The current political debate raging over the fate of refugees seeking asylum in the United States expresses significant xenophobia, racism, and religious intolerance. Refugees are seen on cable T.V. and talk radio as a scourge on the nation; a serious threat to national security. The partisans in this debate seem to be confusing refugees with illegal immigrants or at least bundling them all together into one threatening pile.

The future is here. 3.2 billion subscribers, an estimated 47% of people on the planet, are using mobile technology. 74% of adults use social networking sites.

Social workers are no exception. They are beginning to revolutionize practice with technology. In addition to using mobile devices to communicate with clients and advanced digital data collection, social workers are taking Masters courses in online formats and even dabbling in cyber therapy with certain clients.

Our recent blog on the Charter School movement highlighted the dramatic adoption of Charter Schools in two cities in crisis: New Orleans after Katrina and Detroit after the collapse of the auto industry. The question that remains after we reported the brief history of Charter Schools is:

We hear that an increasing number of our social worker colleagues are going into the relatively new field of Coaching.

Traditionally, Coaching has been associated with sports or the corporate sector, where companies hired coaches to work with executives seeking self-improvement. Most coaches were either business coaches, executive coaches, leadership coaches, career coaches, or life coaches.

What Exactly is a Charter School?

A public charter school is a publicly funded school that is typically governed by a group or organization under a legislative contract (or charter) with the state or jurisdiction. The charter exempts the school from certain state or local rules and regulations, but the charter school must meet the accountability standards outlined in its charter.

SEEDS OF DOUBT

When the Cancer Charities fraud case broke in 2015, donors began to ask how this kind of egregious fraud could go undetected for 28 years. “Can we depend on the IRS or the FTC or the state attorneys general to keep an eye on the nonprofit sector? Isn’t anyone watching the store?” Even concerned case workers began to wonder how the reaction to this case could have been so painfully slow. Everyone involved in the sector understood immediately that if this kind of doubt is permitted to creep in, nonprofit is in for big trouble.

THE EPIDEMIC

The silent scourge of opioid addiction began to secretly infest America’s small suburban towns almost a decade ago. The wanton prescribing of opioid pain medication, like OxyContin, by American doctors claimed more innocent victims to heroin addiction than the entire army of illegal drug dealers. Suburban housewives, school teachers, firemen, and ministers replaced inner-city teenagers as victims. The legitimate medical profession, critical of its own previous performance in pain management, prescribed vast amounts of opioid derivatives and ended up addicting entire towns to heroin. No one seemed to notice or wanted to admit it. Gradually, however, as the poison that legitimate doctors injected into the veins of unsuspecting fathers, mothers, sons and daughters began to have its pernicious effect, heroin addiction was recognized by local and federal health officials as an epidemic that had silently infected our entire society.

The election is over and there are obviously mixed feelings across the board ranging from excitement about the future, devastation about the loss, to just a general level of uncertainty. We talked recently about how social workers can approach their clients during this uncertain time whether they are republicans, democrats, or undecideds. Staying impartial is critical and using the current situation to their advantage are keys to tackling the challenges we are seeing with helping clients. Social workers are able to dig deeper into underlying concerns, mental state, and the real needs of their clients, but what about social workers themselves?

Not only do we need to understand the effect politics has on the people social workers serve but we need to understand what affect is has on those providing these services. Everyone will handle this transition of power from President Obama to President Elect trump differently but the mission remains the same! There are still children and families in this country that need their help.

No matter what side of the political fence you fall on your clients are counting on you to show up! Unfortunately, you don’t get a day off from all the terrible things happening every day in our country to our most vulnerable population, children. That is a luxury not afforded to this field of work. No matter who the Commander in Chief is we still need you to show up and work towards improving our client’s lives and protecting children. Thanks for showing up when times are tough!

The world of Social Services is populated with “givers”. No sensible person seeks fame or fortune in social work, so every year at this time we give thanks for our colleagues who became social workers because of an inner impulse to help the less fortunate.

This Thanksgiving we would like to recognize, and especially thank, one very special group of these “givers” - the over 62 MILLION VOLUNTEERS who provide indispensable support for both community based and nonprofit social services across the entire country.