Message from NASW-DE Executive Director John Shuford

The 2011 Social Work Awards Celebration March 22 is shaping up to be something special. 

Our keynote speaker is Phyllis Moore who worked herself up the ranks to become Supervising Classification Officer for the New Jersey Department of Corrections. The topic of her address is: “Social Work and the Criminal Justice System; the Role of Social Workers in Reentry.’ She will share with us what social workers can do to prepare inmates, their families and their communities for their release. There are over 30,000 releases every year in Delaware, some of which are the same individuals returning to prison multiple times. Social work does not have a significant role in our correctional system and this is an opportunity for us to learn from someone with excellent experience. 

The Awards Celebration will feature DJ Slim Money to set the mood and there will be great door prizes as well as giveaways for all.  If you or your agency would like to place an ad in the program, please contact me at john@naswde.org. You will soon be able to register on our website www.naswde.org. The annual meeting of the Chapter begins at 5:00. The Awards Celebration begins at 6:00 with dinner at 6:30, speaker at 7:00 and awards beginning at 8:00. Early Bird tickets are $35 by March 15th.  After that, the tickets will be $50. 

DSU Social Work Department is having open houses March 23 in Wilmington and March 24 in Dover. See their brochure.

The League of Women Voters and the Criminal Justice Council showed a very powerful movie this past Tuesday:20 Minutes. This movie, shot in Wilmington, dramatically shows the difficulty inmates have the first 20 minutes after their release; the temptations and challenge of turning their lives around. Without reentry services, it is an unbelievable struggle. This movie and the following discussion were well worth seeing; and for those who did not see it this week, it is being shown next week in Dover. DSU’s College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science in presenting the film Thursday, March 3 in the Bank of America Auditorium on DSU’s campus at 11:00 am. The film and following discussion will last until 1:00 pm.  For more information, contact Ms. Diane Scott at 302-857-6628.  You can see the movie trailer at www.iamfilmworks.com.

The New Jersey NASW Chapter’s annual conference is fast approaching.  It is an excellent opportunity to accumulate CEU’s. Delaware NASW members pay the same rate as NASW NJ members pay. To register, however, you cannot receive that rate online. This is because our membership list is not yet integrated into their list. Their Early Bird discounted deadline has been extended for our members until March 7th. You will need to fax [with credit card info] or mail [with credit card info or check] your registration postmarked no later than March 7. Send it to Kendra Hayes, NASW-NJ, 30 Silverline Drive, Suite 3, North Brunswick, NJ 08902. 

                                                                                                                John

NASW Policy Statements and Program Priority Goals

Dear Membership:

NASW (National) is in the process of updating the policy statement that are in the 2009-2011 Social Work Speaks and the Program Priority Goals. This is a great opportunity to “Have Our Say” my submitting comments about those policies and priority goals. I am asking you to take a few minutes to read at least one policy statement and one priority goal that are of interest to you personally or professionally and offer your expert comments. All comments will be considered by the panels charged to offer recommendations to National. There will be two rounds of comments so you will hear from me again later in the spring. Delaware may be a small state but we have lots to say! I’m depending on you to prove me right. J

Attached is the information you will need to submit comments. . Don’t forget to add the “DE” at the bottom of your comments so we can track the number of comments that come from Delaware.

Attached are three documents.

1. The first includes the directions you will need to access the NASW policy statements and Program Priority Goals.

2. The second includes a list of the 18 policy statements

3. The third includes the list of Program Priority Goals

I’ve walked through the directions so you should not have any trouble accessing the policies.


Thanks,
Sheridan Quarless Kingsberry, PhD
President Elect, NASW DE

Register for the NASW-NJ 2011 Annual Conference & Exhibition

Early Bird Registration for the 2011 NASW-NJ Annual Conference in now available. Click here or visit the NASW-NJ Web homepage at www.naswnj.org.

The NASW-NJ Annual Conference and Exhibition, the Meeting of the Profession, will be held on May 1-3, 2011 at the Trump Taj Majal in Atlantic City.

