Book Addresses Healing For Survivors Of Abuse
Webster Kirkwood Times
“We will be presenting it in March at the National Association of Social Workers of Missouri at the Lake of the Ozarks.” This is the second book by the Kirkwood psychotherapists.

Photo-Op: Steel Nerve
Wall Street Journal
Trained as a teacher and social worker, Hine (1874-1940) picked up a camera in 1904 so that he could offer photography classes at his school. Soon he was advertising his services in the field of ‘Social Photography,’ with a specialty in ‘graphic representations of conditions and methods of work.’ Commissions from the National Child Labor Committee produced some of his most haunting images: photographs of newsies, including one sleeping with papers for a pillow; a crowd of boy miners whose ghostly faces barely break the enveloping coal dust; a 5-year-old Mississippi shrimp picker.

Dancers say no to drugs: Crew helps teenagers stay sober
Pacific Daily News
On Talavera’s desk — which occupies a space that was once a set of toilets — is a picture of his original crew. There’s also an award from the National Association of Social Workers for exemplary service in 2011.

Has the sex stopped?
MyNews.in
“I’ve been a marriage therapist for 20 years, and I’d estimate that one in three couples struggles with this issue,” says Michele Weiner-Davis, author of The Sex-Starved Marriage. “It affects all types of people, regardless of age or years spent together.”

Mentor teaching young men in Detroit how to dream, see themselves in a better …
Detroit Free Press
Without that man, Lewis, who has a master’s degree in social work from the University of Michigan, says he could have easily been another statistic. African-American men remain twice as likely as white men to be unemployed, three times as likely to live in poverty and more than six times as likely to be incarcerated, according to a 2009 National Urban League report.

Aging and Life Quality: What Does the Future Hold?
Scientific American (blog)
“There seems to be a sort of fear, if you will, of aging,” said Valentine Villa, a California State Los Angeles Social Work professor and the director of the Applied Gerontology Institute. “In aggregate we are doing better in terms of health, in terms of socioeconomic status. We’ve been living longer.”

Kentucky social service workers face ‘crushing caseloads,’ panel told
Louisville Courier-Journal
Steve Beshear proposed adding $21 million to the state social services department that would be be used to hire 300 more workers — 91 front-line social workers and the rest family-support workers who handle public assistance cases for people seeking Medicaid, food stamps or other benefits.

Picking a therapist
Chicago Tribune
An Internet search for umbrella organizations can also lead the way: The American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers, for example. “We all have national professional associations.

Fatality raised more questions about Kimberly Even’s credentials as drug counselor
The Chicago Tribune
He died in 2009 of a heroin overdose while being counseled by Kimberly Even — a woman who had been warned to stop claiming she was a certified counselor by the professional organization that sets the standards for drug counselors, records show. The state also was investigating her credentials at the time of the death.

China’s unfledged social workers looking for support, recognition
Shanghai Daily (subscription)
Wang first came across social work while employed as a dustman in Beijing. When Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome swept the city in 2003, social workers called on his dorm to hand out disinfectants and masks. “At a moment when everyone was panicked by the epidemic, I had never known that there were still people who cared about the needs of strangers. I found social work a worthwhile career,” says the 31 year old from north China’s Hebei Province.

OU professor faces child sex complaints
NewsOK.com
The professor has not been charged in Cleveland County District Court, but an investigation is continuing, police say NORMAN — A University of Oklahoma social work professor has been arrested on complaints of rape and lewd acts with a child, police said Tuesday.

Docs won’t benefit from prevention cuts
The Hill
The just-released House Republicans’ payroll tax plan aims to increase doctors’ Medicare reimbursement by dramatically cutting the Prevention and Public Health Fund by more than two-thirds. We must address the rates that Medicare pays doctors, but doing so by raiding the prevention fund is a short-sighted solution that will cost money, not save it. Quality, affordable medical care and community prevention work hand-in-hand. Congress must find another way.

Gymboree Instructor’s Death Fuels Debate
Kingstowne Patch
In the book “A Good Friend for Bad Times:  Helping Others Through Grief,” by Deborah E. Bowen, MSW and Susan L. Strickler, the authors offer these tips on how to support children through grief.

