NASW News

NASW has joined the America Votes organization, which combines the power of more than 40 large membership-based groups to take full advantage of their electoral impact. America Votes works to increase voter registration, education and participation in electoral politics. According to America Votes officials, the partnership represents more than 20 million Americans in every state in the country. Groups that are a part of America Votes work on a broad range of issues including the environment, civil and human rights, choice, education and labor. Becky Myers, special assistant to NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark, said NASW is encou...

Read More

— Lyn Stoesen, News Staff   The NASW Foundation held a reception and ceremony on Feb. 1 to honor the recipients of the 2007 Knee/Wittman Achievement Awards as well as the recipient of the 2007 NASW National Lifetime Achievement Award. Betsy S. Vourlekis was recognized with the Knee/Wittman Lifetime Achievement in Health and Mental Health Practice award, Teresa DeCrescenzo (upper right) received the Outstanding Achievement in Health and Mental Health Policy Award, and Dorothy V. Harris was honored with the NASW National Lifetime Achievement Award during the event, held at the Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. The evening opened wi...

Read More

NASW member Terry L. Cross, executive director of the National Indian Child Welfare Association based in Portland, Ore., has been appointed to the National Advisory Council of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The National Advisory Council is a 12-member panel of experts that meets regularly to advise the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and SAMHSA's administrator on a wide range of public health matters related to prevention, treatment and recovery support services. Cross is an adjunct assistant professor at Portland State University School of Social Work and an enrolled me...

Read More

— Lyn Stoesen, News Staff   NASW and its chapters have been working to ensure the rights of gay and lesbian parents to adopt and foster children. The association's Arkansas Chapter is involved in efforts to defeat a ballot initiative related to fostering and adoption in that state, and NASW Policy Adviser Rita Webb was part of a recent meeting to address restrictions against adoption and foster parenting by gay and lesbian people. In Arkansas, previous ballot proposals to bar gay people from being foster parents or adopting have failed, but a revised version of the proposal is being attempted and may be on the November 2008 ball...

Read More

From the Director Each March, we celebrate Social Work Month. We develop a unifying theme for two purposes. We use it to help the public better understand the contributions that social workers make to our society, and we use it to celebrate our profession, our workplaces and our social work colleagues. The Social Work Month theme for 2008 is "Building on Strengths." It is drawn from a major tenet of social work practice — that we assess and begin with our clients' strengths and build on those to help clients achieve their goals. In this column, I want to celebrate three social work luminaries and describe how we are building on their...

Read More