Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis (right) spoke at a ceremony honoring the legacy of the late Frances Perkins. Frances Perkins, with President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was a social worker and Secretary of Labor during Roosevelt’s administration.

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A project training social workers and other child welfare professionals on ways to effectively serve out-of-home lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgendered and questioning (LGBTQ) youth reached its goal in March. NASW, the NASW Foundation and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund joined forces last year to design and launch a train-the-trainer project. The overall objective has been to improve the capacity, knowledge and skills of social workers and other child welfare professionals to better serve the needs of LGBTQ youth living in foster care, juvenile justice centers and homeless shelters. The project was funded by the Tides Foundation. Thi...

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Interdisciplinary Input It is very interesting that NASW has to urge the American Psychiatric Association (APA) to include clinical social workers to participate in the development of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fifth Edition (DSM-V) [April 2009]. Since clinical social workers are the largest providers of mental health services in the U.S., it is hard to understand why the APA has to be "urged " to include our profession in the various work and oversight groups. It would appear that this should be obvious. DSM -IV has been controversial for many reasons including that it did not consider all aspects of the etiology of psychiatric ...

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— Heidi Sfiligoj, News Staff   The NASW chapters in Vermont and New Mexico have been actively involved in various efforts to get important legislation passed in their states this year. Vermont The Vermont chapter was a partner in the Freedom to Marry coalition that worked to enact equal marriage rights in Vermont. Same-sex marriage was legalized in the state on April 7, making it the first state to have legalized same-sex marriage through legislation instead of litigation. Vermont will allow same-sex marriage beginning Sept. 1. The chapter helped the Freedom to Marry coalition by staffing information tables at community venue...

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— Heidi Sfiligoj, News Staff   On April 3, in a unanimous decision, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that the state statute limiting civil marriage to a union between a man and a woman violates the equal protection clause of the Iowa Constitution. The decision favored NASW's position as stated in a friend-of-the-court brief filed by NASW and the Iowa Chapter in the case, Varnum v. Brien. The case was initiated by six same-sex couples in Iowa who were denied marriage licenses by the Polk County Recorder. Other than the statutory restriction that defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, the 12 plaintiffs met the legal re...

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— Heidi Sfiligoj, News Staff   NASW staff recently attended two events hosted by the Institute of Medicine (IOM), both of which focused on health care reform. In February, Karyn Walsh, NASW special assistant for special projects, attended a summit on integrative medicine. The meeting was convened by IOM and The Bravewell Collaborative and was held at the National Academy of Sciences Building in Washington, D.C. The purpose of the summit was to advance the understanding and progress of integrative medicine, which can be described as health care that collectively addresses the physical, psychological, social, preventive and thera...

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NASW Foundation Board member Carla Beth Howery died March 31. She was 58. NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark said Howery's experience and insight will be missed. Howery was appointed to the Foundation Board of Directors in 2007 as a non-social worker director. Her father, Victor I. Howery, was a professor and dean of social work at the University of Wisconsin. Carla Howery told NASW staff that she had great respect for, and fond memories of, her father's social work career and colleagues, and that it was a pleasure for her to formally connect with NASW. Howery recently retired after 25 years of service to the American Sociological...

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— Heidi Sfiligoj, News Staff   NASW has welcomed four new chapter executive directors since July of last year. The executive directors of the North Dakota and Puerto Rico chapters have both retired. Tom Tupa (left) retired following 20 years as executive director of the North Dakota chapter and Antonio Rodriquez retired after serving as the executive director of the Puerto Rico chapter for 13 years. Tupa has been replaced by Paul Ronningen and Rodriguez has been replaced by Lidice Matos. Stephen Levi became the new executive director of the Alaska Chapter after Margaret Lumpkin relocated to England when her spouse was transfe...

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NASW sent an advocacy alert to its chapters and its advocacy listserv in April urging social workers nationwide to contact their congressional representatives about an important effort to withdraw an impending hospice rate-cut regulation. More specifically, the alert asked recipients to recommend that their representatives sign the "Van Hollen/Brown-Waite Dear Colleague" letter, asking President Obama to rescind the hospice rate-cut regulation. "People approaching the end of life deserve high-quality, comprehensive care to ensure their comfort and dignity," the alert stated. There is currently a moratorium on the regulation, which is set t...

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In the video, Michael Petit explains that there are still many unmet needs for children. Every Child Matters (ECM) has released two new, informative videos that highlight the urgency to support federal programs that aid children. ECM is led by founder and president Michael Petit, who is also a member of NASW. The association has supported ECM's ongoing effort to highlight the long-deferred health, education and social needs of the nation's children. The latest video - which is available for viewing at Every Child Matters — is called "Homeland Insecurity: Why New Investments in Children and Youth Must be a Priority for the Obama Adm...

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