Images of hungry children stick with social worker
Kansas City Star
Gina Harrison will never forget some of the images of childhood hunger she has seen in 16 years as a school social worker. Like the two young brothers stealing snacks from a cafeteria. When she reached the boys’ father, Harrison learned he was a single parent working hard to provide enough for the family.

What a difference 3 decades makes
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
As scientists and psychologists learn more about how infants’ and children’s brains and bodies work, it’s changing what parents know about bringing up baby, and often, says Beth Minick, a social worker who teaches parenting classes at the Women’s Care Center on Webster Street in Fort Wayne.

Strategies to Stay Safe from Sexual Assault
Mission Local
Chelsea Dodgen, a clinical social worker at UCSF’s Trauma Recovery Center, says that a targeted woman may help or hurt her situation by talking on the phone, depending on the situation. On one hand, the person could report the crime to whoever is on the line, but the phone is itself a distraction that could allow a predator to sneak up on their victim. The best strategy might be to stay off the phone, but pretend to call someone if you feel threatened.

We already know the reasons for child deaths
Lexington Herald Leader
Social workers, though not all employees of the department, are graduates of accredited schools of social work and are bound by a social work code of ethics that strictly prohibits the release of client information as well as those associated with the client even after the client has died.

Once-homeless Miami man earns master’s degree
msnbc.com
By Christina Hernandez After several arrests, drug addiction and being homeless, a Miami man has overcome the odds to graduate from Florida International University with a master’s degree in social work. Out of thousands of graduates, only one — 50-year-old Aaron Alvin Sr. — got a standing ovation at Tuesday night’s graduation ceremony in Miami.

Senators Ask Whether All Adults Should Be Required to Report Child Abuse
National Journal
Lawmakers asked Tuesday whether all adults—not just people who work closely with children—should be legally obligated to report incidents of child abuse to law-enforcement or child-welfare authorities.

Number of homeless vets down 12 percent
Florida Today
“They each have a case worker that helps them with problems that led to homelessness,” said Tony Ingram, a social worker supervisor at the Viera VA Outpatient Clinic. “It’s not just putting them in housing.” Ingram said there are 80 beds supported by the VA in Cocoa, 20 in Melbourne and 30 in Titusville to help the homeless transition into permanent housing.

UT Offering Online Training on Civil Rights Law for State Employees
Tennessee Today
KNOXVILLE—The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Social Work is piloting a new online learning management system that allows state employees to fulfill civil rights training requirements as well as other mandated courses and assessments.

It’s the thought that counts
Gothenburg Times
“The best gift of all is the gift of time,” says Tish Habe, social work director for Hilltop Estates. “It might mean reading devotions or playing the piano or simply sitting and holding someone’s hand. What older people want most is the gift of time.

Richard Dawahare

Cheers to Kentucky attorney Richard Dawahare for urging the state to hire more social workers in his column in the Lexington Courier-Journal.

Dawahare said part of the reason Kentucky has an absymal child fatality rate is that social workers have caseloads almost twice the recommended federal standard of 18 to 20 per worker. Dawahare said there is no way overstressed workers can protect all the children in their care.

“Social workers are Kentucky’s front line soldiers in the war against child abuse and neglect,” he wrote. “The vast majority of them are tireless servants to their calling.”

Dawahare’s column comes at a time when social workers are not getting good press in the state.

A judge recently ruled that caseworkers failed to properly protect Amythz Dye, a 9-year-old who was beaten to death by her 18-year-old adopted brother. However, news headlines mistakenly said the caseworkers were trained and licensed social workers.

Gov. Steve Beshear also ordered the release of records of children who were killed or almost killed due to abuse or neglect, an action that has raised concern among social workers.

To learn more about how social workers protect children visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Kids & Families Website by clicking here.

Half in battered women’s shelters are kids
UPI.com
Jeffrey Edleson, professor of social work at the University of Minnesota, said an online training program aims to elevate children’s voices, so service providers may better understand and respond to the children and families they serve.

