NASW News

NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark will lead a People to People Social Work Delegation to Russia in August. The professional exchange will continue the Social Workers Across Nations, or SWAN, initiative at NASW, promoting greater understanding of the profession among countries. “Social work is a global profession,” Clark said. “Around the world, social workers have a common core of values, yet social work may be practiced differently in other countries. There are usually similarities in social problems, but the focus of concern can differ within borders and within cultures.” Russia is the world’s larg...

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Perspective From Abroad I have been following the health care reform efforts and am not surprised that within the social work community there is an opinion (Letters, January and February News) that has no basis in fact, but rather swings towards the conservative/right-wing ideology. Living abroad in a social democracy (Germany) and having universal health care (not free but paid for by the employer and employee), I see little evidence of the “dependence” that is often talked about. Yes, health care costs for coverage will involve additional costs. We as a society need to move away from the idea that we can have something for noth...

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NASW President James J. Kelly presented Valli Kalei Kanuha with the Presidential Award for Excellence in Social Work Research at a Feb. 19 ceremony in Honolulu. Declaring her among the “brightest and best” social workers, Kelly said Kanuha received the award because her body of research has informed, shaped and advanced the social work profession. In addition, “her work has influenced policy, practice and services provided to the diverse constituencies with whom she has worked over her career,” Kelly said. Kanuha, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Hawaii Manoa, said she is an “activist-r...

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Jeri Miller of the National Institute of Nursing Research discusses her workgroup’s findings during the symposium. Hospice researchers, practitioners and policymakers gathered in March for the NASW Foundation’s Social Work Policy Institute symposium called “Hospice Social Work: Linking Policy, Practice and Research.” Hospice social work, like most social work fields of practice, is in need of more research to demonstrate its effectiveness as a member of the hospice care team, said SWPI Director Joan Levy Zlotnik. “As hospices are implementing the revised federal conditions of participation, this is an impor...

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Shortly after signing the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at a White House ceremony March 23, President Barack Obama dashed to the U.S. Department of the Interior, a few blocks from the executive mansion, to address a throng of health care reform advocates. Among the crowd was NASW Executive Director Elizabeth J. Clark. “It was a celebration,” Clark told NASW News. She said representatives were in attendance from just about every group NASW worked with over the previous year to shape and help deliver on health care reform. “The president gave credit to the audience for helping bring about reform,” sh...

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Ethiopian women affected by HIV/AIDS benefit from skills training through vocational support groups like those provided by the Wegen Aden Ethiopia Association in Addis Ababa. Here, a group of women review the day’s sales ledger. The reality of more and more people in Ethiopia living with HIV presents new opportunities and challenges for social workers in the East African country, says Evelyn Tomaszewski, NASW’s senior policy adviser on human rights and international affairs. She told the NASW Newsthat improved access to antiretroviral medications and increased prevention messaging have had a profound effect on Ethiopia, where...

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Dr. Dorothy I. Height, a renowned civil rights leader and a vital force in the struggle for human rights and equality in the United States for more than half a century, died April 20 in Washington. “Words cannot express our sorrow in learning about Dr. Height’s death,” said Elizabeth J. Clark, NASW’s executive director. “She, like pioneer social workers Jane Addams and Frances Perkins, made lasting change in the lives of thousands, while shaping some of the most important social shifts in American history.” NASW News will have coverage about Height’s life and achievements in the June issue.

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In celebration of National Professional Social Work Month, the George Mason University Department of Social Work hosted a conference in March called “Diversity and Professional Practice: Exploring Cutting-Edge Issues for Policy and Practice.” Rita Webb, NASW senior policy adviser, was among the guest speakers at the Washington event. Webb talked about NASW’s efforts to reduce racism and, in particular, the development of the guide “Institutional Racism and the Social Work Profession: A Call to Action.” It was produced by a task force under the guidance of former NASW President Elvira de Silva as part of her &l...

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April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. This provides an opportunity to highlight multiple programs and strategies that focus on prevention: making sure children have access to health care, home visit programs for young children, and advocacy efforts that bring attention to the need for resources to support and strengthen families and to keep children safe. There are critical roles for social workers in all three domains. Home visitation: Helping children and families has always been a major objective for the social work profession. The good news is that the Obama administration supports of child welfare initiatives and calls for fun...

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Hospice workers, as well as health care institutions treating children disabled by the Jan. 13 earthquake that devastated Haiti, will receive more than $20,000 that the NASW Foundation received through its Social Work Disaster Assistance Fund following the earthquake. The NASW Foundation is partnering with the National Hospice Foundation in supporting Holy Angels Hospice in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, the Albert Schweitzer Hospital in Deschapelles, Haiti, and Boston-based Partners In Health. All three organizations had staff, including social workers, in Haiti to provide palliative and end-of-life care to severely injured victims of the 7.0-magni...

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