Social Work in the News – March 27, 2008

News Source: Google News
Letter: Social workers help people in all stages of life
TCPalm – West Palm Beach, FL
I wonder just how many people really understand what social workers do? When I took an informal poll in our community, many people responded: “Don’t they …

Social workers play many roles in our society
Cumberland Times-News – Cumberland, MD
Social workers aim to open the doors of access and opportunity for everyone, particularly those greatest in need. The original mission of social work had …

School of Social Work alumna donates $250000 to college
LSU The Reveille – Baton Rouge, LA
While students were out enjoying spring break, the School of Social Work announced some good news – a dedicated alumna made a big donation. …

Patrick lends support to social workers
Boston Globe
By State House News Service Governor Deval Patrick today acknowledged the danger social workers face on the job, pointing to the fatal stabbing last month …

Social workers still await security
StarNewsOnline.com – Wilmington, NC
By Tyra M. Vaughn, For the past seven years, Pender County Social Services Director Reta Shiver has made the same plea: Security upgrades are needed to …

Sigmund Freud’s grand-daughter to discuss her views at lecture
Fall River Herald News – MA
By Grant Welker Sigmund Freud’s granddaughter Sophie, a writer and retired social work professor, will give a lecture at the University of Massachusetts …

Social worker says he will oppose Sally Kern in
kjrh.com – Tulsa, OK
Ron Marlett, a 59-year-old social worker, was introduced by state Democratic Party head Ivan Holmes at a news conference where Marlett said statements by …

Social Work Students Get Practical
WTOK – Meridian, MS
“This helps a lot in helping with us studying social work because it applies everything that we’ve been practicing for,” said Natisha Isaac, …

Jenee: Retired social worker discovers that being a mentor is a …
Kansas City Star – MO
“I was worried she wouldn’t like me, because I’m old, but it’sa lot like being a grandma,” says Ann, 54, a retired Kansas City social worker. …

Social Work in the News – March 5, 2008

News Source: Google News

ACLU Challenges Unlawful Strip Search Over Ibuprofen Allegation In …
ACLU (press release) – New York, NY
In addition, the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and Rutherford Institute, an international nonprofit civil liberties organization, …

College with Confidence
The Star-Ledger – NJ.com – Newark, NJ
by Maureen P. Tillman, LCSW What makes transitioning to college such a great experience for some students and so overwhelming for others? …

Inspiration found in program
Daily Iberian – New Iberia, LA
BY MARY CATHARINE MARTIN March is Social Worker Month, and if anyone is looking for evidence as to the good social workers do, all they have to do is ask …

Confronting grief
Dailyrecord.com – Parsippany, NJ
Jennifer Gozlan is a licensed clinical social worker with the Hospice at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway, a nonprofit hospice that has served …

Decision time: Experts say teen should make final choice on college
Jackson Sun – Jackson, TN
Licensed clinical social worker Sarah Hamil said parents should allow their child to pick their own college. Choosing a college is already difficult and …

Social Work in the News – March 3, 2008

News Source: Google News

Social workers are always ready to help
El Paso Times – El Paso, TX
When I was young, I thought social workers just handed out welfare checks. Today, I know that social workers do just about anything that involves helping …

Lessons from child deaths
Newsday – Long Island,NY,USA
Advocates and social work experts say that child protective agencies need adequate funding, caseload caps, and training and close supervision of staffers on …

Students to help Katrina victims in road to recovery
News 10 Now – Syracuse,NY,USA
The hardest hit area is in New Orleans and on March 25th, 20 social work graduate students and professors will head down to the seventh ward to see for …

Workers to lose jobs in Medicaid change
Baltimore Sun – United States
By Larry Carson | Sun reporter March 2, 2008 Nurses and social workers who provide health services to hundreds of Howard County’s most vulnerable residents …

Social Work in the News – February 19, 2008

NIU Shooting:
Gunman, Active and Successful, Showed Few Hints of Trouble
BlueRidgeNow.com – Hendersonville, NC
“In this case, I was overwhelmed,” said Jan Carter-Black, Mr. Kazmierczak’s adviser and an assistant professor in the School of Social Work at the …
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University shooter interested in ‘peace, social justice’
CNN
The assistant professor at the School of Social Work said that she enjoyed having him as a student and that he was “a nice person; he was a nice kid. …
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Other Social Work News:
Bill Would Require Some to Pass Drug Test to Get Aid
Washington Post
Puckett said the issue is a particular problem for social workers and drug counselors across the rustic stretches of his native southwestern Virginia who …