School social workers must not be cut
Ct Post
As the Bridgeport Board of Education deliberates on the school budget, one area it must not cut further is the school social work services. The Social Work Department of Bridgeport Schools has already lost seven positions. This means that 700 children who previously were receiving services are no longer being reached.

D.C. Public Schools Students Survey Reveals High Rates Of Sex, Fear And Suicide Attempts
The Huffington Post
D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson had some revealing statistics to share with city council members Tuesday — almost 10 percent of 8th graders have attempted suicide.

Unmaking a bully: Watch the video
Albany Times Union (blog)
“Unfortunately, bullying is one of the issues that comes up at school,” says Cindy Skala, the school’s social worker, who consulted on the film. “Bullying is nothing new, but attitudes about it have changed. Some of those things that were accepted as part of the norm aren’t as accepted as part of the norm any longer.”

Why exercise is so helpful with weight loss
Times News Inc.
To reinforce this, I mentioned landmark research performed by Albert Stunkard at the University of Pennsylvania in 1959 that found the dieting failure rate to be 95 percent and how new estimates, such as the one by Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel, licensed clinical social workers and co-authors of The Diet Survivor’s Handbook (Sourcebooks, 2006), had it as high as 98 percent.

Book offers resources for mothers of the abused
Roseville Press Tribune
A Roseville clinical social worker has written a book focused on one person with a huge impact on survivors of sexual abuse: mom. In doing so, she has published what she considers a much-needed book in a limited field of literature focused on aiding mothers of children who have been abused. There are plenty of books aimed at survivors, the family as a whole and perpetrators, she said. Kim Johnson’s book, “Mothers of Molestation Survivors: Supporting Moms to Make a Difference in Their Children’s Lives,” was released in late August.

Somali pirates face hard time in US prison
BBC News
“They have all the stressors associated with prison,” says Frederic Reamer, a professor of social work at Rhode Island College with extensive experience working in prisons and a member of the Rhode Island state parole board.

Social work professor educates on elder abuse during lecture series
Downtown Devil
ASU Social Work professor Robin Bonifas detailed the facets of elder abuse, which can include physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and verbal abuse.

USC College of Social Work launches center for low-income neighborhoods
The Gamecock
Jeremy Aaron | The Daily Gamecock For College of Social Work professors Darcy Freedman and Ron Pitner, Tuesday evening’s kickoff celebration for the Community Empowerment Center (CEC) in Columbia’s Gonzales Gardens and Lyon Street neighborhoods was the first step in bringing months of planning into fruition.

Domestic abuse victim shares her difficult past
The Statesman
Rachel, A social work student, speaks to students about domestic abuse Thursday, on the TSC Patio. During the first part of her speech, Rachel wore the red and black her ex-husband forced her to wear before she ran away from him.

Once homeless, now independent at 19
Springfield News-Leader
Stokes takes classes at OTC and hopes to become a social worker. Rare Breed is an offshoot of The Kitchen, a local charity dedicated to addressing poverty and homelessness in the area. Rare Breed first began in 1999 to address the issue of homeless teens who couldn’t get access to needed services. At 17, teens can legally be on their own but are too young to be served by most adult outreach programs and too old to access state children’s services.

NAACP leader talks of Troy Davis execution
Baltimore Sun
Jealous told a group of social workers and teachers Saturday who were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the University of Maryland School of Social Work that they could use Davis’ experience to shape their own life journeys.

Letters: Bullying of Gay Students, and Suicides
The New York Times
It should come as no surprise that, according to 2008 data from the Centers for Disease Control, the rate of suicide attempts among gay and lesbian youth is two to four times that of other high school students.

UT Arlington names professorship in social work for slain officer
Fort Worth Star Telegram
ARLINGTON — The University of Texas at Arlington has named a $250,000 endowed social-work professorship for police officer Jillian Michele Smith, who was fatally shot in December by a man who killed his ex-girlfriend at the same time.

