NASW is a proud supporter of Give An Hour, an organization devoted to developing a national network of volunteers capable of responding to both acute and chronic conditions that arise within our society. Give An Hour focuses on U.S. troops and their loved ones who are currently being affect by the military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. Give an Hour asks mental health professionals, including social workers, to literally donate an hour of their time each week to provide free mental health services to military personnel and their families. For more information on Give An Hour, or to volunteer, please visit www.giveanhour.org.

NASW wants to spread the word about an important and EASY way for you to help Give an Hour this month. The organization has entered an online grant contest sponsored by Pepsi. In order to win the grant, they just need to be a top vote-getter in their category. Give An Hour is asking supporters to vote for their organization every day from now through the end of June.

Here is the link to Give an Hour’s idea: http://www.refresheverything.com/mentalhealthforvets.

For more information, contact Elizabeth Hoffler at ehoffler@naswdc.org.

In this statement, he recognizes the strengths of children and youth in foster care as well as former foster youth. President Obama also acknowledges the child welfare workforce and foster parents dedicated to meeting the needs of children and youth in foster care. To read the full proclamation, visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/presidential-proclamation-national-foster-care-month

Dear Social Work Student –

Is your school using the Professional Social Worker pin to recognize graduating students?

Ask your school to consider the silver-plated Professional Social Worker pin at commencement. Just $10 each for schools of social work, the pins distinguish Social Work from other programs on campus, and instill pride in the profession.

All funds from the Social Work pins support the National Social Work Public Education Campaign, raising public awareness of the irreplaceable benefits of Professional Social Work. More than 100 social work schools and programs participate in the campaign. We invite your school to join us!

Sincerely,

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

P.S. – Send us your photos of you and the Professional Social Worker pin! We’d love to include you in campaign materials in print and on the Web.

On October 22, NASW participated in an advance screening panel for a powerful new movie called Precious, based on the novel Push by Sapphire.  This film chronicles the harrowing journey of an obese, abused and illiterate teenager in New York City who seeks a better life for herself and her two children. Lee Daniels directed an all-star cast including comedienne Mo’Nique, rising star Paula Patton, and rocker Lenny Kravitz, and introducing Gabourey “Gabby” Sidibe as Precious. In a surprising twist, pop diva Mariah Carey plays a no-nonsense social worker, Mrs. Weiss, who confronts Precious’ mother about incest and other physical and emotional abuse of her daughter. Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry served as executive producers for this gripping story of personal triumph over family violence and social isolation.

During the discussion portion of the screening–coordinated by Liquid Soul Media in partnership with Lionsgate Productions–more than 300 Baltimore and Washington area residents discussed issues that included:

• Education as the pathway from poverty and despair
• Value of community networks and service coordination
• Impact of untreated mental illness on families
• Risk-taking and courage when reporting abuse
• Increased and sustained funding for prevention programs
• Reducing isolation among vulnerable children and teens

Questions for social workers: Do you plan to see the movie?  Do you have any expectations about how the social worker character will be portrayed?  Leave a comment below.

NEW: Join a discussion of this movie and others, current TV shows and news coverage…from a social work perspective.  Visit our new social media driven site,  SocialWorkersSpeak.org today!

Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH

As part of our delegation trip to Cairo, we visited the Children’s Cancer Center which opened in 2007. It is a state-of-the-art center that is a flagship facility for the Middle East. It has 182 inpatient beds, 10 ICU beds, 22 outpatient clinics, and 82 physicians on staff. It is modeled after St. Jude’s Hospital in the US, and any children with cancer are treated for free.

The most frequent childhood cancers are brain tumors and leukemia. Only 40% of children survive cancer in Egypt. This is about half of the survival rate in the USA. They hope to improve this number with outstanding health care.

They began fundraising for the hospital in 2000. As part of their fundraising campaign, they named the project after their bank account number, and the hospital is now known as 57357. They started with $14 million pounds. Most of the funds raised were small donations from people who made charitable contributions during Ramadan. School children also helped raise funds.

The Center’s psychosocial care is headed by a psychiatrist and includes social workers (8 of them), psychologists, and child life therapists. Social workers there make about $300 per month. The Cancer Center noted that they were quite surprised that our delegation wanted to visit. They told us that they would welcome assistance with training for psychosocial oncology. One of our delegates, Floyd Allen from CancerCare in NYC, will be a great contact for them.

NASW was pleased to be a co-chair organization of the National Conference on Health and Domestic Violence, held in New Orleans, Louisiana, this past week. The Family Violence Prevention Fund hosted this fifth biennial conference, which addressed domestic violence and health. Domestic violence is often seen as a public health problem, and the role health care providers can play in preventing violence and helping victims is well recognized.

