NASW News

Springtime is a time of growth and renewal in nature, and this spring has been a time of renewal at NASW as well. In May, the national office of NASW experienced a major change in leadership: the departure of longtime CEO Dr. Betsy Clark and the arrival of her successor in that role, Dr. Angelo McClain. In the 12 years she served NASW as executive director and CEO, Dr. Clark has accomplished a lot: the formation of the NASW Foundation and the Social Work Policy Institute; the transition of the former NASW Insurance Trust into Assurance Services Inc., our current insurance arm; spearheading the development of the Social Work Reinvestment A...

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Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, seated, signs into law the NASW Massachusetts Social Work Safety in the Workplace bill in February. The law puts in place violence prevention and crisis response plans. NASW-Massachusetts and the Boston University School of Social Work led the efforts to get the bill passed. Massachusetts Governor Signs Legislation on Social Work Safety in the Workplace Social workers and others in direct care settings in Massachusetts will be better protected from violence, thanks to the efforts led by the NASW Massachusetts Chapter and the Boston University School of Social Work. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick signed i...

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Women’s liberation movement leader Gloria Steinem speaks during a special NASW presidential forum, the “Feminization of Poverty Revisited,” held on March 20 in Washington, D.C. The event drew more than 100 female leaders in social work and a variety of other professions. The forum examined the impact poverty has on women in the U.S. and internationally and promoted the importance of advocacy for gender equality. Gloria Steinem, iconic visionary of the women’s movement, and Tina Tchen (photo left), White House chief of staff for the office of the first lady, were among the guest speakers at a recent special NASW pres...

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Lileana Duarte, left, and Lener Jimenez listen while visiting the NASW national office in March. The two were part of a group of MSW students from the University of Southern California who visited Washington, D.C., as part of their class curriculum. A group of MSW students from the University of Southern California School of Social Work visited the NASW national office in March to learn more about the social work profession. The students are enrolled in Child Development and Social Policy at USC, and spent a week in Washington, D.C., as a part of their class curriculum. During their trip, the students learned about policy issues by visit...

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NASW Senior Practice Associate Chris Herman presented at the annual American Society on Aging conference “Aging in America,” which was held in March. Herman represented NASW as a respondent to a panel presentation addressing the 2012 Institute of Medicine report “The Mental Health and Substance Use Workforce for Older Adults: In Whose Hands?” “This session was part of a track organized by the National Coalition on Mental Health and Aging, to which NASW belongs, and ASA’s Mental Health and Aging Network,” Herman said. Herman was joined on the response panel by NASW member Robyn Golden, representing...

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The National Consensus Project for Quality Palliative Care has released the third edition of its Clinical Practice Guidelines for Palliative Care. The NCP developed the first edition of the guidelines in 2004. NASW is one of six NCP organizations involved in the revision process and endorses the guidelines. NASW Senior Practice Associate Chris Herman and NASW member Stacy Orloff represented NASW on the NCP task force that revised the guidelines. The guidelines are written for interdisciplinary teams and include eight domains of palliative care: structures and processes; physical aspects; psychological and psychiatric aspects; social aspec...

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Social workers urging lawmakers’ support in states that have opted out or are undecided. The good news: The Affordable Care Act calls for expanding Medicaid eligibility in 2014 for nearly all U.S. citizens under 65 whose incomes are up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level. The not so good news: The U.S. Supreme Court’s June 2012 ruling on the ACA allows states to opt out of the Medicaid expansion. NASW chapters have been actively petitioning their state lawmakers in favor of the expansion, which has the potential to benefit millions of people. According to the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, on March 5, 27 states ...

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From left, William Rinehart, Phillip Pittinger-Dunham and NASW student member Walter “Allen” Pittinger-Dunham attend the marriage equality rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26. NASW student member Walter “Allen” Pittinger-Dunham and his husband, Phillip R. Pittinger-Dunham, participated in a rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court on March 26 to show their support for marriage equality. They joined an enthusiastic crowd as the high court began hearings in two cases that support marriage equality in the U.S. “It was important as a gay man for me to stand with others, both LGBTQ and ally alike, so th...

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Need for field visits should be re-examined Your article on training for safety on the job (Feb. 2013) did not address a basic issue — the necessity of field visits. The profession should take a second look at the justification for sending social workers, frequently young females, into potentially dangerous situations. Is the “magic” of the home visit an outdated concept? Home visits started in the early days of the profession with social workers visiting clients and perhaps verifying needs for financial assistance. At the time, few people owned cars and public transportation was limited. The elderly, disabled and mother...

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NASW, through its Legal Defense Fund, filed an amicus brief in the U.S. Supreme Court case, Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl. The case involves whether the Indian Child Welfare Act applies to a private adoption initiated by a non-Indian parent. Previously, the South Carolina Supreme Court upheld a lower court’s ruling that a Native American child could be not be adopted by non-Native American parents without complying with the ICWA, which provides biological parents with greater procedural rights to notice and consent than many state adoption proceedings. In 2009, a couple from South Carolina sought to adopt a Native American child fro...

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