WPATH Releases New Standards of Care for Trans Patients
Just Out
Though long overdue, this condemnation of gender-conversion or gender-reparative psychotherapies sets a new ethical standard for the mental health professions. Sexual orientation conversion therapies have been rejected by the American Psychiatric Organization, the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, the National Association of Social Workers and many other professional associations for over a decade. Yet the mental health and medical professions have maintained a double standard for trans, transsexual and gender nonconforming people victimized by analogous gender-reparative therapies that are equally harmful.

Author Sapphire. Photo courtesy of The Guardian.

Author Sapphire, whose book “Push” was made into the film “Precious,” says it is unlikely her new novel “The Kid” will also get the Hollywood screen treatment, according to this interview in Great Britain’s Guardian.

“The Kid,” follows the travails of Abdul, the son of the character Claireece from “Push.” Abdul’s mother, who was sexually abused, impregnanted and infected with HIV by her father, dies from AIDS at the start of the book. Abdul ends up in foster care, where he also suffers sexual and other abuse before discovering  his talent for dance may be a key to a better life.

“In ‘Precious’ it’s about her as a victim and a survivor,” Sapphire said in The Guardian interview. “In ‘The Kid,’ it’s so dark in what it says about Abdul. We wouldn’t be able to get it made without an R rating — and with an R rating not everyone would be able to see it.”

Many social workers watched “Precious” to see how pop singer Mariah Carey played the role of social worker Ms. Weiss. Sapphire said she read social worker and psychiatrist case studies when writing “The Kid.”

Although some readers said they cannot believe the abuse depicted in her works is real, Sapphire says unfortunately such incidents are common.

“In Michigan one woman held up the book, trembling, saying: ‘I’ve never heard of anything like this in my life.’ On the other side of the room there was a psychiatrist who said: ‘I hear it every day.”

SocialWorkersSpeak.org interviewed Sapphire in 2009 shortly after the release of “Precious.” To read that interview click here.

Turner, who lives in Pittsfield, said his Raising Heroes Group group is vital because physical and sexual abuse of young people is common. Roughly one out of four girls and one out of six girls will be sexually abused or assaulted by the time they are 18 years old,  he said.

“Though we’re always trying to find ways to empower people who have been abused or caring for someone who is abused, the best ideas of how to handle situations come from each other,” he said.

To learn more about how social workers help young people overcome life’s hurdles, visit NASW’s “Help Starts Here” Kids & Families Website by clicking here.

Murphy, who is clinical director at ChildHelp, said 150 children mostly under the age of four die from abuse and neglect each month. ChildHelp is one of the largest nonprofit organizations created to help child victims of abuse and neglect.

“The drama in that Florida courtroom is nothing compared to the life or death situations that kids face every day,” said Murphy, referring to the Casey Anthony trial. “Although we hope that Caylee will still receive justice, perhaps her tragedy could be a spark in all of our lives to make a change for all the children who suffer unnecessary, tragic deaths.”

To learn more about how social workers help protect children from abuse and neglect visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Family Safety Website by clicking here.

Feather Berkower

A National Association of Social Workers member’s workshop on children and sexual predators helped a juror decide to convict a Colorado high school teacher of sexual assault, according to this article in the Broomfield Enterprise.

Feather Berkower, MSW, LCSW, has trained more than 100,000 parents and children on how to prevent child sex abuse. Broomfield resident Ann Johnnides attended Berkower’s “Parenting Safe Children” workshop.

Johnnides said what she learned at the workshop came to mind when she was on the jury that recently convicted Travis Masse, a Broomfield High coach who was found guilty of having repeated sexual relations with an underage student in 2008 and 2009.

“I think I saw that there was a pattern and I followed along with the testimony of the victim and… I saw that pattern,” Johnnides said.

For more information on how social workers help children, visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Kids & Families Web page by clicking here.

Louise Seliski and her dog Bailey. Photo by Steve Kohls of the Brainerd Dispatch.

Cheers to the Brainerd Dispatch in Minnesota for this article on National Association of Social Workers member Louise Seliski, who is retiring from a battered women’s shelter she founded 33 years ago.

