Salem, Oregon – Gov. Kate Brown has announced a bold plan to improve the lives of Oregon’s foster children. Gov. Brown has called on the legislature to spend $14.5 million this biennium to hire 185 new staff members at the Department of Human Services (DHS), including 75 social workers. This comes on the heels of an audit released by Secretary ... Read More »
By Alison Laurio, News contributor Humans understood the power of words to heal long before they could write them. The holy men of primitive peoples chanted poetry for the good of their tribes and its members. Later in human history, in the fourth millennium B.C. in Ancient Greece, words were used as medicine when they were written on papyrus. The ... Read More »
Dear NASW Member, The National Association of Social Workers – Florida Chapter (NASW-FL) offers its heartfelt condolences to the students, staff and families of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. We share your loss and grief at the senseless tragedy. The outpouring of community support has been outstanding in providing support to the students, faculty, staff and families. The ... Read More »
By Alison Laurio, News contributor “Goodbye to all my dear friends and family that I love. Today is the day I have chosen to pass away with dignity in the face of my terminal illness, this terrible brain cancer that has taken so much from me … but would have taken so much more.” “The world is a beautiful place, ... Read More »
The NASW-Illinois Chapter expresses its deepest condolences to the family of Pamela Knight. Ms. Knight died last week as a result of injuries suffered during an attack on her in September 2017 while working to protect children in her capacity as an investigator for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS). Every day social workers across the United ... Read More »
By Paul R. Pace, News staff A key step in implementing solutions for the opioid overdose epidemic was reached in San Diego in October where days later the opioid crisis was officially declared a national public health emergency. Seventy representatives from more than 50 organizations, including NASW, gathered in California for the first ever Integrative Pain Care Policy Congress during ... Read More »
Mel Wilson, LCSW, MBA, social justice and human rights manager at the National Association of Social Workers, attended the Women’s March of 2018 in Washington, D.C. He wrote about his experience: The Women’s March of 2018, drew hundreds of thousands of marchers to major cities nationwide such as Washington, DC, New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Denver, Dallas, and Montgomery, ... Read More »
By Paul R. Pace, News staff The world needs an interdisciplinary approach more than ever to address the social, political, technological and climate challenges of today and the future, says Ambassador Wendy Sherman, a newly appointed NASW Social Work Pioneer ® Political solutions can’t keep up with the rapid pace of change, said Sherman in her keynote speech at the NASW Social Work Pioneers 13 annual program and luncheon held in Washington, D.C., in October. Sherman, was among the 17 2017 Pioneer inductees. She is the former undersecretary ... Read More »
As we begin the new year, it seems like a good time to provide an update on the Association’s ongoing Modernization Initiative. We’re pleased to report that the implementation of the initiative is proceeding, for the most part, according to schedule. We are now in the middle of the second phase of this three-phase implementation and are beginning to realize ... Read More »
By Alison Laurio, News contributor When J. David Hawkins was a probation officer in the 1980s, he thought, “Isn’t there something we should have done to prevent these kids from getting to this place?” Programs from that period like “Just Say No” and “Scared Straight” just didn’t work, he said, for one reason: There was no evidence behind them. Now ... Read More »
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