Did you know?  The U.S. Dept. of Human Services (HHS) Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is piloting a program to perform 150 audits of health care entities to assess compliance with HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules and Breach Notification standards from November 2011 to December 2012. http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/enforcement/audit/index.html www.socialworkers.org/hipaa

Tags: HIPAA; audit; HHS; privacy; private practice; clinical social work

In early 2011 NASW sponsored two professional research trips to Cuba to learn about social services in health care, child welfare, and aging. This report describes the activities of both social work delegations and information learned from the experience.

NASW Leads Delegations To Cuba

The country of Cuba, only 90 miles from Florida and a once-common destination for U.S. tourists, has been inaccessible to most Americans since the U.S. embargo of Cuba began in 1962.  With the Obama administration’s recent easing of travel restrictions to Cuba, more Americans have been able to experience the island through educational and cultural tours. The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) sponsored two professional research trips to Cuba in early 2011. The first delegation focused on health and child welfare services (February) and the second on social services for older adults (March). Each delegation met special licensing requirements established by the U.S. Department of Commerce for travel to Cuba.

Click here for the full report.

The NASW Family wishes to extend its deepest sympathies to the family of Mark Battle as we are greatly saddened by the loss of this great social work pioneer. We want to acknowledge his loving wife, NASW Social Work Pioneer® Evelyn Kays-Battle, and extend our deepest sympathies to her and their family. We join a host of friends, colleagues, students, and fellow social workers in remembering and celebrating Mark Battle.

As Executive Director of the National Association of Social Workers, Mark Battle demonstrated a pioneering leadership which stimulated the organization and the social work profession to broader areas of social concerns. He was a social worker, educator, consultant, businessman and former government official. Throughout his career, he blended expertise in management and labor issues with social work skills and knowledge. Battle served as the Executive Director of NASW from June 1984 to June 1992.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 10, 2011 at 1:00 pm at the Cosmos Club, 2121 Mass. Ave, NW, Washington, DC. If you plan to attend, please RSVP with the names of all attendees to Elizabeth Cox at ecox@naswdc.org.

• Mark Battle’s NASW Social Work Pioneer® Bio

• Obituary – Carol Cole Center

• Donations may be made to the NASW Foundation in memorial

NASW supports this decision as social workers have consistently advocated for a just and peaceful world.  Social justice is central to the profession’s values and specifically emphasized in the NASW Code of Ethics as social work professionals are instructed to “promote policies that safeguard the rights of and confirm equity and social justice for all people.”

For  more information on NASW’s peace and social just efforts click here.

For more information from the White House regarding this important announcement, click here.

The National Family Caregivers Association educates, supports, empowers and speaks up for the more than 65 million Americans who care for loved ones with a chronic illness or disability or the frailties of old age. NFCA reaches across the boundaries of diagnoses, relationships and life stages to help transform family caregivers’ lives by removing barriers to health and well being.

Maurice O. Hunt was involved in social activism throughout his professional social work career. He obtained his MA in 1938 from the Indiana Training School for Social Work, which became the Indiana University School of Social Work.  His involvement in the profession spans fifty years and included a stint in Greece during World War II with the United States Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. He has been a member of NASW since 1969 and is a former member of the NASW Board.

Maurice was born in Kirklin, Indiana, and spent his early years working in social work positions in the state as a case worker responsible for the placement of boys in their homes and in foster homes. He then became director of social services at the Boy’s School and worked to change the institution from a military-style operation to a treatment program. He later became a child welfare consultant for the Indiana Department of Public Welfare. When WW II began, he applied for a position with the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration and was dispatched to Greece. In 1946 he returned to Indiana and became Director of the Department of Public Assistance in the Department of Public Welfare. He became the Administrator of the Department of Public Welfare at the age of 37. His years there were overshadowed by the McCarthy period during which he was beset by accusations that the department was a hot bed of communists and both the local paper and a conservative legislature created many challenging administrative problems.

After two years, he left Indiana and became the assistant director of the American Public Welfare Association and later chief of the Bureau of Child Welfare of the Maryland State Department of Public Welfare.  Later responsibilities included serving as director of the National Study Service and the First Deputy Director of the New York City Department of Social Services. The two years in that position were turbulent ones, with officials walking the streets of Harlem trying to restrain angry citizens. His last social work position was as administrative vice-president of the Federation of Protestant Agencies in New York City. He was in this position from 1969 until his retirement in 1982.  Throughout his career as a caseworker, administrator and consultant, Maurice Hunt was a leader in the development and practice of progressive child welfare services.

Katherine Kendall, PhD, ACSW International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award

Click a quote below to view a video segment.