Seliski’s work at the Women’s Center of Mid-Minnesota Inc. and the Alex and Brandon Child Safety Center, has allowed her to save hundreds of women and children from abusive homes. But some of the people she helped were also killed by abusers.

“The reason I can do it is because of the women and children I’ve worked with who are leading better lives,” said Seliski, MSW, ACSW. “I always believe in the goodness in people. The greatest thing I would like to see is the shelter shut down because we don’t need it anymore.”

To learn more about how social workers help victims of domestic violence click here to visit the Domestic Violence Web page on NASW’s “Help Starts Here” consumer Web site.

Tamara Tunie stars as medical examiner Melinda Warner on "Law and Order: Special Victims Unit." Photo courtesy of NBC.

Social workers do not get the credit they deserve for protecting abused and neglected children, an actress who stars on  NBC’s “Law and Order: Special Victims Unit” and was a regular on the soap opera “As the World Turns” says.

“You guys are the unsung heroes,” Tamara Tunie told National Association of Social Workers Executive Director Betsy Clark after an April 5 child abuse death briefing on Capitol Hill. “You only hear the bad stories, not the good ones.”

Tunie is celebrity spokeswoman for the National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths. NASW is a member of that coalition, along with the National Center for Child Death Review, the National Children’s Alliance,  the Every Child Matters Education Fund and the National District Attorneys Association.

Child abuse is a serious problem that may be even larger because it is underreported, coalition members said. Child abuse death rates in the United States are triple that of Canada and 11 times greater than Italy. Seven children die each day in the United States from abuse and neglect.

The participants in a 2009 Summit on Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths among other things called on a national strategy to combat the problem and additional funding so child protective workers and other frontline workers have smaller caseloads. Clark said at the congressional briefing that professionals who protect children also need increased training and there should be more public education programs about “secret” social problems such as child abuse and neglect.

“I don’t think the average American understands this area of legislation,” Clark said. “I do think public education is an incredibly good tool if we can get it out there.”

Actress Tamara Tunie and NASW Executive Director Betsy Clark greet after the Congressional briefing.

Tunie said members of the coalition approached “Law and Order: Special Crime Victims Unit” about getting celebrity support for their campaign and she agreed to become spokeswoman.

Tunie, who portrays medical examiner Dr. Melinda Warner on “Law and Order,”  said social workers are sometimes blamed in the media for not protecting children. However, the actress said she realized the media was reporting isolated incidences and not covering the thousands of positive stories about social workers keeping children out of harm’s way.

Tunie commends social workers and other professionals who protect children, saying she does not know how they could keep composed and professional while handling sometimes horrific cases of child abuse and neglect.

“When I saw the magnitude of the problem there is no way I couldn’t help,” said Tunie, her eyes brimming with tears. “Being an actor gets you influence and people listen to what I have to say.”

UPDATE: Tamara Tunie returned to Congress on July 12, 2011 to speak on the behalf of the National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths. To watch that House Ways and Means Human Resources subcommittee hearing on C-SPAN click here. You can also read hearing testimony on the House Ways and Means Committee Website by clicking here.

To learn more about how social workers help children, visit NASW’s “Help Starts Here” Kids & Families Website by clicking here.

South Dakota social work pioneer dies
KCAU
Late in her life she was named a Social Work Pioneer by the National Association of Social Workers Foundation. South Dakota State University professor Ann Wilson says Chamberlain was “an advocate of the poorest of the poor.”

Cruz wants youth to become social workers
KUAM.com
I congratulate the Guam Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and all organizations that advance social services, social justice and social consciousness. I want to encourage our young people to become social workers.

Social Work Students Get To Know the Capitol
KFYR-TV
The UND students and the National Association of Social Workers are soaking in the legislative process because they say there`s no better way to make change for North Dakota`s most vulnerable citizens. “Building up our knowledge by being on the floor, going to different committees. Being here on a regular basis and trying to work within the system to make some changes,” says David Bialik with the National Association of Social Workers.

