Kelsey Carroll sits outside of Somersworth High School in New Hampshire. The school implemented a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program to reach out to troubled students like Kelsey. A documentary that focuses on Kelsey’s progress, “Who Cares About Kelsey?” will be part of the film festival taking place during the NASW national conference in July in Washington, D.C. — Photo by Dan Habib/whocaresaboutkelsey.com Social worker Bethany Case (photo below, right) said she is eager to attend the NASW national conference “Social Work: Courage, Hope & Leadership,” taking place July 23-26 in W...

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Kelsey Carroll sits outside of Somersworth High School in New Hampshire. The school implemented a Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports program to reach out to troubled students like Kelsey. A documentary that focuses on Kelsey’s progress, “Who Cares About Kelsey?” will be part of the film festival taking place during the NASW national conference in July in Washington, D.C. — Photo by Dan Habib/whocaresaboutkelsey.com Social worker Bethany Case (photo below, right) said she is eager to attend the NASW national conference “Social Work: Courage, Hope & Leadership,” taking place July 23-26 in W...

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The popular television sitcom The Office put Scranton, Pa., on the map. It’s also the area where NASW-Pennsylvania Executive Director Ron Simon is from, and where he earned his MSW at Marywood University. Simon said he has known since high school that social work is what he wanted to do, but an undergrad adviser at Kings College in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., strongly urged him away from a BSW. Instead, he worked toward double bachelor’s degrees in psychology and English. “He told me social work is a dying field,” Simon said. “But I knew I wanted to interact with people, and I wanted to make a difference.” Despi...

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It’s critical for social workers to take the time and make sure their advance directives are in order, says California licensed clinical social worker Joni Diamond. “Life is so fragile. We never know what tomorrow brings,” she said. Social workers are also well positioned to help clients discuss their health care choices and goals, Diamond said. “We are able to be a role model for them and help them discuss these critical and sensitive decisions.” NASW is promoting the observance of National Healthcare Decisions Day, or NHDD, taking place April 16. NASW joins hundreds of organizations, health care providers ...

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Three social work students helped the NASW Wisconsin Chapter lobby state representatives for support of the Social Work Safety bill. From left are Andrew Selander; Wisconsin State Sen. Dave Hansen, D-Green Bay; Becca Zien; and Nicholl Leonhard. The NASW Wisconsin Chapter is working to keep social workers and other human services staff safe from a law that allows homeowners to use deadly force in potential home invasions. Wisconsin lawmakers in late 2011 passed the Castle Doctrine, which states that if a person has “reason to believe” someone is breaking into their home, deadly force can be used without fear of being prosecute...

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Kurt Heisler, a research analyst at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, speaks to members of the Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities, during the commission’s first meeting in February. 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 the Every Child Matters Education Fund; and Theresa Covington, director of the Natio...

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January 2014   Board's Action Context Finances Received financial statements as of Dec. 31, 2013 Treasurer Mary McCarthy reported that as of Dec. 31, 2013, NASW’s total asset position was $16.4 million. Total expenses as of Dec. 31, 2013, were $7.7 million, $284,000 below budget. Accepted the consolidated financial audit and...

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NASW Social Work Pioneer® Alfred Kadushin was a giant in social work, said NASW-Wisconsin Executive Director Marc Herstand. Kadushin was soft-spoken and gentle, Herstand said, but his impact on the social work profession was — and continues to be — enormous. Kadushin died on Feb. 5 at the age of 97. He was a Julia C. Lathrop Distinguished Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Social Work, where he worked from 1950 to 1990. The university called him one of the nation’s leading scholars in child welfare services and social work. He wrote six books on the subject: Child Welfare Services; The Social Wo...

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Sister Simone Campbell (photo right), executive director of Network, a national Catholic social services lobby and the leader of the “Nuns on the Bus” social welfare effort, holds a picture of Margaret Kessler, who died in 2012. Kessler lacked health insurance after she lost her job, Campbell said. The sister joined a rally supporting the Affordable Care Act outside the U.S. Supreme Court last month. University of Alabama MSW student Justin Vest was among hundreds of people outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., in March, urging continued support of the Affordable Care Act. NASW joined the Center for American Prog...

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NASW members and staff vote on the suggestions for improving social work teaching, research and advocacy related to health care reform during a recent social work and ACA summit in Chicago. From left: Heidi Allen, assistant professor of social work at Columbia University, N.Y.; Stacy Collins, NASW senior practice associate; June Simmons, CEO of Partners in Care Foundation in Los Angeles; and Barbara Jones, associate professor and co-director of the Institute for Grief, Loss, and Family Survival in the School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. NASW members made up more than half of the attendees at the Social Work and Affo...

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