KASW’s Soojung Kim is spending time at NASW’s national office in Washington. Kim’s visit as a SWAN exchange professional realizes the associations’ memorandum of understanding to foster cooperation and advance the social work profession internationally. Through its Social Workers Across Nations professional exchange program, NASW’s National Office has hosted Soojung Kim, manager of the international relations department of the Korea Association of Social Workers, since April. Kim’s time here is meant as a way for her to experience NASW’s efforts to support and sustain the professional social work...

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NASW members have elected Jeane W. Anastas, a professor at New York University’s Silver School of Social Work, as the association’s president-elect. A past president of the Massachusetts Chapter, Anastas has been that chapter’s Social Worker of the Year (1995), a Council on Social Work Education visiting scholar (2006-2007) and recipient of CSWE’s Greatest Recent Contribution to Social Work Education award (2007). She was elected to the National Academies of Practice in Health Care in 2007. Anastas is the convener of the ANSWER Coalition, whose mission is to increase legislative and executive branch advocacy on behal...

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NASW Vice President Darrell Wheeler presented “HIV Testing: Issues for Black & African American Men Who Have Sex with Men” at an Institute of Medicine workshop to identify facilitators and barriers to HIV testing. The two-day workshop in April in Washington was the first of three that will shape a series of reports for the White House’s Office of National AIDS Policy, which has been tasked with developing a national HIV/AIDS strategy this year. President Barack Obama instructed that the strategy reduce the incidence of HIV, increase access to care, optimize health outcomes and reduce HIV-related health disparities. W...

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On Jan. 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision in Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing a woman’s right to an abortion. Within weeks, Congress enacted the first ever so-called “conscience clause.” Such clauses protect health care providers from liability for refusing to perform services that, though legal, they consider repugnant to their religious or moral values. This March, Idaho’s legislature approved the Freedom of Conscience for Health Care Professionals Act, expanding that state’s conscience clause to preclude all licensed health care professionals — including clinical social workers &mdash...

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Retired Brig. Gen. Ron Sconyers, CEO of Physicians For Peace, visited NASW’s National Office recently to give NASW a plaque for raising donations to assist PFP’s Walking Free Program in Haiti, which helps those injured by the massive earthquake there in January. The NASW Foundation, through its Social Work Disaster Assistance Fund, raised the donations from donors. Pictured from left are Amy Bess, NASW senior practice associate; Luisa Lopez, NASW director of practice, human rights and international affairs; Sconyers; Elizabeth J. Clark, NASW executive director; Robert Arnold, director of the NASW Foundation; and Evelyn Tomaszewski...

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NASW Past-President Gary Bailey was elected to lead the International Federation of Social Workers at its general meeting on June 15 in Hong Kong. IFSW is a coalition of social workers from 90 nations. Bailey, who was elected to a four-year term, is the federation’s first African-American president. Bailey is an associate professor at Simmons College Graduate School of Social Work in Boston. Two previous NASW leaders held the office of IFSW president. Chauncey Alexander, former executive director, and Susan Dworak Peck, a former president, both played pivitol roles in the development and advancement of international social work. Pe...

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The Eastern New Mexico Youth Connection Advisory Team meets to discuss gang intervention initiatives. From left: Corey Adams, juvenile probation and parole officer; Benny Adams, organizational development specialist; Amelia Sandoval, Clovis Schools social worker and chair of the Eastern New Mexico Youth Connection; Steve Reshetar, executive director of The Hope Center; and Christina Martinez, assistant director of United Way New Mexico. The power of social work is playing out in several New Mexico communities trying to address the growing problem of gang recruitment among youth. NASW’s New Mexico Chapter has been hosting a successfu...

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“We promote a fair system that keeps society safe, but also works to reduce recidivism,” said NASW’s Melvin Wilson. NASW is urging support of the National Criminal Justice Commission Act, which calls for the creation of a bipartisan commission charged with a comprehensive review of the nation’s criminal justice system. If approved, it will study all areas of the criminal justice system, including federal, state, local and tribal governments’ criminal justice costs, practices and policies. After the review, the commission would make recommendations for changes in — or continuation of oversight of &mdash...

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In a strongly worded statement, NASW denounced legislation recently enacted in Arizona that allows state and local police to stop anyone they suspect is unlawfully present in the U.S. The association also called upon members to voice their opposition. “This legislation is of great concern to all social workers committed to the profession’s core values of human rights and social justice,” the statement said. “As social work professionals, we are called upon by our code of ethics to actively prevent and eliminate discrimination against any person, group, or class” on the basis of characteristics including race, et...

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Judy Hicks is the third social worker from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to be named the Social Worker of the Year by the Association of Pediatric Oncology Social Workers, according to a PR Newswire release. The award recognizes Hicks’ contributions to children and families affected by life-threatening illnesses. She accepted the award, sponsored by the Children’s Brain Tumor Foundation, at the annual APOSW conference held in Anaheim, Calif. “Pediatric oncology social work is a specialty discipline committed to enhancing the emotional and physical well-being of children with cancer and their families,”...

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