Putting Elders to Work in Aiken, S.C.
Governing
Aiken also encourages seniors to stay busy and engaged. One of the ways it does this is through Foster Grandparents, a federally funded program for senior citizens 55 and older. The participants visit schools, Head Start centers, nonprofit daycares and after-school programs to help at-risk children, says Director Toni Brunson.

Reforming Welfare Coverage
FAIR
The Louisiana chapter of the National Association of Social Workers held a press conference to outline their problems with that state’s plan, claiming that it “lacks the job training, transportation, child care, educational and labor market structures needed to facilitate meaningful change.”

1st Gabe Zimmerman scholarship awarded at PCC
KVOA Tucson News
TUCSON – The first Gabe Zimmerman Memorial Scholarship has been awarded by Pima Community College to a displaced worker who came to PCC to study for a new career in social work. John Roldán, 61, will be presented the $1000 scholarship this evening.

Teens Dealing With Cancer Find an Ally in The Who’s Daltrey
PBS NewsHour
She’s now a social work graduate student at UCLA and part of a growing chorus — one headlined by the likes of Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of the classic rock band The Who — demanding more specific treatment and emotional programming for  adolescents. Rather than funneling teens into adult or pediatric programs, where they generally feel like outsiders, they say that teens should receive specialized attention.

Riley’s ‘code lavender’ eases stress of caring for very ill kids
Indianapolis Star
The past year has been tough for the social work department at Riley Hospital for Children. Trauma cases have been more acute, child deaths even more heartbreaking. Then, the department experienced a “code lavender” — part coffee klatch, part employee appreciation and all compassionate presence.

Some of those hurt most by the Great Recession spend time helping others
San Jose Mercury News
“I’m sitting here with a master’s degree in social work and not using my skills. I wanted to keep them sharp.” The sharpening stone she was seeking turned out to be the homeless drop-in center on San Jose’s Commercial Street, tucked in among plumbing-supply stores and electrician shops.

Matt Noel’s family unprepared for his sudden death, but fond …
Altoona Mirror
“There is a special component when an identical twin dies,” Paula Pimentel, a licensed clinical social worker with a practice in Altoona, said. “It’s like a telepathic connection when they’re identical. The surviving twin feels there’s a piece of them missing.”

Grand Jury to CPS: Missed cases should trigger policy review
The Union of Grass Valley
In a report released on its website, Nevada County’s Grand Jury reported a Child Protective Services social worker failed to enter in one case of alleged child abuse into a state computer system, and subsequently failed to do a follow-up investigation on the case.

Hear from our social workers
Idaho Press-Tribune
As a school social worker in Blaine County, I find that people sometimes feel like my position is a luxury. Unfortunately, our county frequently has the highest rates in the state for teen drug and alcohol abuse and suicide attempts. One of my primary roles is working with families and community organizations to prevent or reduce these negative outcomes for our youth.

Lost in Cyber Space: Does Your Teen Prefer Cyber Reality to Real Life?
Patch.com
Toni Nagel-Smith, a Katonah-based licensed clinical social worker at Courtyard Nutrition & Therapy Associates, said this issue surfaces again and again with her clients. “I see this (heightened attachment to electronics) to some extent with every child I see,” Nagel-Smith said.

Foster Care Gets an Overhaul
Wall Street Journal
On the heels of hiring about 50 social workers and opening a new community center last month, Alameda is preparing a job-placement program for some of its foster-care kids who have become too old for the system. The new program is part of an expansion that began in 2007 when the county started to overhaul the operation by questioning established ways foster care operates.

Department ‘crippled’ by staff shortage: DA
Times LIVE
“There are 303 vacancies for social workers out of 1 115 posts (27%) and 46 nurse vacancies (31%) out of 147 nursing posts,” Democratic Alliance social development spokeswoman Rika Kruger said in a statement. “This is resulting in severely negative consequences for the children and the elderly who are dependent on state support.”

The stakes in school budget cuts
Ct Post
In this plan, the district will cut 20 social workers. This will affect students who receive individualized education plans, special education services, and behavior plans, as well as those who have other social and emotional needs (including bullying!).

The human touch
University of Texas at Austin News
Helena Harvie has one more year before she receives her master’s degree in social work. While living in San Diego, she became close to several US Navy families and has wanted to work with the military ever since. She believes a social worker can help in every aspect of a veteran’s life — from physical to emotional needs.

