By Melvin H. Wilson, MBA, LCSW NASW Senior Policy Consultant Social Justice and Human Rights And Samantha Fletcher, PhD, MSW Executive Director, NASW New York State Chapter Police in Rochester, NY on Jan. 30 used pepper spray and handcuffs to subdue a nine-year-old girl. The incident leading up to this police encounter is reported to have been related to ... Read More »
By Paul R. Pace, News staff A skilled and supported workforce is a critical component to drive better outcomes for children and families across the U.S., says Jenny Wood, chief deputy for the Administration on Children Youth and Families of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Wood was among the speakers at a Capitol Hill briefing in June ... Read More »
By Paul R. Pace, News staff An estimated four to eight children die from abuse and neglect every day in the U.S. Approximately half of these children are less than a year old and 75 percent are less than 3 years old. These are some of the findings from “Within Our Reach: A National Strategy to Eliminate Child Abuse and ... Read More »
By Paul R. Pace, News staff There were 1,620 child maltreatment deaths reported in 2012, but research suggests that the real number may be under reported by 1,000 or more children because of a lack of consistency in how child deaths are documented across the U.S. Improving standards of data collection in child maltreatment deaths is a major goal of ... Read More »
By Paul R. Pace, News staff Participation at public hearings to develop a national strategy to eliminate child maltreatment deaths has exceeded expectations, said NASW member Michael Petit, president of Every Child Matters Education Fund. Petit and social worker Marilyn Bruguier Zimmerman, director of the National Native Children’s Trauma Center, serve on the 12-member Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and ... Read More »
By Rena Malai, News staff Social workers can be instrumental in helping unaccompanied, undocumented minors find legal representation and other services once they cross the border into the United States. Tens of thousands of minors have arrived at the U.S. border within the last few months, fleeing from extreme violence and turmoil in their countries. They are predominantly from Honduras, ... Read More »
By Rena Malai, News staff Crossing through jungles and desert heat on foot, eating trash to survive and dodging gang members and traffickers along the way is what many children from Central America face as they make the perilous journey to the U.S. border, says Wendy Cervantes, vice president of Immigration and Child Rights at First Focus in Washington, D.C. Although the ... Read More »
By Rena Malai, News staff The 40th anniversary of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, a key piece of legislation that addresses child abuse and neglect, was recognized at the 19th National Conference on Child Abuse and Neglect, held April 30-May 2 in New Orleans. The only federally sponsored national conference devoted to the issues of child maltreatment brings ... Read More »
NASW celebrated the news that the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 includes funding to continue and expand the Leadership Training in Social Work program. For more than 40 years, the Maternal and Child Health Bureau provided grants to train social work leaders. In 2012, grantees learned that the MCHB was not planning to continue to fund several discipline-specific grants, including ... Read More »
By Rena Malai, News staff NASW nominated several people to serve on the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities, which was created by the bipartisan Protect Our Kids Act. NASW was involved in getting the act passed into law last year. Two of the commissioners NASW nominated are social worker Michael Petit, an NASW member and president of ... Read More »
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