Support the Social Work Reinvestment Act

Here is a copy of an email I sent to my legislators. The first paragraph is mine. The rest is a boilerplate from the National Association of Social Workers.

As a Central Ohio Social Worker who treats those afflicted with addiction, I have already seen the devastating effects cuts to social services have wrought. Yesterday I met with a woman who has been sober for 109 days. She completed a residential treatment program, is living in a sober house, and is working a 12-step program. But she is worried. She instinctively knows she is in a dangerous period of recovery and she is correct. Around 100 days of sobriety is a time when many addicts relapse. She came to our program because she heard we had a relapse prevention group. Sadly, our wait time for assessment is over two months.

On March 24, 2009, Senator Mikulski reintroduced the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act (S. 686). As a constituent, a professional social worker, and member of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), the largest professional social work organization in the world, I urge you to show your support for this essential legislation by becoming a cosponsor and actively working to ensure its passage.

Social workers are society’s safety net, and with our current economic challenges, this safety net has grown to include and protect a diverse group of people from all walks of life. However, serious safety concerns, significant educational debt, and comparatively insufficient salaries are threatening the ability of our nation’s social workers to provide these indispensible services.

Many of the more complex challenges facing the nation such as our current economic reality and concerns as well as programs such as Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security cannot be addressed adequately without assessing the immediate and long-term needs facing the social work workforce tasked with providing these vital support services. This legislation is designed to address the challenges to the profession, thereby helping to ensure that millions of constituents in communities throughout the nation can continue to access and receive professional, quality care.

This investment will be returned many times over both in support of ongoing efforts to establish effective social service solutions and in direct service to an ever-increasing population in need of such services.

The Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act is a necessary first step to guarantee that millions of people in need can continue to receive critical services and be guided to valuable resources. This legislation is key to the future of the profession, but more importantly to the people we both serve. To sign on as a cosponsor, please contact Mona Shah in Senator Mikulski’s office at (202) 224-4654.

The woman I wrote about in the first paragraph has suffered unspeakable abuses during her lifetime, but she is starting to fight back. Thankfully, a female colleague, a Social Worker, stepped up and agreed to see her on her own time to make sure she continued to receive the care she needed. Social Workers nationwide are working even harder to work to make sure that those who are left behind during our economic crisis are not forgotten. Congress and the American people should help us. Passage of the this act will help make that will happen.

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