts. 

Social work has always been at the forefront of ensuring that the most vulnerable in society have a safety net of protection. Our communities are in need, more than ever for vital services provided by over 600,000 social workers across the nation.  Passage of this legislation is crucial to ensure an adequate social work workforce.  The future of this profession depends on the steps that we take to reinvest in it today.  We cannot make this happen without the assistance of every one of our members across the country. 

Please help us ensure that the profession of social work will grow and thrive in the coming decades. I am asking you as a leader in the profession, to encourage your Representative to cosponsor H.R. 5447 today by clicking here http://capwiz.com/socialworkers/issues/bills/?bill=11013991.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Franklin at (202) 408-8600 ext. 537 or efranklin@naswdc.org.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH
NASW Executive Director