Child Abuse and Neglect Deaths: We Can Do Better

Background
The nation's child protection system is stretched too thin. From 2001-2007, 10,440 children died at the hands of their caretakers. In fact, there was a 35 percent increase in child maltreatment deaths during 2001-2007. Unfortunately, despite the best efforts of the many who have worked countless hours addressing child maltreatment, the U.S. continues to fall short of protecting its youngest citizens. The federal government needs to act.

We know a great deal about preventing abuse and neglect and related fatalities. When provided with support services (that are adequately funded) and appropriate supervision, the vast majority of potentially abusive and neglectful parents can learn to safely care for their children and families.

Tamara Tunie, actress on Law and Order SVU, has recorded a YouTube video about the issue.

Action Requested
The National Coalition to End Child Abuse Deaths, of which NASW is a member, has a petition to Congress asking them to hold public hearings on child abuse fatalities, provide emergency funds to stop state cuts to child welfare services, and adopt a national strategy to end child abuse fatalities. Please sign the petition.

More information

Findings of the National Evaluation of the Drug Free Communities Program

Administered by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the DFC grant program supports community coalitions in preventing and reducing youth substance use. The contributions of community coalitions constitute a critical part of the Nation’s drug prevention infrastructure. They are, in fact, a significant catalyst for creating local change where drug problems manifest and affect the citizens of this country. DFC grantees are required to provide data for the national evaluation of DFC. Click here for a summary of findings.

Online CE Institute

Click here or on the image above. The Online CE Institute offers you a variety of alternative learning formats for your continuing education credits, including:

• Audio workshops; available for download (“CEtoGo”) or streaming on your PC (“Online Seminar”)
• Pre-taped video presentations  (coming soon)
• Live on-line seminars (webinars/teleconferences) (coming soon)
  
  

All programs found on this website are certified for any state that accepts NASW approved courses, for those dually licensed in other states, such as Delaware, Pennsylvania, , Florida, and others.

School Social Work Occupational Profile Available

The goal of school social work is to provide services to students to enhance their emotional well-being and improve their academic success. School social workers provide a variety of specialized services to students to achieve this goal and, in so doing, experience both benefits and challenges. 

The attached occupational profile offers an overview of social work in this specialty area. The publication also includes a detailed analysis of salary data, collected during an NASW-sponsored compensation survey (2009), for school social workers throughout the United States.  MORE 

Hospice and Palliative Care: Social Workers Profile

The goal of hospice and palliative care is to improve the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual quality of life for people living with a serious illness and their families. Hospice and palliative care social workers provide a variety of services to achieve this goal and, in so doing, experience unique benefits and challenges. The attached occupational profile offers a brief overview of palliative and hospice care and describes the social work role in this specialty area. The publication also includes a detailed analysis of salary data, collected during an NASW-sponsored compensation survey (2009), for almost 1,000 hospice and palliative care social workers throughout the United States.  MORE

Meeting the Mental Health Needs of the Elderly

The elder boom has begun, and our nation is not prepared. Between 2011 and 2030, the number of adults 65 or older will increase from 40 million to 72 million and from 13 percent of the population to 20 percent. This drives growing concerns about the viability of Social Security, the sustainability of Medicare, and the availability of a workforce to provide health and social services. Despite widespread concern about the physical health of older adults, mental health needs are mostly not on the national radar screen, a serious oversight for five reasons. (Huffington Post)

Supporting the Child Welfare Workforce to Reduce Child Maltreatment

Attached is another new Practice Perspectives, a publication from the Center for Workforce Studies and Social Work Practice. Child maltreatment is a critical and complex issue – for families and the systems that serve them.  Child abuse and neglect can occur within families of any community or economic, religious, racial and ethnic background however, some factors put children at an increased risk of harm. Whereas the abuse and neglect of some children may go unnoticed, other children come to the attention of the child welfare system. Across the county, child welfare workers in these systems work diligently to keep children safe and preserve family units.  MORE

Delaware Community Foundation to Award $35,000 in Children’s Program Grants

Up to $35,000 Available in Grants from the Delaware Children’s Trust Fund

Fred C. Sears II, President and CEO, announced today that the Delaware Community Foundation will award a total of $35,000 in grants on behalf of the Delaware Children’s Trust Fund to qualified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations in Delaware with programs that serve children in need. Applications will be accepted for programs that benefit children who have been abused, neglected or are in foster care. Special consideration will be given to programs that are currently offered statewide or wish to expand statewide. The maximum award for each grant is $10,000.

