NASW News

NASW’s Rita Webb: A troubled economy threatens services for domestic violence victims. When the economy tanks, domestic violence increases, according to the recently released diversity practice update “Women and Domestic Violence: Implications for Social Work Intervention.” “An economic crisis alone does not cause domestic violence; however, economic stress can exacerbate an already precarious situation,” it says. “In addition, the loss of a job, home, or car can reduce a victim’s ability to leave an abusive situation.” It continues: “Understanding and recognizing the underlying dynam...

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Desperate for Services Finally there is coverage (“Spotlighting Native American Issues,” September News) of our indigenous people, who are so desperate for services. The reservations are structurally, socially and psychologically bereft and in turmoil. People are suffering and there is little help in addressing core issues. There are caring people who help, but real assistance is not there. Left to their own devices, they fail miserably due to lack of experience and needed support from outside the reservation. Then the victims get blamed. I am working on a documentary about teen suicide at the Pine Ridge Reservation in South D...

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Two hours north of San Francisco, in California’s wine country, is the small town of Ukiah, where Jetaine Hart grew up. It’s about the farthest from the nation’s capital one can go heading due west before reaching the Pacific Ocean. It’s a far cry from Capitol Hill, where Hart lives and works these days. Traversing the country, wending from a small town to the big city, isn’t the only long journey Hart has made in her life; she’s come a considerable way from a childhood spent first in poverty and then in foster care. Hart, now a social worker, currently works for Louisiana Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu. ...

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The NASW Board of Directors in September approved new standards for social work practice with family caregivers of older adults. “These standards are designed to enhance social work practice with family caregivers of older adults and to help the public understand the role of professional social work in supporting family caregivers,” the introduction to the standards states. The standards address the following social work practice concepts as they relate to working with family caregivers: ethics and values; qualifications; knowledge; cultural and linguistic competence; assessment; service planning, delivery and monitoring; ad...

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Michael Petit of Every Child Matters addresses a gathering at last year’s event. NASW continues to address the prevention of child abuse and child neglect fatalities as an active member of the National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths. Association staff attended a coalition planning meeting in September to refine the group’s efforts to garner federal attention to child maltreatment deaths. Besides NASW, the coalition includes the Every Child Matters Education Fund, the National Center for Child Death Review, the National Children’s Alliance and the National District Attorneys Association. Each coalition member is pr...

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Amy E. McCarty of law firm Monahan & Cohen spoke at the Illinois ethics symposium. Mistey Kosek spared herself a 90-minute commute to Chicago when she signed up to participate in the NASW Illinois Chapter’s first Virtual Symposium on Ethics this fall. Kosek said despite not being in the same room with the conference presenters, she was still able to communicate with them and other attendees in a virtual format using an Internet connection. “I was able to stay at my house, sit anywhere I wanted to and I could still interact, ask questions and post comments,” she said. “I loved it.” Illinois is one of m...

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NASW offered insight on the factors in determining case management caseloads for a Veterans Health Administration workgroup that is evaluating staffing ratios for care management with veterans of the war in Iraq. NASW Senior Practice Associate Chris Herman participated in a teleconference with the VHA Case Management Caseload Ratio Work Group recently and discussed a caseload concept paper and matrix that NASW helped develop as part of a separate caseload workgroup in 2008. The workgroup is coordinating its efforts with the VHA’s version of the Patient-Centered Medical Home: Patient-Aligned Care Team, said Peggy Kennedy, program man...

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September 2010 Board's Action Context Finance Received the financial reports for the period ending Aug. 31, 2010. As of Aug. 31, 2010, NASW’s total asset position was $13.4 million. Overall, assets decreased by $1.6 million compared to the same time last year. For the two months ending Aug. 31, total revenue increased by $27,000 versus 2009 to $3.2 million. Dues revenue for the two-month peri...

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A California appeals court last month agreed with NASW in upholding a lower court’s preliminary injunction stopping the Shasta Union High School District from conducting random drug tests on students. The case is Brown v. Shasta Union High School District. Prior to 2008, the district tested student athletes for drugs only at random. That year, the district expanded the drug testing program to all students who participate in competitive extracurricular activities, such as band or choir. Students sued the district, alleging that the random drug testing program violated their rights to privacy, equal protection and to be free from unrea...

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The Action Network for Social Work Education and Research (ANSWER) Coalition met in October at NASW to welcome a new member organization and to outline goals for the upcoming year. The group, which works to increase legislative and executive branch advocacy on behalf of social work education, training and research, also greeted Susan Kosche Vallem as the new ANSWER Coalition convener. Vallem is the policy and advocacy chair of the Association of Baccalaureate Program Directors (BPD) and the chair of the Social Work Department at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. Her term as convener will expire in November 2012. The coalition thanked prev...

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