NASW encourages members to get involved

WASHINGTON DC—In the aftermath of the deadly earthquake in Haiti this week, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is issuing an alert to its nearly 150,000 members to help support recovery efforts for victims and their families.  In disasters such as this, social workers are uniquely suited to assess the disaster environment in a culturally competent manner and to provide leadership in promoting effective disaster relief and recovery efforts.

“Social workers are often among the first to respond to disasters both nationally and abroad,” says Elizabeth Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH, executive director of NASW. “The people of Haiti need our help now more than ever, and we are committed to providing any assistance we can to one of the world’s poorest countries during this terrible tragedy.”

“If you would like to join with your social worker colleagues in the social work response to this disaster, you can donate through the NASW Foundation’s Social Work Disaster Assistance Fund to assist social workers and/or social welfare organizations who can provide help.”

• Click here to donate to The Social Work Disaster Assistance Fund
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Social workers are already helping through various organizations both nationally and internationally. NASW is a member of InterAction, the largest coalition of U.S-based international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) focused on the world’s poor and most vulnerable people.  Many NGO members of this coalition were active in Haiti prior to the earthquake and have been mobilizing immediate aid to survivors in the past few days.  Social workers have a strong presence within these organizations.  Social workers can also make contributions to organizations listed here:

• American Red Cross www.redcross.org
• InterAction member organizations active in Haiti
• United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) –for the delivery of urgent medical care, food, and water to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti through UN agencies such as UNICEF, WHO, the World Food Program, UNDP, UNFPA, IOM.

Social workers can also help by offering disaster recovery services through organizations working in Haiti.  Tragic events of this magnitude often require the expertise of social workers who can immediately provide their crisis management, community organizing and mental health support skills.  Social workers with prior disaster relief experience can register with the Center for International Disaster Information to volunteer their time and expertise to this important cause.  Or for those with more experience and seeking longer-term paid positions, social workers can search for vacancies with NGOs at www.reliefweb.int .

For further information about ways to get involved, visit the InterAction Web site at or the USAID Disaster Assistance page .

NASW recognizes that some of our members and friends have lost loved ones through this tragedy.   Our thoughts are with those affected by this disaster.  To find additional resources on coping with grief and loss, please visit Help Starts Here, the social work consumer Web site .

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About NASW

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), in Washington, DC, is the largest membership organization of professional social workers with 150,000 members. It promotes, develops, and protects the practice of social work and social workers. NASW also seeks to enhance the well being of individuals, families, and communities through its advocacy.

About the NASW Foundation

The NASW Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization created to enhance the well-being of individuals, families and communities through the enhancement of social work practice. One of the Foundation’s goals is to assist with rapid response to social crises.

January 4th marked a critical moment in social change - the official end of the HIV/AIDS related entry, stay and residence restrictions (more commonly known as the “travel ban” ) in place since 1987. NASW Social Work Speaks policy statements clearly support the removal of the ban, and views this and related restrictions as discriminatory and limiting a client’s right to care and treatment.

Social workers and allied professions have long viewed the ‘travel ban’ as an affront to individual rights. Everyday experiences of clients range from not being able to re-unite with family, friends, or partners because of that persons’ HIV status to limiting equal access to health and behavioral health care services. The ban also resulted in persons with HIV/AIDS denying they were living with a chronic illness. And for untold thousands, the ban limited their ability to apply for citizenship and work visas.

The lifting of the ‘travel ban’ is a necessary next step in the ongoing efforts to address and stop the stigma and discrimination universally experienced by persons living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.

HIV/AIDS Spectrum Project - www.socialworkers.org/practice/hiv_aids

Embrace diversity. End discrimination.

Background

On December 10 the world celebrates Human Rights Day.  Every year, Human Rights Day marks the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly on December 10, 1948. This year the theme is focused on non-discrimination.

The Role of Social Workers

Social work is fundamentally a human rights profession.  When the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was ratified, human rights concerns had been the bedrock of the social work profession in the United States for more than 50 years.  Discrimination and social exclusion based on racial and religious intolerance; gender inequality and violence; denial of the rights of women and children, refugees and older people – all are social justice issues that long have concerned social work. (NASW 2009)

The International Federation of Social Workers includes human rights in their definition of social work: “The social work profession promotes social change, problem solving in human relationships and the empowerment and liberation of people to enhance well-being. Utilizing theories of human behavior and social systems, social work intervenes at the points where people interact with their environments. Principles of human rights and social justice are fundamental to social work.”

