Socialworkersspeaks on FacebookFollow Us on TwitterRSS Feed

News Items – March 28, 2018

©Thinkstock

©Thinkstock

Luis Zayas is a member:
‘No One Is Safe.’ How Trump’s Immigration Policy Is Splitting Families Apart
Time Magazine
A major consequence of this new policy has been an explosion of fear among immigrant communities, which are reacting not so much to the spiking number of arrests but to the apparent randomness of the roundups. “When everyone’s a target, no one is safe,” says Luis Zayas, dean of the Steve Hicks School of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. He cites instances of ICE agents arresting people who had just filed paperwork for a green card, left church or dropped off their kids at school. “The arrests feel arbitrary, and that’s different,” he says. “The fear is worse now than I’ve ever seen it.”

‘Sick With Worry’: A GOP Bill to Eliminate Public-Service Loan Forgiveness Threatens Social-Work Sector
The Nation
Michelle Hartzog is a social worker with the LA County Department of Children and Family Services. When she started at DCFS, she made around $50,000 a year, and she lives accordingly, driving a used car and bringing her lunch to work every day. Her job is to help kids who have been abused or neglected. “When I found out that there was a proposal to eliminate Public Service Loan Forgiveness,” she told me, “I immediately felt sick with worry.”

Susan Seney is a member:
When Doctors’ ‘Morality’ Leads to Dead LGBT People
The Advocate
Susan Seney, a licensed clinical social worker from Washington State, echoed Scheid’s conviction that providers have a duty to serve their clients and explained that she provided services to all who came to her, even those who held bigoted and downright racist views, without discrimination. Seney explained that “it was not just the code of ethics that demanded this of me, it was my respect for the humanity of all my clients and patients.”

Kim White is a member:
Drug court partners with Marshall
Herald-Dispatch (Huntington, WV)
Marshall University is hoping to increase its mark on drug court through a new partnership with the university’s Behavioral Health Center, run by the College of Health Professions. “Recovery is a community effort,” said Kim White, professor of social work at Marshall. “Marshall is in the center of our community. The Department of Social Work feels it’s important for us to be out in the community.” White said Marshall will supplement what is already being done at drug court through the Division of Correction, providing individual, group and family therapy, along with case management and help moving through systems, such as applying for Medicaid or applying for college.

Will Francis is government relations director for NASW-TX:
The Trump Administration Is Making It Harder to Stop Foster Children From Being Trafficked
Rewire.News
“This data is necessary if we’re ever really going to be able to know what services need to be in place to prevent trafficking or support victims,” Will Francis, government relations director for the Texas Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, told Rewire.News. Without the information, Francis continued, “it puts a big black hole in the middle of the foster care system and the agencies working with these young adults.”

Will Francis again:
Head of Texas foster care says agency is improving
Spectrum News (Austin, TX)
But some experts say there’s still work to be done. “I’d give them sort of between a B and a B+ I think,” said Will Francis, Government Relations Director of the National Association of Social Workers, Texas. Francis said DFPS hasn’t invested enough in prevention measures to keep children out of the foster care system altogether. “So that actually parents who maybe if we’ve identified some type of abuse or neglect don’t have kids who come into the system. Or even better, communities are able to receive supportive resources so that we never even get a child abuse to neglect call in the first place,” Francis said.

College 101: What Do Social Workers Actually Do?
The Daily Campus (Southern Methodist University)
I’m curious about a career in social work. It seems like a very rewarding line of work, because social workers get to help people in all sorts of ways. But when I say all sorts of ways, I mean all sorts of ways – and, to be honest, sometimes I get confused about what social workers actually do. I know some work in schools and others with mental patients, for instance. Is there anything typical of all types of social work? What different things can social workers do?

Social Work Month:

Social Workers: Leaders, Advocates, Champions
The Journal (Naval Support Activity Bethesda, MD)
Every March, the nation celebrates National Professional Social Work Month and recognizes the contributions of social workers health care and the community. The National Association of Social Work (NASW) designated this year’s theme as “Social Workers: Leaders. Advocates. Champions.” Stephani Beard, Desiree Foy and Lisa Henderson, three Walter Reed National Military Medical Center interns from the University of Alabama who are studying to earn master’s degrees in social work, wrote the following in regards to this year’s theme for National Professional Social Work Month.

March is Social Work Month
Index-Journal (Greenwood, SC)
For those of you who have had contact with a social worker whether as a client or colleague, you likely have come to recognize and appreciate the importance of social workers. The National Social Work Theme for 2018 is “Social Workers: Leaders, Advocates, Champions.” Every day the nation’s 650,000 social workers act as advocates, champions and leaders who make our society a better place to live.

National Social Work Month: Champion your health care with advance directives
The Garrett County Republican (WV)
The National Association of Social Workers has designated March as Social Work Month. This year’s theme, “Leaders, Advocates, Champions,” is an apt description of Garrett Regional Medical Center’s Social Work staff, who want to use the month to advocate for the use of Advance Directives by patients and their family members, according to Kendra Thayer, senior vice president of patient care services at the regional hospital.

|   Leave A Comment
Tagged as: , , , , , ,

Advertisement

Leave a Comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.