Advocacy Letter to help social work become more affordable

Dear Lindsey LaPointe,

My name is _____ ________ and as an aspiring social worker I am writing to ask for your support for the urgent need to transition all social work internships from unpaid to paid positions. This change is not only essential for upholding the social justice principles at the heart of our profession, but it is also a vital step toward strengthening the future social services workforce. I will be addressing three key points such as student debt, financial inequity, high cost of living and how they affect interns, and why it is good to have paid internships. Please oppose the continued practice of public universities in Illinois charging social work students tuition for their field placements and assigning students to internships and field placements where they work without any pay or compensation because it creates financial inequities and leave unpaid interns without essential labor protections.

Using the “principal beneficiary test,” police internships are assessed under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to see if interns qualify as employees who need to be paid. Although “for-profit” businesses must pay their employees under the FLSA, interns may not be considered as employees and are therefore not compelled to receive payment for their work. The FLSA principal beneficiary test applies to social work interns, because their placements are unpaid because they occur in non-profits and government agencies, which are generally exempt form FLSA wage requirements. I am advocating for the Fair Labor Standards Act to be changed so that it will classify interns as employees and be entitled to minimum wage.  

As a State Representative, I know you can't change the federal Fair Labor Standards Act, but Illinois should have a state-level law that does what I propose, and if agencies and universities cannot afford to let social work students do their field placements without paying tuition, nor can they pay stipends to those students, then I would like the state to provide funding to universities and agencies that help social work students gain expertise in field placements to reduce these costs for Illinois social work students.

Unpaid internships create financial hardships for interns in the real-world by requiring them to work for free while still needing to cover basic living expenses, and sometimes even pay for college credit. For example, I attend the University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) as an undergraduate student majoring in social work. In addition to the internship credits (for which I must pay tuition), I’m taking out extra loans to pay for living expenses in a new city. Since I have an internship from Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm and class from 6:00 pm to 9:30 pm, I am unable to work part-time. This has created significant financial hardship for a position with no income. I continue to struggle with financial support for housing, food, transportation, and other expenses.

I have also spoken with peers who graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) and Master of Social Work (MSW) who are still in debt for more than $70,0000, which is made worse by hundreds of hours of unpaid labor. According to the news article by Metz & Bonila, “MSW students graduate with an average of $68,0000- $76,000 in student loans, burdening social workers and their families for decades after graduation.” Metz & Bonila also disscused how social work education in the U.S. is experiencing a decline in student enrollment across all degree levels and believe that paying social work students for their mandatory internships could help reverse these issues. 

Research has also shown that social work interns in the U.S. are not the only ones who face difficulties with unpaid internships. In the article, “This Unpaid Placement Makes You Poor,” Morley et al. (2023) argues how field education costs are also a burden for international social work interns. According to a study done in 2023 by Morley et al. Australian social work intern’s face financial difficulties during unpaid placements. The Morley et al. (2023) gathered data from 372 interns about their financial situation, income, and how they managed to support themselves during placements. According to the findings, 66% of interns are worried about their financial situation, 17% of interns go without food and other basic necessities, 50% of interns have a weekly spending deficit, and 25% of interns must work at least 20 hours a week to make ends meet (Morley et al., 2023). This demonstrates how the current placement structure is not financially sustainable for many students, potentially affecting their well-being and ability to complete their studies. 

In order to implement a change where social work internships are paid, we need to find a way to secure funding for these positions. We could start by getting various stakeholders, including academic institutions, government officials at both state and federal levels, and organizations that benefit from social work interns, to agree to contribute financially. Sources of funding could include public grants, funding from universities, or policy changes that mandate or incentivize paid internships. In the U.S. and Australia, Metz & Bonila, discussed how they are forming groups like “End Placement Poverty” and “Payment for Placements (P4P)” movements to demand that universities, government agencies, and internship sites start paying social work interns for their labor.