Pain of program cuts felt at school board finance hearings
Ct Post
The level of frustration felt by school employees upon hearing the damage $18 million in program cuts will have on the school district next year can probably best be summed up by Susan Smith, director of social work. “There will be 1,800 students not seen,” Smith said. Despite whatever issues they face on a daily basis at home, they and their parents are simply going to have to suck it up, she said, adding she felt like crying.  

New commission will review juvenile facilities
West Virginia Record
State Supreme Court Chief Justice Margaret Workman announced Monday the creation of the Adjudicated Juvenile Rehabilitation Review Commission to investigate juvenile justice facilities and procedures in the state. The commission was established to look into the Feb. 23, 2009 death of Benjamin Hill at the Industrial Home for Youth in Salem, the state’s only maximum security correctional facility for juveniles, and the Honey Rubenstein Center in Davis.

Crime issues still vex library
San Francisco Examiner
A full-time social worker is stationed in the Main Library in order to do outreach with homeless people, and there’s a homeless outreach team that goes to the site.

Myth Of The Well-Adjusted Asian-American Challenged By Researchers
Biomed Middle East
In their paper, “Barriers to Health Care Among Asian Americans,” UB School of Social Work professors Wooksoo Kim and Robert H. Keefe write that Asian Americans cannot be carelessly lumped together with such easy stereotypes as “well adjusted” or “successful.”

One person’s clutter is another’s disorder
Boston Herald
By Tenley Woodman Childhood trauma is common among hoarders, according to Boston University School of Social Work’s Compulsive Hoarding Research Project.

Thousands strain Fort Hood’s mental health system
USA Today
Chaplains provide marriage counseling, but for soldiers who want to see a licensed marriage counselor, the base’s social work department has two, each with a caseload of 60 couples, says Lt. Col. Nancy Ruffin, department director.

5 Ways to Get Kids’ Butts Outta Bed
Momlogic.com
Momlogic friend and parent educator Jill Spivack, LCSW, tells us that the key to establishing bedtime again actually starts in the morning: Wake your kids earlier so they’ll be tired earlier at night.

Charles Ensley, Labor Leader and Union Critic, Dies at 69
New York Times
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE Charles Ensley, who led the union representing New York City social workers for 26 years and was a forceful critic of union corruption, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 69.

Pro-Choice and Adoption: Outside the Culture Wars
Huffington Post (blog)
The Adoption Access Network is on the cusp of launching a campaign to “make adoption a subject that patients and social workers alike feel more comfortable broaching in abortion clinics.”

Study to explore influences on women offenders
Louisville Courier-Journal
“I would go home at night and those women were staying there,” said Golder, now an associate professor at the University of Louisville’s Kent School of Social Work.

Unemployed are losing some federal assistance
Baltimore Sun
Social workers answer the phones and direct consumers to hundreds of public and private programs depending on the need, says Chuck Tildon, vice president of external affairs.

New breed of med schools may transform healthcare
MiamiHerald.com
The teams include students from four disciplines that often don’t work closely enough — medical, nursing, public health and social work.

California's prisons are overcrowded. Photo courtesy of California state government.

Social worker and writer Rachel Meyer made some good points in this Women’s International Perspective, Inc. column on California’s prison system.

California’s incarceration rate is rising but the state has not increased spending on substance abuse treatment, education, job training and other rehabilitation programs, making it more likely ex-inmates will commit more crime and get locked up again, she said.

But check out what Meyer had to say about the disparity between the pay for prison guards and social workers:

“As a Social Worker I am required to complete six years of higher education, maintain licensing requirements through the Board of Behavioral Sciences, and meet continued education obligations. Juvenile Institution Officers are only required to have a High School Diploma or GED. After two years of employment my annual salary is approximately $55,000 per year. Comparatively, with overtime, a Juvenile Institution Officer makes $70,000.”

Q: Can social workers do anything in these hard economic times to get states to spend more on rehabilitating inmates?

Students walk down the hall at Morton Alternative High School in Chicago. Photo by Jose More/Chicago News Cooperative.

We commend the New York Times for running a Chicago News Cooperative article on the Morton Alternative High School.

A team of social workers at the Chicago school for teenagers with disciplinary problems uses individual and group therapy to help young people cope with the stress. Most come from neighborhoods where gangs, violence, and crime are rampant.

“Nobody here has a ‘Little House on the Prairie’ background,” said Matt Landa, one of the social workers. “But they are amazing to work with…when I don’t feel like pulling out my hair.”

The program at Morton may be adopted by schools in other parts of the nation. To read the full article click here.

And to learn more about how social workers help teenagers visit the National Association of Social Workers’ “Help Starts Here” Youth Development Web page by clicking here.