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News Items – April 8, 2015

467339591Lori Wiener is a member:
Teenagers Face Early Death, on Their Terms
The New York Times
A national push to have end-of-life discussions before a patient is too sick to participate has focused largely on older adults. When patients are under 18 and do not have legal decision-making authority, doctors have traditionally asked anguished parents to make advanced-care choices on their behalf. More recently, providers have begun approaching teenagers and young adults directly, giving them a voice in these difficult decisions, though parents retain legal authority for underage patients.… The intention was to create a way for them “to make choices about what nurtures, protects and affirms their remaining life and how they wish to be remembered,” said Lori Wiener, a social worker and principal investigator on the research that led to the planning guide.

Foreclosure victims call for alternative spending plan
Delaware Online
About 30 people attended a rally in Wilmington hosted by the newly-created Victims Stand Against Foreclosure Everywhere, a grassroots organization for those hurt since the 2008 housing crisis.… VSAFE is led by Community Housing and Empowerment Connections Inc., the National Association of Social Workers Delaware Chapter and Minority Workforce Development Coalition.

NASW Joins “The Campaign to Change Direction” to change the Way U. S. Addresses Mental Health
NJ.com
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) today announced their involvement with “The Campaign to Change Direction,” a national initiative to create a new story in America about mental health, mental illness and mental wellness. As part of the collective effort led by Give an Hour, NASW joined 50 other campaign partners in this effort with its pledge to share the five signs a person may be living with a mental illness with more than 100,000 members of the social work profession and the general public through its various social media, on its main website SocialWorkers.org, and its consumer website HelpStartsHere.org.

Martinez OKs student loan aid for social workers
Santa Fe New Mexican
Gov. Susana Martinez signed a bill Wednesday that is designed to increase the number of social workers in key state jobs by establishing a repayment program for their student loans. It would be funded by a $450,000 appropriation that is contained in the state budget, which Martinez is considering as a separate bill. Reps. Jimmie Hall, R-Albuquerque, and Doreen Gallegos, D-Las Cruces, sponsored the measure for the loan repayment program, House Bill 341. “This is going to help with retention and recruitment” of social workers, Hall said in a phone interview. “Something helping kids is about as bipartisan a bill as you can have.”

Bill would allow adoption agencies to turn away gay couples
The Orlando Sentinel
But Jim Akin, executive director of the Florida chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, pointed to 859 children awaiting adoption statewide. “Any bill that puts up any barriers, that’s going to decrease the opportunities for these children to be adopted, is bad policy,” Akin said.

Cynthia McPherson is a member:
Students promote social equality
Oklahoma University Daily
Social work students discussed how to improve social equality at OU Monday from noon to 1 p.m. in Zarrow Hall. Students created the discussion, titled “Are You An Ally: A Town Hall Discussion,” as part of an assignment for social work professor Shane Brady’s class.… “The thing that I was most excited about from today’s event was the conversations about having the diversity course for incoming freshman and specifically what kind of course is that going to be.” said social work instructor Cynthia McPherson.

Caitlin Ryan is a member:
[Audio] “Families Are Forever” Explores Impact of Faith And Family On Utah’s LGBT Youth
Utah Public Radio
In 2002 Caitlin Ryan founded the Family Acceptance Project, an organization which, in part, studies the impact of family acceptance or rejection on the health and well-being of LGBT youth. As part of Utah State University’s Research Week, Ryan has been invited to present her own research, which includes a short, yet powerful film entitled “Families Are Forever.” The film follows the journey of the Montgomery’s, a Mormon family, as they struggled then learned to support their gay 13-year-old son Jordan Montgomery.

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