Take Action

• Read more about Human Rights Day and human rights and social work
• Take a look at NASW’s Policy Statement on Human Rights and the International Federation of Social Work Policy Statement on Human Rights
• Spend some time browsing the Office of the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights webpage
• Review human rights instruments that social workers may encounter in their work

References

National Association of Social Workers (2009). International Policy on Human Rights. Social Work Speaks, National Association of Social Workers Policy Statements, 2009-2012 (8th ed., pp 202-207). Washington, DC:  NASW Press.

International Federation of Social Work web page, retrieved December 2009; http://www.ifsw.org/p38000212.html

Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH

Our delegation was received today by the social work faculty of Helwan University. We were met by the Dean, Prof. Dr. Maher Abo Elmaate, and by the Vice Deans for Post Graduate Studies and Community Organization. Their faculty mission is “Preparing a high quality social worker able to apply the skills of dealing with social work systems and influencing them for making changes for developing the community and individuals.”

They explained their programs and that they use the CSWE standards as a guide. They also were quick to point out that they had the latest version of The Encyclopedia of social Work published by NASW.

We discussed the challenges facing social work in our respective countries. One theme in common was the need for a clearer understanding of what social workers do. We mentioned the need for tuition assistance and loan forgiveness for social work students in the USA. They do not have that problem because their university is government run and undergraduates can attend at almost no cost and MSWs pay a small sum. Doctoral students pay a bit more, perhaps $400 per year. Since they are government run, they accept only Egyptian and Palestinean students.

We toured their computer lab and library which housed all of the theses and dissertations that have been completed on their campus. It was an impressive number. They are working at building a data base for their research and community projects.

We discussed the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act that is currently pending in the US Congress. They enjoyed hearing about the legislation and thought it was a good idea.

Helwan University was established as a social work school for women in 1946. They opened admission to men in 1975. They are very active in community development and action programs.

At the conclusion of our meeting, we were interviewed by Nile Television. They were interested in knowing how we felt Egypt was progressing.

Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH

Today we visited The Suzanne Mubarak Regional Centre for Women’s Health and Development (SMC) in Alexandria. This is a special program of Mrs. Murbarak, the First Lady of Egypt, and it is part of the national budget. We met with the director of women’s development. Mrs. Khagida Khashana and her staff and toured the state-of-the art facilities. They have been in operation for two years.

Their posters use the tag line of”Breaking the Silence in Egypt.” Their mission statement is linked to the WHO definition: The mission of the SMC is to promote women’s health and development in Egypt and friendly neighboring countries, health being a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity, and is closely linked to women’s development. They emphasized that their definition includes “a healthy sexual and reproductive life.” Their long term goals are to combat illness, ignorance, poverty and to support women’s rights.

Their outreach and community organizing focus is reaching school teachers, social workers, and NGOs to get women referred for their services and as settings for their educational programs which also include skill building.

In addition to routine care in areas such as obesity and diabetes, cancer screenings, bone health and antismoking, they do genetic markers, Microeconomics, and productive skills for refugees.

They have a mobile clinic for breast cancer for women in rural areas, and they are just starting a breast cancer survivorship program. They are partnering with the Susan G. Koman organization from the USA and they were having their first walk at the pyramids later this week.

They told us that AIDS is not a serious problem in Egypt, nor is there much rape because of their social culture and because rape is a major crime punishable by death. However, domestic violence and genital mutilation are both problems. One of the things they try to do is to teach women that neither is a part of their religion.

They said that women in Egypt don’t talk about violence, even to each other. Thus, the tag line above about breaking the silence. They are also training doctors to detect battering, and Mrs. Murbarak has created a Women’s Council to help battered women with legal problems.

In the USA, President Obama has established the Council for Women and Girls. I was pleased to be present when he signed that important order. In Egypt, the Women Center was also established by Presidential decree. It also receives a yearly budget from the Egyptian government to cover the operating expenses. We could use a greater governmental focus on women’s health in the United States.

