Victoria Kennedy calls social workers vital in address at BC
Boston.com
Social workers are an indispensable source of aid and comfort, as they showed in the wake of one of America’s greatest catastrophes — the 9/11 terrorist attacks — said Victoria Reggie Kennedy in her keynote address for the Graduate School of Social Work’s 75th anniversary celebration on Wednesday. Kennedy, the widow of US Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, told a near-capacity Robsham Theater audience how her late husband, after hearing a 9/11 widow describe her plight in trying to get assistance, declared, “We need social workers — now!”

Talking to Kids about Cancer
Newark Post
By Elizabeth Wood, LCSW, ACSW [Editor’s note: Elizabeth Wood is a Clinical Social Worker for the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology/BBMT at Nemours/Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children.] Chances are you know someone who has had cancer, but when your own family is affected, the word cancer takes on a new meaning — one that can feel personal and frightening. Cancer can be especially confusing to children who may be coping with a family member’s diagnosis or their own. 

Local district talks about bullying
WANE
On Friday, NewsChannel 15 spoke with a social worker for Southwest Allen County Schools about how that district is handling the issue. Anita Gross, a social worker for the district for 22 years, said she hasn’t seen a dramatic increase in bullying over the past few years.

Statehouse Live; About 250 people rally against Brownback policies
Lawrence Journal World
McComas, a social worker, and Tamara Werth, a psychologist from Lawrence, organized the event to protest recent Brownback decisions. They formed a group called Kansans United in Voice & Spirit and said they hoped the rally would initiate local chapters across the state.

Separated in Foster Care, Siblings Reunite in Camp
NYTimes
Camp to Belong, a nonprofit organization that reunites siblings separated in foster care, recently opened its first camp in New York on the grounds of YMCA Camp Chingachgook in Kattskill Bay. The organization was founded in 1995 in Las Vegas by Lynn Price, a former foster child who was separated from her sister growing up. It seeks to create healthy sibling relationships for foster children, who often have difficult family lives.

Snyder’s Health Goals Hard to Swallow for Michiganders Struggling …
WILX-TV
“It’s a well-intended vision. it’s missing guts and substance,” said Maxine Thome, executive director of Michigan’s National Association of Social Workers. “Everyday, we have people living in the woods behind us. We have people going though the trash here to find food, do those people have time to go to the gym to work out or to lose weight or to get healthy nutrition?” she asked.

Behind the poverty numbers: real lives, real pain
The Associated Press
Instead, she was standing in line at a Manhattan food pantry, where hundreds of people waited patiently to fill suitcases with groceries or meet with a social worker. Going on a year without a job, Gray likes to rise early and ride the subway down from the Bronx to visit the West Side Campaign Against Hunger, New York’s largest food pantry, which is tucked inside a church basement.

Fire victims face tough emotions
Austin American-Statesman
The coming weeks, months and even years will be an emotional struggle for many people, said Michael Gianotti, branch chair of the National Association of Social Workers-Texas Chapter. Gianotti, who has helped coordinate social workers volunteering in Bastrop County, said that right now, people are dealing with a range of emotions: anger, sadness, fear, anxiety.

WorkWise: Button-pushing and responsibility at work
The Modesto Bee
Work that brings stress, impossible demands, anxiety over job security and poor management creates a negative environment, even when co-workers are well-intentioned, according to Karol Ward, a licensed clinical social worker in private practice in New York City.