Mental health professionals see few changes
Quad-Cities Online – Rock Island, IL
… the intended victim,” said Phyllis Woodward, a licensed clinical social worker at Robert Young Center for Community Mental Health. …

Violence haunts job for social workers
Boston Globe
Social workers at the department reported that they had been threatened on the job 343 times during the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2007, said Richard …

Position widens safety net for children
Crookston Daily Times – Crookston, MN
(Natalie J. Ostgaard, Photographer) Miller has a master’s degree in social work and is bilingual, an especially valuable skill to possess in this region, …

Statement from The School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign regarding the shooting tragedy at Northern Illinois University.

The School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign would like to express its deepest sympathies to victims’ families and to the entire Northern Illinois University community in the wake of Thursday’s tragic shootings on the DeKalb campus.

Steven Kazmierczak, who has been identified as the person responsible for the shootings, was a student in the master’s program in the U. of I. School of Social Work.

For the social work community, the situation has been especially difficult to comprehend, as the person responsible for this tragedy was one of our own.

As we provide support to our students, faculty/staff, and community, we remain mindful that such serious actions are not always predictable or understood. We intend to work together with everyone involved to bring to an end to personal pain and senseless violence.

Sincerely,

The UIUC School of Social Work
Faculty, Staff, Students, and Alumni

Statement of National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Executive Director Dr. Elizabeth Clark in Support of H.R. 5447, “The Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act”

Washington, D.C. – February 14, 2008 – The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) applauds the introduction today of H.R. 5447, the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act by Congressman Edolphus Towns (D-NY) and Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT). This is a significant initiative which, if enacted, will enable the nation’s 600,000 professional social workers to better serve families and communities in need.

At a time when demand for high-quality social services in our nation is at an all-time high, and at a time when professional social workers themselves are facing a range of daunting challenges, the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act is deserving of the full support of all – social workers as well as the general public.

Named for two of the United States’ greatest champions of social justice, the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act would establish a Social Work Reinvestment Commission to provide a comprehensive analysis of current trends within the professional and academic social work communities. Specifically, the Commission will develop long-term recommendations and strategies to maximize the ability of America’s social workers to serve their clients with expertise and care.

This legislation also creates competitive demonstration grants which will support efforts underway within both the private and public sectors, at our nation’s institutions of higher learning, and within community-based organizations already administering services to underserved client populations. This investment will be returned many times over both in support of ongoing efforts to establish effective social service solutions and in direct service to affected client communities.

The volume and nature of our human, social service and health care needs are changing. Whether it’s the more than one million veterans returning from the Iraq war, the more than 500,000 children in our foster care system, or the hundreds of thousands of families dealing with health, homelessness, or addiction issues, professional, experienced social workers are in greater demand than ever.

At the same time, social worker salaries are significantly lower than those in comparable professions, social workers are retiring and leaving the profession in great numbers, and schools of social work are finding it more difficult to recruit young, dedicated people into the profession. The programs and initiatives of the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act will go a long way to ensure our supply of professional social workers can keep up with rising demand.

About NASW

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), in Washington, D.C. (www.socialworkers.org), is the largest membership organization of professional social workers with 150,000 members. It promotes, develops, and protects the practice of social work and social workers. NASW also seeks to enhance the well-being of individuals, families, and communities through its advocacy.

Social Work in the News – February 4, 2008

Students to aid New Orleans residents
Inside BU – Binghamton, NY
Nearly 20 Binghamton students seeking master’s degrees in social work will devote their spring break to providing long-term disaster relief in New Orleans. …

Youths in child welfare system behave better with early intervention
PhysOrg.com – Evergreen, VA
He collaborated with Mary Ruffolo and Robert Ortega, both with the UM School of Social Work, and Jenell Clarke, a doctoral student in the joint program in …

Pitt Faculty Available to Comment on “Super Tuesday” Primaries
University of Pittsburgh News (press release) – Pittsburgh, PA
Davis created CRSP, the first research center on race at any school of social work in the nation, shortly after he arrived at the University of Pittsburgh …