For more information on the Women’s Centre, see www.smcalex.org.

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.

(Part I) Elizabeth J. Clark, PhD, ACSW, MPH

Hello from Egypt,

Each year, as part of our Social Workers Across Nations (SWAN) program, NASW leads a delegation of social workers to a different country. Our goal is to further understand the role of social work in various countries and to look at similarities, differences and how NASW and US social workers can assist with capacity building for social work in other parts of the world.

This year, we are visiting Egypt. We have been in two cities — Cairo and Alexandria — and have had the opportunity to meet with academics and practitioners in various programs, especially NGOs (non-governmental organizations).

No matter where we travel, I am always struck by the similarity of barriers faced by social workers. Egypt is no exception. We were fortunate to meet with Dr. Hoda Badran, formerly a professor and currently the chairperson for the Alliance for Arab Women, who would like to see unified standards for social work education around the world. Egypt also has issues with not enough social work faculty and with finding adequate supervision for field placements.

We were privileged that Egypt’s Minister of Solidarity decided to attend our meeting and address us personally. He is one of 32 ministers in the country. Perhaps his role is most similar to our Secretary of Health and Human Services. One of their goals is to reduce poverty by 50% by 2015 — a major challenge for the country. The Minister well understood the role of, and need for, social workers and said they would welcome the input of social workers and NGOs from other countries.

Without visiting, it’s hard to imagine the sheer numbers of people living within such a contained area. Cairo has 20 million citizens — practically twice the size of NYC. The city’s infrastructure is not adequate for so many individuals. Traffic is almost indescribable, yet it seems to flow. Drivers seem less aggressive here than in our country, and everyone seems to realize that orderly merging of traffic is essential.

Cairo only gets 4-5 days of rain per year, and I don’t think I had ever really thought about the role of rain in helping keep our environment clean. Litter and sand are everywhere. Pollution is a problem, and poverty is pervasive. Many families live on the equivalent of $100-150 per month.

Perhaps one of our delegates, Larry Higginbottom from Massachusetts, said it best. He traveled with us last year to South Africa, and sees similarities among all three countries. He noted that the problems faced in each country are very much alike, and that “people everywhere are just trying to get by.”

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

Carole Bowdry, social worker who confronted child abuse, dies at 71
“Carole Bowdry spent most of her career confronting a problem that some people would rather have just ignored: child abuse.”
Dallas Morning News

Social workers, psychologists to aid religious courts in divorce
“Social workers and psychologists could soon become an integral part of the country’s religious legal system, with the goal of streamlining and improving the divorce process, The Jerusalem Post was told last week.”
The Jerusalem Post

Mental-health stigma persists
By Peg Leonard-Martin, M.Div., LCSW, Director of counseling services at Belmont University.
Tennessean.com

Child Advocacy Center: Parents must overcome fear to watch for signs of abuse
By Shannon Yockey, a licensed clinical social worker at the Larimer County Advocacy Center
Coloradoan.com

Source: Google News
The opinions expressed in these articles are those of the writers, and do not necessarily reflect those of the National Association of Social Workers or its members.

A trust established by the makers of Best Picture Oscar winner Slumdog Millionaire told EW via a statement today that it was looking after the welfare of the film’s child stars. The statement from the Jai Ho Trust comes in the wake of reports that the father of 9-year-old Slumdog actress Rubina Ali allegedly tried to sell his daughter for more than $300,000 when reporters from Britain’s News of the World newspaper made the offer as part of an undercover sting operation. Ali’s father, Rafiq Qureshi, has denied that he intended to sell his daughter.  Indian police are currently investigating the matter.

The Jai Ho Trust (which is in part supported by Slumdog director Danny Boyle and producer Christian Colson) issued the following statement:

The Jai Ho Trust was established with financial support from the filmmakers of Slumdog Millionaire to support the welfare of child stars of the film. The trust is in regular contact with Rubina Ali and her family and has hired a social worker to assist in looking after her welfare and that of her co-star [Azharuddin Mohammed Ismail].

From Entertainment Weekly - Slumdog Millionaire’ trust says it’s looking after child star Rubina Ali
Apr 21, 2009| by Chris Nashawaty