Union debate really about who’s ethical
Idaho Press-Tribune
If we are going to hold people accountable and dismantle organizations, why not start with the culprits who decimated the economy? • Delmar Stone is the executive director for the Idaho Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Food Stamps are a SNAP
The Faster Times
So, I had to hunt down a social worker here in our new community to help us with that. While I was pursuing the Medicaid reinstatement, I inquired about food stamps. “Food stamps are harder to get than Medicaid,” said Mr. Bill[1], my gruff, brusque/garrulous (depending on his mood) social worker who I met over the phone. You never actually see any of these people.

Mom faces court
Stockton Record
Armstead is accused of torturing and killing the baby, who died Christmas Day, two weeks after a San Joaquin County social worker visited her home to investigate abuse allegations. The death has raised questions over whether social worker case loads are too high to ensure reports of abuse are investigated thoroughly.

Caregivers of wounded vets hold conference in Tampa
Tbo.com
Veronica Thomas talks with Adam Kijanski, a Veterans Affairs social work case manager. Thomas takes care of her son, a veteran who was severely wounded in Iraq.

Social Work Conference Talks about Helping People
KAUM News Extra
Video of NASW-Guam Executive Director

USF celebrates Social Work Month with launch of forensic social work program
TribLocal
According the National Association of Social Workers, Social Work Month is designed to bring awareness to the 640000 professional social workers across the country who have dedicated their careers to helping others overcome adversity to transform their lives or to improve environments to make such transformations possible.

Youth develop character while snowboarding with Shred Love group
NJ.com
By Barbara Milton, Ph.D., LCSW Doug Bauman/The Jersey JournalThirteen-year-old Edward Miles Fowlkes of Jersey City shows the certificate he received after participating in a Shred Love snowboarding trip.

An Education in Compassion
Durango Telegraph
To help address these problems in the 1930s, the University of Denver launched the Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW), the first such program in the Rocky Mountain Region. Today, it is the region’s top-ranked graduate social work program and and nationally ranked in the top 17 percent.

Special-needs teens paired with peers to help communication
Westport-News
Three current clients with Asperger’s syndrome — a milder form of autism characterized by social isolation and impairments in both verbal and nonverbal communications — are paired with three volunteers, said Hogan, a licensed clinical social worker.

O’Malley gives shout out to Prince George’s job-seeker
Washington Post
Logan, a social worker, turned to one of the state’s “One Stop Centers” for guidance when she lost her job. “After 13 months of unemployment, she landed a new job which pays more than the one she lost. … This is what it’s all about,” O’Malley said during his remarks, prompting applause for Logan from the audience of state lawmakers and other elected officials.

DADT repeal strong beginning, but not good enough, panel says
Daily Trojan Online
About 40 people listened to experts discuss the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy in a panel held by the Queer and Ally Student Alliance and the School of Social Work Rainbow Alliance on Thursday night.

Just plain mean: Bullying isn’t only a boy thing
Peoria Journal Star
 ”I probably end up seeing more of the victims of bullying (than the bullies themselves) – and it is girls bullying,” said Kellie Branch-Dircks, a licensed clinical social worker at Proctor Hospital’s Counseling Center.

Beverly Hills Counts Homeless Population
The Beverly Hills Courier
Human Services Administrator James R. Latta, LCSW, attributed the decrease to the ongoing placement services of the City’s homeless outreach team and whether or not the area’s food kitchens offered meals that day.

Jennifer Kingsley Neighbors: Schuyler students honored by Rotary
Elmira Star-Gazette
She plans to study social work at Keuka College after graduation.

A local woman reinvents herself with a new business that focuses on helping people
WXYZ
“For twenty-five years I’ve been working in social work and have been a trainer in social services and private practice,” Jiordano said.

Study published on how local authorities work with domestically abusive fathers
Family Law Week
The Charity Family Rights Group has published findings from the first research study in the UK which specifically examines how social workers work with fathers who are domestically abusive.

Munro interim report published
Family Law Week
In the view of Professor Munro, the amount of prescription and bureaucracy currently in the system has meant social workers are not able to do the jobs they came into the profession to do.

