Will Francis is a lobbyist for NAW-TX:
Texas betting on lawman to fix growing child welfare crisis
YourWestValley.com
“Bringing in this law enforcement, hard-knuckle, hard-nosed, we’re-going-after-the-bad-guy looks like it’s in the best in interest,” said Will Francis, a former child caseworker in Texas who is now a lobbyist for the National Association of Social Workers. “But it completely disregards all those families that are there for neglect or aren’t that type of hard criminal.”

Miriam Nisenbaum is executive director of NASW-TX:
State leaders order Child Protective Services overhaul
Texas Public Radio
Miriam Nisenbaum, executive director for the Texas chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, said CPS needs a strong workforce with a variety of backgrounds in areas like behavioral health and social work. Yet a recent decision to scale back the agency’s caseworker education requirements has undermined that goal. The letter from state leaders released Wednesday ordered the department to hire more investigators with law enforcement backgrounds. “I’m not sure a law enforcement background will give you the tools you need to work with the families a lot of the CPS workers end up dealing with,” Nisenbaum said.

Carla Damron is the executive director of NASW-SC:
Novelist juggles fostering storm-displaced puppy with preparing for Pat Conroy Literary Festival
Columbia Star
Novelist Carla Damron was tweaking her presentation on the revision process for the upcoming Pat Conroy Literature Festival in Beaufort, S.C. (October 20-23) when the phone rang. Pet’s Inc. had an evacuated puppy needing to wait out Hurricane Matthew in a safe haven. The author of The Stone Necklace, which was last year’s choice for One Book, One Community, is noted not only for her smooth writing but for her soft heart, quite “in character” for this career social worker.

Mike Boucher is a member:
Bitter presidential race sparks campaign against hate
Democrat & Chronicle (Rochester, NY)
[Mike] Boucher, a licensed clinical social worker with St. Joseph’s Neighborhood Center, said attending various community workshops helps him do his job better. “It strengthens me in the work I do,’’ he said. “I’m involved in work that is very similar and we’re trying to address this in a variety of ways, not always calling it hate but whether it’s community building or racial injustice, just trying to pay attention to my own process and learn about the bigger processes that are out there.”

Aimee Copeland is a member:
Aimee Copeland Talks Adapting to Life with Her Revolutionary Prosthetics: ‘They Felt Like a Part of Me’
People Magazine
Copeland plans to continue to help others, especially those with disabilities, by creating non-profit nature centers. She noticed after her accident that there were few places where people with disabilities could enjoy the outdoors, and she plans to change that. “My goal, after I become a licensed clinical social worker, is to combine my counseling with full mind, body, spiritual growth and to focus on the outdoors, community gardening and helping people to just fully immerse themselves in nature,” she said.

Jacquelyn McCroskey & Peter Braun are members:
Social work meets politics at campus forum
USC News
Where do social workers stand as the nation approaches Election Day? The National Association of Social Workers-USC Unit at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work recently hosted “Election 2016: What’s at Stake? Implications for Social Workers.” The event, which was held at the USC University Club, featured speakers Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC, who provided an overview on the 2016 presidential election, and Jacquelyn McCroskey, the John Milner Professor of Child Welfare who highlighted relevant policy issues from a social work perspective. Peter Braun, adjunct lecturer and NASW-USC Unit public policy chair, outlined the purpose of the event as it related to students, faculty, alumni and the event’s speakers.

Carolyn Cox is a member:
Cox: It’s never too late to pursue more learning: Profiles in Education
Tahlequah Daily Press
Following a path that has her constantly learning, Carolyn Cox is an instructor of social work at Northeastern State University while working on a higher education leadership doctorate at Oklahoma State University. Born and raised in Tahlequah, Cox graduated from NSU’s social work program in 2001. She worked at Community at Risk Services, assisting at-risk youths in Muskogee County, for five years. “An opportunity came about as an adjunct, and I loved it,” said Cox. “The social work program likes to take people from the field and have them teach in the classroom, to share the real-world experiences.”