At the opening session, the audience was addressed by Lynn Rosenthal, a social worker and longtime advocate, who is the White House Advisor to the President and Vice President on Violence Against Women. The keynote speaker was Eve Ensler, a playwright, performer, and activist and the author of The Vagina Monologues and the founder of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women and girls.

Many social workers presented their research on intimate partner violence, its health and mental health consequences, and the burden placed on families, communities, and our nation. NASW staff and members were represented on the national conference steering committee and on panel and individual presentations that addressed innovative and promising practice, scientific reports, and skill building.

- Rita A. Webb, DCSW, ACSW

Social workers, domestic violence advocates, health care providers, law enforcement, survivors, and others across the nation have come together in their communities to raise public awareness about domestic violence. In October 1981, the observance of domestic violence began as a single Day of Unity. Later in October of 1987, the observance was expanded to identify October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. President Obama made the official announcement in a proclamation available at: www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Presidential-Proclamation-National-Domestic-Violence-Awareness-Month/

For more information about domestic violence, visit:

• www.ovw.usdoj.gov
• www.cdc.gov/Features/IntimatPartnerViolence/
• www.4woman.gov/owh
• www.acf.hhs.gov
• www.endabuse.org

On these days, millions of people all around the world will take part in a united action of standing up in support of the end of poverty and the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goals. Social workers can play a key role on this day, as they do every day fighting against poverty in the U.S. and around the globe. The primary mission of the social work profession is to enhance human well-being and to help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed and living in poverty.

Thousands of events are being scheduled around the world as part of “Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now.” Citizens across the globe are demanding that world leaders keep the promises they made in the year 2000 to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. The Goals are a set of 8 benchmarks to eradicate extreme poverty, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality & empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat major diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and develop a global partnership for development by the year 2015.

Last year, more than 116 million people – nearly two percent of the people on earth – participated in “Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now,” breaking the Guinness World Record for the largest mobilization of human beings in recorded history.

“Stand Up, Take Action, End Poverty Now” is coordinated globally by the United Nations Millennium Campaign and Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) in collaboration with a wide range of partners.

JOIN STAND UP!

On Oct. 16, 17th or 18th, please join Stand Up & Take Action wherever you are:

1. STAND UP: Gather in a group or community and intentionally “stand up” to urge action against global poverty. Raise a banner, attend a rally, meet with friends. Then, upload a photo of your “Stand Up Moment” so we can post it online. (To find an event, click on the world map of Stand Up event locations at www.standagainstpoverty.org )
2. TAKE ACTION: Read the Stand Up pledge, sign the Stand Up petition, hold food or blood drives, donate books, plant trees, meet with local or national leaders and much more.  For more ideas, look at this list (link to chart here)of possible activities you can organize.

Watch the Stand Up video, which features inspiring footage from people from around the world participating in last year’s mobilization. (3 min. 35 sec.)  http://www.youtube.com/mcampaign

For more information on the mobilization, visit www.standagainstpoverty.org.

For more information about the Millennium Development Goals,

visit www.endpoverty2015.org or www.un.org/millenniumgoals

The Montana Supreme Court issued an opinion earlier this week in a case where NASW earlier filed an amicus brief.  The case concerned the parenting rights of individuals in same-sex relationships.  NASW had filed an amicus brief supporting recognition of the parent- child attachment between the non-biological mother and the two children she had raised jointly with her partner of ten years.  Below are links to the ACLU press release and the court’s decision:

http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/parenting/41254prs20091007.html

http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/parenting/41253lgl20091006.html

The October issue of Social Work (Vol. 54, No. 4) covers a wide range of topics important to social work and social workers, from questions surrounding consumer-driven health care to issues involving child welfare worker caseloads. Below is a sampling of what’s inside the issue. Download the table of contents of the October Social Work Journal here.

• New Practice Model for Latinos in Need of Social Work Services
  Kurt C. Organista
  Does your work assist the Latino community?  Learn more about new practices presented in a model that thoroughly describes the four dimensions of culturally competent practice essential to working with U.S. Latino populations.
• The Big Picture: How Social Work Can Effectively Utilize Photographs
  Heather L. Marshall, Sarah W. Craun, and Matthew T. Theriot
  A picture is worth a thousand words….Examine the use of photography as a powerful tool for promoting positive attitudes about social work at an adult day care program.
• Civilian Social Work: Serving the Military and Veteran Populations
  Laura Savitsky, Maria Illingworth, and Megan DuLaney
  Help those that serve our country. Civilian social workers acknowledge their responsibility to competently aid military and veteran clients.