Illegal immigrant’s ouster from Isle hospital raises questions
Houston Chronicle
“I even asked the social worker, where I can go, because a social worker is supposed to help people,” Aguillon recalled. “She said nowhere.

The grinding reality of growing up poor
Washington Post 
“Poverty trumps mistreatment, absolutely,” said Sheryl Brissett-Chapman, executive director of the National Center for Children and Families in Bethesda.

Batterer program seeks to change abusers’ thinking
Newton Kansan
However, only about 5 percent of the offenders who are court ordered to participate in the program have a diagnosable mental illness, program director and licensed clinical social worker Evelyn Stabler said.

Urban League celebrates 100 years of service
Milwaukee Courier Weekly Newspaper
The National Urban League was founded by social worker George Edmund Haynes, the first African American to earn a PhD from Columbia University, and Ruth Standish Baldwin, a wealthy social activist.

Governor signs bills aimed at improving child-abuse investigations
Los Angeles Times (blog)
Two of the bills are aimed at improving the Los Angeles County database that provides social workers with information about a family’s history during a child-abuse investigation.

Patch Adams to speak in Fairbanks on Oct. 6
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner
by Staff Report FAIRBANKS — The National Association of Social Workers Alaska Chapter will kick off its annual conference with a keynote lecturer Dr. Patch Adams on Oct. 6.

Victorian Tea Party honors Edith Abbott
Grand Island Independent
She worked with Jane Addams at Hull House in Chicago and helped establish social work as a serious profession during her tenure at the University of Chicago.

Ridgewood to hold presentation on youth suicide prevention
NorthJersey.com
The presenters are Scott Fritz, a founder of the society who lost a child to suicide, and Maureen Underwood, a clinical social worker and a nationally recognized expert on youth suicide prevention.

Barbara White to Step Down in August As Dean of the School of Social Work
University of Texas at Austin News
She is a former president of the 155000-member National Association of Social Workers, and was a member of the board of directors of the International Association of Schools of Social Work.

A generation gap in understanding porn of today
Mormon Times
Dan Gray, a licensed clinical social worker and director of the LifeSTAR Network based in Salt Lake City, said 40 years ago when he was in high school, a person wanting to access pornography “really had to go looking for it.”

The National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths Endorses Second Edition of We Can Do Better: Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths in America
DigitalJournal.com
The Coalition is comprised of five national organizations — the Every Child Matters Education Fund, the National Center for Child Death Review, National Children’s Alliance, the National District Attorneys Association, and the National Association of Social Workers.

Adolescent Girls Especially Susceptible To Cutting
W*USA 9
“It’s becoming more and more common,” said Gwen Corley, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in Virginia. Corley says cutting actually releases endorphins into the body, giving a temporary sense of relief.

Food stamp eligibility expands
Honolulu Star-Advertiser
“We’re happy this is finally coming into play,” said Debbie Shimizu, executive director of the National Association of Social Workers-Hawaii chapter.

‘Economic Control’ Up 40 Percent As Local Domestic Violence Cause
Falls Church News Press
Eighty percent of domestic violence victims using the Women’s Center in Vienna are now citing “financial changes” during as a key issue between them and their abuser, a number that’s risen from 40 percent in the last 18 months, said Women’s Center Psychotherapist Susan Folwell, LCSW.

Schools add healthy eating as key to student success
The Herald-Mail
Superintendent David Banks and the schools’ social worker, Gary McDaniel, have designed a strategic plan for addressing Morgan County students’ challenges.

Texas Dad Accused of Killing His 3 Kids Had History of Abuse
AOL News
A Texas man accused of shooting and killing his three children while they slept had a history of domestic violence and for years had allegedly threatened to kill himself and his wife, a social worker involved in the family’s case said.

Research aims to help stressed soldiers cope
Baylor University The Lariat Online
It spans over many areas of research, including Baylor’s School of Social Work, family and consumer sciences department, and psychology and neuroscience department, as well as the Center for Excellence at the Central Texas VA and the Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood.