 “The Delaware Community Foundation is pleased to have been selected by the Delaware State Legislature as the Foundation for dispersing the remaining funds from the Delaware Children’s Trust Fund,” stated Sears. “We look forward to working on their behalf to fulfill the intent of the fund, and to grant awards to Delaware’s community based agencies that deliver child abuse prevention services.”

Each grant request must be submitted on a 2011 Delaware Children’s Trust Fund Grant Application Form which can be downloaded from the DCF’s website, www.delcf.org or obtained by contacting the DCF by calling 302.504.5239 or email, bbouchelle@delcf.org. Completed applications must be postmarked by March 1, 2011 or delivered to the Delaware Community Foundation by this date. Grant recipients will be announced in June 2011.

News from DE and Beyond...

Mental Illness by Itself Does not Predict Future Violent Behavior
Release at UNC School of Medicine...
http://www.med.unc.edu/www/news/2009/february/unc-study-mental-illness-by-itself-does-not-predict-future-violent-behavior

Inside the Battle to Define Mental Illness
This is a most interesting article on defining mental illness from WIRED...
http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/12/ff_dsmv/ 

In high school, and homeless
From all appearances, she's the same as any other gifted high school senior. Her 3.7 grade-point average has earned her a full scholarship to a Chicago college. She plays golf. She sings in the choir. She wants to become a pediatrician. But when the 18-year-old Bolingbrook High School student goes home after school, it's not to a house with her family. She stays at a group home in Bolingbrook with her teenage brother, and she doesn't always know where her dinner is going to come from. MORE

Finnish researchers say there is link between swine flu shot
and narcolepsy
Finnish researchers have found an increased risk of narcolepsy among 4 to 19-year-olds who were given swine flu shots, a government health agency said. A preliminary study by the National Narcolepsy Task Force indicates that children vaccinated with Pandemrix "contributed to the observed increase in incidence of narcolepsy" compared to those who were not vaccinated in the same age group, it said. MORE

A victim treats his mugger right
Julio Diaz has a daily routine. Every night, the 31-year-old social worker ends his hour-long subway commute to the Bronx one stop early, just so he can eat at his favorite diner. But one night last month, as Diaz stepped off the No. 6 train and onto a nearly empty platform, his evening took an unexpected turn. He was walking toward the stairs when a teenage boy approached and pulled out a knife. MORE

Documentary optimistic about Chicago's crime woes
An eye-opening account of efforts to end an epidemic of violence in Chicago, "Hoop Dreams" director Steve James' "The Interrupters" alternates between shocking glimpses of how bad things have gotten there and a surprisingly convincing optimism about new methods of addressing the problem. The film centers on the CeaseFire program, which springs from the idea that violence is less a moral issue than a disease — one that can be reversed by dismantling flawed reasoning processes that assume all grievances demand physical retribution. MORE

New Practice Perspective – Healthy People

Since 1979, Healthy People has functioned as the public health roadmap for the nation. A comprehensive set of national 10-year health objectives, Healthy People serves as a foundation for prevention and wellness activities for the federal government, states and communities, as well as public and private sector agencies and organizations throughout the U.S. 

Healthy People 2020, released by the Department of Health and Human Services in December 2010, offers many opportunities for social work action in support of health and wellness for children and adults.

Go to: http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/default.aspx.

Contact Stacy Collins at scollins@naswdc.org with questions.

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            What's Missing? Your ad.

NASW-DE newSWire reaches more than 600 social workers and others!

Advertising in the NASW-DE newSWire is the best way to reach social workers throughout the state of Delaware and beyond. Deadline for submission is the Wednesday preceding publication (every other Friday).
       
The cost to advertise in newSWire is just $50 for 30 words AND a link to your site. 

DE newSWire is published biweekly on Fridays. Please call 1-800-932-0004 ext. 26 or email jhendryx@naswnj.org to confirm.