Join #SWRocktheVote Campaign!
NASW Blogs
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is proud to join Social Work Helper Magazineand the American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare (AASWSW) in a voter registration campaign from Rock the Vote . Social workers have long played a key role in ensuring all Americans have the right to vote.  Social workers supported the Voting Rights Act of 1965. And NASW continues to push Congress to restore voting rights protections that were gutted by a 2013 U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

Social Work Groups Join Forces with Rock the Vote to register voters
Social Work Helper
“NASW and the social work profession have a long history of ensuring everyone has the right to cast a ballot, dating back to social work’s role in the women’s suffrage movement a century ago and NASW’s involvement in the passage of the original Voting Rights Act in 1965,” NASW CEO Angelo McClain, PhD, LICSW, said. “NASW is proud to be a part of this campaign with AASWSW, Social Work Helper and Rock the Vote and encourages social workers to reach out to their family members, friends and colleagues to see if they are registered to vote and encourage them to register if they have not done so.”

Group pushing Earned Income Tax Credit for W.Va.
The Logan Banner
The state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) could help West Virginians who work but struggle to get by on low wages, according to Seth DiStefano, Campaign Coordinator for the EITC supporters. This would be similar to the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit that is already in effect. The group, which has been endorsed by several organizations across the state, says the EITC would also help with reducing poverty, increasing tax fairness, and boosting local economies across the state. “Right now we have 39 organizations who have endorsed the campaign to bring a refundable state income tax credit to W.Va.,” DiStefano said. “Those organizations include the Center on Budget and Policy, W.Va. Chapter of National Association of Social Workers, The W.Va. Bankers Association, United Way of Southern W.Va. and many others,” he added.

Dan Beerman is a member:
Moore County DSS problems uncovered in wake of child’s death
The Fayetteville Observer (NC)
A state review of Moore County’s Child Protective Services reveals a host of concerns from the day the agency took custody of Rylan Ott through April, when the toddler drowned in a pond. The most glaring issue was a high turnover rate that almost certainly contributed to other areas cited in the report that need improvement, said Dan Beerman, a retired child welfare director from Forsyth County. “That’s what turnover does. You can’t do this work if you only have half your positions, and if you do it, it ends up being just totally unacceptable,” Beerman said. “It’s reflective of, ‘You looked, you drove by and you didn’t get around to the paperwork and you didn’t have supervisors dogging you.'”

Christa Thompson is a member:
Catastrophic change uproots families in the Butte Fire burn area
Calaveras Enterprise (CA)
Christa Thompson is a licensed clinical social worker who works under contract to Calaveras County to provide training in psychological first aid to Butte Fire survivors and those who work with them. “Allow yourself the time and space to go through all those stages of grief and loss,” Thompson advises. “It is part of the process of healing. Find whatever gives us hope, even if it is just a thread of something. Keep pulling on it and keep pulling on it.”