A D.C. family works to reunify, in and out of court
The Washington Post
Danielle Pleasant knows this is her last shot. Her five children have been in and out of foster care for more than a decade, as Pleasant struggled to overcome addiction, mental illness, HIV and her own parental shortcomings.

Do It Anyway: The Top Ten Ways that the Next Generation is Shifting Activism
Huffington Post (blog)
Whether social worker, political strategist, social issue filmmaker, or community organizer, we are all re-humanizers.

$1.5 million grant to teach U of L students how to ease pain, comfort dying
Louisville Courier-Journal
A $1.5 million National Institutes of Health grant to the University of Louisville — announced Wednesday at a press conference — is designed to teach future doctors, nurses, social workers and clinical pastoral care professionals how to provide that type of “palliative” care, so that someday every cancer patient can receive it.

Celebrations as Hull House Museum reopens
ABC7Chicago.com
It marks the grand opening of a building that was once Jane Addams’ home and is now a tribute to her pioneering social work.

Popular lunchtime lecture series continues for 15th year
Washington University Record
Pollak has been lead organizer of the series for the past 14 years. The co-organizer is Michael W. Sherraden, PhD, the Benjamin E. Youngdahl Professor of Social Development and director of the Center for Social Development at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work.

USC partners with Temecula Valley Unified to help military families
Southwest Riverside News Network
Three interns will be supervised and mentored by a field instructor from the USC School of Social Work under a graduate-level military social work specialization with the Center for Innovation and Research on Veterans and Military Families, according to a staff presentation.

Social workers will go out with researchers to test ways to reduce the impact of elder abuse, the article said. Preliminary results of the $654,000 study will be available by January.

Although the study is being done in California, the results are expected to have  a nationwide impact on preventing elder abuse.

To learn more about how social workers help older clients, visit the National Association of Social Workers’ Help Starts Here “Seniors & Aging” Web page by clicking here.

CHS Is First to Learn of Digital Dating Dangers
The New York Times
Columbia High School physical education and health teacher Lisa Delli Santi (left) and Diane Beni, from the Linda & Rudy Slucker NCJW Center for Women’s Teen Dating Abuse Project, presented “Love Is Not Abuse,” a digital dating abuse curriculum, to Ms. Della Santi’s ninth-grade health class yesterday at the high school.

Youth Clubs Build Confidence, Reduce Problem Behaviors
eMaxHealth
Dawn Anderson-Butcher, an associate professor of social work at Ohio State, conducted a study in which she found that kids can get a great deal of needed support from a youth club.

Adolescents and adventure: How much is too much?
CNN-Paging Dr. Gupta
“Adolescents vary tremendously in regards to their judgment, maturity and the risks that they face in life,” says Frederic Reamer, a professor of social work at Rhode Island College and a member of the National Association of Social Workers.

Kristin Ferguson. Photo courtesy of USC School of Social Work.

It is crucial to determine whether homeless young adults have suffered from more than one type of abuse, according to a recent study published in the December issue of the National Association of Social Workers’ Social Work Research journal (Volume 33, No. 4).

A sampling of 28 homeless young adults aged 18 to 24 found a majority suffered from a high rate of direct abuse (verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual) and indirect abuse where they witnessed such actions happening to others.

Kristin Ferguson, PhD, MSW, an associate professor at the School of Social Work at the University of South California, said her research will benefit researchers and practioners.

Researchers should assess for multiple forms of abuse in addition to the common measures of physical and mental abuse, she wrote. And practioners should be on the alert because even indirect abuse can cause depression and other symptoms in clients, Ferguson says.

The National Association of Social Workers offers members an array of cutting-edge publications. To subscribe to Social Work Research or purchase other NASW books and journals visit the NASW Press Web page by clicking here.

Lauren Shapiro, director of Brooklyn Family Defense Project.

Cheers to WYNC Radio in New York City for their story on the Brooklyn Family Defense Project, a team of social workers and lawyers who help parents accused of neglect and abuse regain custody of their children.

Many news articles focus on the role of social workers in removing children from homes. This one highlights the often unnoticed role of social workers in reuniting families and strengthening them.

For more on how social workers help families, visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Kids & Families Web page.