When Grandparents become parents
North Denver News – Denver, CO
According to Anne Strozier, Ph.D, MSW, an Associate Professor at the University of South Florida and a founder and director of the Florida Kinship Center at …

Social Worker Again Honored For Hospice Program
Tampa Tribune – Tampa, FL
HOSPICE SOCIAL WORKER MARILYN PECK guides senior Jim Kanehl on a tour of his own memories using her award-winning “Life Through Pictures” program. …

Social Work in the News – February 1, 2008

For some elders, pride before food
Boston Globe – United States
… that they are not accessing, that they should be accessing, and food stamps is a big one,” said Kathy Laufer, a clinical social worker for the city. …

Grandparents Graduate From a Life Skills Class
UMB News – Baltimore,MD,USA
22 from the School of Social Work’s Grandparents Family Connections’ GrandPOWER program. More than 60 people watched the women march into the auditorium to …

Social worker advises families in process of divorce
WISH – Indianapolis,IN,USA
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – For couples who are in the midst of a violent divorce, there are people that can help. Social workers, like Vanessa Santos advise …

Late January can be a downer
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle – Rochester,NY,USA
Christine Spooner, MSW, is a licensed clinical social worker and associate director for counseling services at Catholic Family Center.

Questioning her sexuality … At odds with parents over major
Scripps News – Washington,DC,USA
Therapist Patty Hayes, MSW, who identifies as a lesbian herself, offers fascinating info. Right off the bat, your non-zesty dating history isn’t indicative …

Member of Arkansas’ Little Rock Nine to Speak at W&L
Rockbridge Weekly – Lexington,VA,USA
He received his BA degree in sociology in 1967 from California State University, his MSW from the UCLA School of Social Welfare, and his Ph.D. in psychology …

Social Work in the News – January 30, 2008

Molina’s skid row crusade
Los Angeles Times – CA
Los Angeles county social workers said 3-month-old Mikeal Wah-hab looked well-fed, healthy and safe when they examined him at a skid row mission. …

Social worker decries increasing number of street children
The Tide – Port Harcourt, Niger Delta, Nigeria
A social worker, Rev. Dele George has urged the various tiers of government to evolve a mechanism for the rehabilitation of street children in Nigeria. …

Hazardous waste causing trouble on East side
UT The Daily Texan – Austin, TX
The UT School of Social Work and the Center for Social Work Research hosted the first of a series of open seminars highlighting issues of health disparity …

McCorkle ending 30-year career working with children at DFCS
The Times-Herald – Newnan, GA
Along the way, McCorkle furthered his education and training in the area of social work because he felt strongly about the department’s mission of helping …

Social Work in the News – January 29, 2008

Guarding Health, And Independence
Washington Post, Washington DC
Jennifer Edge, a social worker from ElderLink, lifted each rug…

Social work, diversity given greater importance at UAB
The Kaleidoscope, AL
Jason Streater, a UAB sophomore majoring in social work, is just one of the many. After sitting down for an interview with Streater, I have come to realize …

To get fit in ’08 set smaller goals, seek support
Georgetown Record – Beverly, MA
… set for yourself and determine whether they’re reasonable, says Diane Hawkins-Clark, an independent clinical social worker at Newburyport Counseling. …

Orphans Share Their Stories with BYU
BYU Newsnet, UT
By Samantha Strong – 28 Jan 2008 With quiet dignity, three African orphans took their seats on stage at BYU’s School of Social Work’s Orphan Awareness …

Studies Cite Head Injuries As Factor in Some Social Ills
Wall Street Journal
School social workers and teachers with special training across the state show other teachers how to recognize and work with the brain-injured, …

The Faith to Outlast Politics
New York Times
… worth billions of dollars each year, as Ram Cnaan, a professor of social work at the University of Pennsylvania, has proved in several studies. …

Woman picked to head juvenile justice agency
The Star-Ledger, NJ
Lawson holds a bachelor’s de gree in sociology from Bennett College in Greensboro, NC, and a master’s degree from Howard University School of Social Work. …

GLBT community sounds off on gay divorce
EDGE Boston
“There’sa sense of pressure and visibility,” says Rich Domenico, LICSW [Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker], a Boston therapist specializing in …

Caregivers need care, too
Republican Eagle – Red Wing, MN
“Another thing I found that was so important to me is the social worker who came to the house,” Gardas said. “I had a couple of meltdowns and I just felt so …