Good afternoon, today is a great day to explain why the .@nasw is a bullshit organization. Thread:
The NASW is one of the largest professional bodies for social workers. And the biggest issues in social work, including exploitation of workers and clients, can be traced back to the establishment of the NASW in 1955.
Prior to the NASW, social workers were heavily involved in labor organizing and advocacy. The WPA made it possible for poor women to be trained as caseworkers so they could assist others. Jewish Federation workers in NYC unionized and won back their wages after a pay cut.
Of course, during the Red Scare, labor orgs purged their "Communist" members and a field actively involved in labor advocacy around advocating for the poor was a bit too much for people to handle in the 1950's.
The NASW established itself as a "professional" org, emphasizing "service" to clients and the community over worker organizing (unlike equivalent orgs in education and nursing).
And with that came the NASW'S Code of Ethics, which have been revised multiple times throughout the org's history. Those revisions happened specifically because of how social work harmed marginalized communities.
The CoE is meant to protect clients from harm, but is such a contradictory mess that social work students are given a little cheat sheet to work through when sections of the CoE conflict with each other or the law.
By framing social work as a profession separate from other forms of labor, with an emphasis on the importance of serving others, the NASW basically devalued our labor. That is why social work is such a low-paying job.
but since we are professionals whose interventions are evidence based, we now need a lot more schooling. Most entry level jobs require an MSW. So that's a bachelor's degree, a Masters, and 1-2 unpaid internships during your MSW.
Would you BELIEVE that these are all factors in why most social workers are white and middle class/upper middle class?
The NASW's view is that social workers are the meat shield (or as Paul Kivel put it) or the "buffer zone" bw poor clients and powerful systems. In this model we work with these powerful systems so our clients get what they need.
This is most recently seen in the @nasw continuing to promote and endorse social workers working with police officers, and working in jails, prisons, psych hospitals, and court mandated treatment programs.
ALL of these are settings where social workers are required our ethical mandate to respect the individual right to self-determination.
This is uh, BULLSHIT.
Additionally, the NASW has not advocated for changes in mandated reporter laws. State laws around reporting neglect are incredibly vague, and social workers can easily involve children and families in carceral systems. Our child welfare agencies are notoriously corrupt.
And it can be hard for social workers to speak out about conditions because of that same Code of Ethics.
Our CoE prohibits "unwarranted negative criticism" of our colleagues. What's unwarranted neg criticism? Who are our colleagues? Are our bosses colleagues?
Consider that due to the glass escalator, most SW managers are white rich men. This is not a group of people that handles any kind of criticism well.
An MSW student at SUNY-Binghampton faced expulsion in 2008 bc he passed out fliers criticizing a professors work at the Housing Authority: thefire.org/cases/binghamt… Luckily @TheFIREorg intervened.
So in short, the NASW takes our dues money to continue to reinforce oppressive systems within social work and to continue in the gatekeeping that prevents ppl from becoming social workers and devalues our labor.
put it in the trash.
put it in the trash.
So members of SSWU crafted this open letter directed at the .@nasw Take a look: medium.com/@socialservice…
Our letter mentions a similar letter written by @AlanDettlaff , and a letter written by @dopeblack_slwkr . We also mention that Kim Young was blocked by the NASW Instagram account because of her advocacy around demanding change from the organization.
Our letter includes 8 specific demands of the .@nasw
1. From @dopeblack_slwkr own letter: “I demand the NASW rescind support of the Executive Order, acknowledge the role social work plays in upholding systems of oppression and publicly commit to deconstructing racist systems.”
3. The .@nasw endorses student movements across the country to remove police from schools
4. The .@nasw partners with the .@CSocialWorkEd to make a clear plan to make social work education more affordable and accessible.
Which includes PAID FIELD PLACEMENTS.
5. The .@nasw makes needed changes to the CoE to ensure social workers' rights to free speech&dissent. We're in the middle of a political uprising and no social worker should fear losing their job or license for criticizing the many social workers who are a whole racist disgrace
(looking at you, .@JamesCappleman and .@mayorbliss )
6. The .@nasw condemns all forms of involuntary treatment, incl psych hospitalizations, court ordered drug treatment, and court-ordered child welfare svcs programs.
7. The NASW provides clear guidelines on what can be counted as CEUS. No CEUs for the ICE Citizens Academy
8. The .@nasw condemns law enforcement agencies controlling social work programs through grant funding. For example, Office of Juvenile Justice or Office of Refugee Resettlement grants.
We have a petition we will be sending to the .@nasw here: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
Any social worker, social service worker, client of social workers, or concerned community member can sign.
If the .@nasw doesn't get their act together, we will shut it down and take our dues money elsewhere.
If this resonates for you, email us at socialserviceworkersunited@gmail.com to get involved with the work we do.
