By Alison Laurio During a field placement at a hospital, a social work student became concerned after a mother with a young girl gave birth to a premature baby and had to remain in the hospital. The hospital would not let the girl on the floor, and the mother had no one to care for her. Keri Neblett, clinical assistant ... Read More »
By Paul R. Pace, News staff Many NASW chapters have been opposing recent efforts by governors and legislatures around the country to restructure state social work licensing boards. The goal of state policymakers is to consolidate these boards with a variety of others state professional regulatory boards and subject them to centralized state oversight. Chapter leaders say this is a ... Read More »
By Alison Laurio, News contributor Damon Smith had been suspended from school more than 15 times. “You start thinking it’s cool,” he said. “You think you’re going to come back to school and catch up, but unless you’re a genius you won’t. It made me want to mess up even more.” After Ralph J. Bunche High School in Oakland, Calif., ... Read More »
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 »
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