“All well-educated people must have a world view.” “When you know you have really helped, it makes life nice.” “This award recognizes all the things I have loved, and that makes me very proud.”

Katherine Kendall passed away December 1, 2010.

Kendall was closely identified with major development in social work education over more than five decades. As Executive Secretary of the American Association of Schools of Social Work in 1951-1952, she played a major role in bringing the Association and its graduate school membership in the Council on Social Work Education.

CSWE was launched as a result of the merger of three organizations. Kendall became its first Educational Secretary with responsibility for curriculum consultation and related educational services. As Associate Director, Executive Director, and Director of International Education, she remained with the Council until 1971. She also served as Secretary of the International Association of Schools of Social Work (IASSW). From 1966 to 1971, she moved entirely into international work, with shared responsibilities as Director of International Education for CSWE and Secretary General of the IASSW. When IASSW established an independent Secretariat in 1971, Kendall became its first full-time paid Secretary-General. Although she retired in 1978, she continued to give volunteer service to the Council as an honorary life member of the Board and to the IASSW as an Honorary Life President and member of the Board.

Born in Scotland, Kendall came to the United States in 1920 and became a naturalized citizen in 1940. She earned a BA degree in 1933, University of Illinois; an MA in Social Work in 1939, Louisiana State University; and a PhD degree in Social Service Administration in 1950, University of Chicago.

From 1947 to 1950, she served as Social Affairs Officer with the United Nations where she produced Training for Social Work: An International Survey. Kendall then went to the US Children’s Bureau where she was Assistant Director of the Inter-American Unit and Training Supervisor for the International Service. During World War II, she worked for the American Red Cross as Assistant Director for Training, Home Service.

Kendall served on the faculties of the University of Chicago; the Richmond School of Social Work; the School of Social Work at Howard University; and held a Carnegie Visiting Professorship at the University of Hawaii School of Social Work. She inaugurated the first Henry and Lucy Moses Distinguished Visiting Professorship at the School of Social Work, Hunter College. She was Executive Secretary, Council of Advisors to Hunter College, its School of Social Work and the Lois and Samuel Silberman Fund. Her leadership in social work education has been widely recognized. CSWE presented her with the Distinguished Service Award, the Council’s gold medal, and she was the first recipient of the Significant Lifetime Achievement Award. Kendall received numerous honorary doctorate degrees. A scholarship has been established in her name at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.

Kendall worked closely with the UN, UNICEF, and the Organization of American States. She continued to serve as an official non-governmental representative for the IASSW at both the UN and UNICEF.  In 1991, the IASSW established the Katherine A. Kendall Award for Distinguished Service in International Social Work Education.  Among her volunteer work, was serving on the International Council on Social Welfare U.S. Committee (ICSW-US) for many years.  She has written more than 100 articles and books. She was a member of NASW for nearly 50 years and she served as a member of the NASW Social Work Pioneers® Steering Committee. In 2002, she was awarded the NASW Foundation’s International Rhoda G. Sarnat Award for significantly advancing the public image of social work.

In September 2010, friends, family, and collegues celebrated her 100th birthday with her at an event that drew attendees from across the country.

On The 2nd day delegations from 18 countries had all arrived. The day opened with a panel presentation on “Systematic Approaches to Workforce Strengthening”. Luisa Lopez, NASW’s Division Director for Human Rights and International Affairs, spoke about supporting the workforce and professional social work associations, highlighting issues such as caseload size, and quality supervision as a resource for frontline workers. A proposed framework for building the workforce was presented as a draft for participants to consider. The conference edition of the framework can be viewed at www.ovcsupport.net.

The International Federation of Social Workers (IFSW) released their Policy on Health, and Paul Bywaters, a consultant to IFSW presented “Worldwide Challenges for Practice and for Policy-Making” at the 6th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health in Dublin.

The IFSW Policy on Health includes 7 key points:

1. Health is a key aspect of all social work practice, education, research, and policy making and in all settings.

2. Health is not merely the absence of disease, it emcompasses physical, mental, emotional and social wellbeing.

3. Health is a central dimension of people’s lives.

4. Health is an issue of fundamental human rights.

5. Health status is primarily determined by social, economic, environmental, and political conditions and is an issue of social equality and justice.

6. Securing and sustaining health depends on local, national and global health and social policies and practices.

7. Securing and sustaining health depends on the concerted actions of intenational institutions, governments, civil society and peoples.

The IFSW policy is a starting point for discussion.  Can we create conditions for action?

The IFSW Policy on Health is available at www.ifsw.org/p38000081.html