Kamilah Omari, left, and Bekki Ow-Ärhus answer questions at the screening of "Irena Sendler: In the Name of their Mothers". About 30 social workers viewed the film at NASW’s national office. The NASW national office hosted a Dec. 3 screening of the new documentary film Irena Sendler: In the Name of Their Mothers, directed by Mary Skinner. The event, attended by more than 30 social workers from in and around Washington, doubled as a continuing education course on applied ethics. According to Bekki Ow-Ärhus and Kamilah Omari, NASW senior practice associates who co-facilitated the course, it has been a while since the assoc...

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Gabe Zimmerman was shot to death in the Jan. 8 tragedy. Photo: Rep. Gifford's Office Gabe Zimmerman, a member of NASW’s Arizona Chapter and the director of community outreach for U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was among the six people killed on Jan. 8 in a shooting spree outside a Tucson supermarket. NASW’s national office, through a statement, extended condolences to all of the families affected by the tragedy. The shooting injured an additional 14 people, including Giffords, D-Ariz., who is recovering after a bullet passed through her head. Zimmerman, 30, was a professional social worker with a master’s degree in so...

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A new report by NASW’s Center for Workforce Studies outlines the need for social workers to help lead the charge to reform the U.S. criminal justice system. Criminal Justice Social Work in the United States: Adapting to New Challenges (PDF) identifies how the U.S. criminal justice system currently operates and how it may benefit by examining Scotland’s new criminal justice model. “The term ‘criminal justice social worker’ is not widely used by most social workers in the U.S.,” said Melvin Wilson, manager of workforce, development and training at NASW. “The report was drafted in part to show how, in...

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Last year’s lame-duck session of Congress was anything but sedate. Prior to adjourning on Dec. 22, the House and Senate cleared a dizzying array of legislation for President Barack Obama’s signature. Most historic of all, Congress repealed “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the 1993 law that prohibited gay men and lesbians from serving openly in the military. “NASW has long urged Congress to repeal the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy,”‘ NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark wrote on the Social Work Blog, “NASW greatly appreciates everything our me...

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Tracy Whitaker, director of NASW’s Center for Workforce Studies: “This study gives us food for thought as the tools change.” Technology can improve efficiency in the workplace for child welfare social workers, but does a generation gap keep progress from reaching its full potential? A new NASW Center for Workforce Studies report titled Child Welfare Social Workers’ Attitudes Toward Mobile Technology Tools: Is there a Generation Gap? attempts to answer that question. In partnership with the Family Services Technology Council, a 28-question survey was developed and administered electronically to members of the NASW...

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Mary McCarthy: “The nature of the world today has created the heightened need for leadership during times of change, reform or implementation of a renovation.” The NASW Foundation’s Social Work Policy Institute hosted a symposium with representatives from child welfare research, policy and practice, social work education and child welfare training to discuss the critical role of supervisors in the delivery of quality child welfare services. Joan Levy Zlotnik, director of SWPI, noted that social workers are leaders in child welfare in regard to practice, research, education and policy. Input from the November meeting, t...

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In November, NASW, the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship and the Oncology Nursing Society hosted a first-of-its-kind, one-day workshop for social workers and nurses to learn how to train their colleagues in using the NCCS’s Cancer Survival Toolbox. The event took place at the NASW national office in Washington. The award-winning Cancer Survival Toolbox is an audio program that helps people living with cancer, as well as their family members, understand and develop skills to address the challenges of their illness. “The Toolbox was heavily promoted when it was first developed about 10 years ago,” said Stacy Collin...

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Social workers from across the country are being asked to do their part to promote the profession by taking action during National Professional Social Work Month, held each March. This year’s theme is “Social Workers Change Futures.” There have already been 4,000 visits to the Social Work Month 2011 Toolkit website. “We need members to act to help make this a successful Social Work Month,” said Gail Woods Waller, communications director for NASW. The toolkit offers dozens of examples and step-by-step instructions to formulate an effective campaign both locally and nationwide. One example is using social media...

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Elizabeth Root was profiled in a story published in The Ithaca Journal that noted that she will give the keynote address at the New York State School Social Workers Association’s annual conference. The article said her speech “will examine promising practices that are being developed to address children’s developmental and educational needs without drugs.” Root told the newspaper: “An especially intriguing trend is the revival of science of neuroplasticity, which refers to the natural ability of the brain to regain optimal functioning following a disturbing upset.” She said research supports such practice...

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From the President Throughout my social work career, I’ve watched some of my most passionate and determined colleagues choose to devote their professional lives to the important and sensitive field of child welfare. Professional social workers employed by public and private child welfare agencies care deeply about the well-being of children, many of whom have no voice and no advocate to stand up for their rights. These social workers are some of the most committed and caring I’ve known, yet if we were to ask the public their thoughts on the child welfare system, chances are their answers would not be positive. It is unfortunate...

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