While internships serve as educational opportunities, paid interns would not only help alleviate financial issues but also improve the quality and future of the social work field by valuing student labor, attract a wider, more diverse pool of talent to the social work field, and address the long-term workforce shortage in social services because interns are more motivated and invested in their work, leading to better outcomes for clients and agencies. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Jasmine Gaines

References

Metz, E., & Bonila, P. O. (n.d.). Can paid internships save social work? Global Social Service Workforce Alliance. https://socialserviceworkforce.org/blog/can-paid-internships-save-social-work/

Morley, C., Hodge, L., Clarke, J., McIntyre, H., Mays, J., Briese, J., & Kosleck, T. (2023). This unpaid placement makes you poor: Australian social work students’ experiences of the financial burden of field education. Social Work Education, 43(4), 1039–1057. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2022.216150

US Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division. (2010). Fact sheet# 71: Internship programs under the fair labor standards act. https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/fact-sheets/71-flsa-internships

This is an example of issue advocacy, where you bring a problem to the attention of someone in government and suggest why the problem must be solved and make some general recommendations of how the problem might be solved.  The problem of unpaid internships and tuition expenses for students who must do field placements or practicums in non-profit or government sectors (including social workers, school teachers, and most nursing students, but also some political science and exercise science students) could be addressed at the federal level or at the state level.  You have decided to write your letter to a person in the Illinois General Assembly, so it's appropriate for you to emphasize the importance of state-level interventions to solve the problem.  Also, you wrote to a member of the state General Assembly who is herself a social worker, and that makes sense.  Maybe you could have written this letter to all three of the social workers in the General Assembly. 

I think you make a good point when you highlight declining numbers of students earning social work degrees just as the demand for qualified social workers is increasing. You also make a good moral argument about the unfairness of the situation. Although Representative LaPointe is a liberal (a progressive), so arguments based on care and justice ethics are likely to work best, if you included Haas (a Republican), you would probably have emphasized more the effort of social work students to become financially independent as self-reliant professionals, and said something more about the tens of thousands of dollars in student debt that newer social workers may cary as they enter the field, and how those debts might drive them from the social work field into fields using similar skills and paying significantly higher salaries (management in corporations, human resource officers, sales, etc.).

 

Our Future Is Formed By Today's Choices

 Senate Bill 1604 is a powerfully basic establishment of two critical programs that address the shortage of qualified social work professional across Illinois by providing a stipend for school social work internship and grants to higher education institutions to support social work field placement.    It is up to us to make sure it passes.  Our elected officials need to be held accountable to working for the people who elected them to office and not only for their own special interest.   Senate Bill 1604 is in the best interest of the general public now and in the future.   

Currently there is a shortage of behavioral health workers across the country.  The need for behavioral health workers has increased.   Social workers are needed  in the schools  especially in vulnerable populations.  There are at lease 200 open school social work positions across the state of Illinois.  This means valuable services and interventions are not being utilized because the positions are vacant.   Harming our most valuable future commodity -our children.   The  aging population and the opioid epidemic are areas I which social workers are needed desperately to assist older persons by providing interventions, mental health counseling and serving as a resource liaison.   Mental health services provided by social workers can have a gamet of specialties including substance use counseling.  The  homeless and the incarcerated are areas in which the demand for social workers is heavy and increasing.  

Social workers have a shortage due to the high educational requirements, lack of funding or incentives for workers in rural areas, significant professional demands and complex  challenges.  Senate Bill 1604 will address financial barriers to the educational attainment as well as the shortage of workers which will help with some of the professional demands and challenges.   Currently students have to complete 400 hours of field placement or internship.   That must be done while paying for the class that requires the field placement.  Often these field placement are unpaid.   Most students are working to help fund school and non traditional students like me have to work full time while attending classes part time.  Will I need to reduce my paying job hours to get the field placement hours I need? That is the dilemma many students find themselves in.   Paying to learn on a job that would normally have someone being paid to due.   It is an unfair barrier to attaining soil work degrees and certifications.   

Some will argue that there is no money in the budget.   I say to those arguments that we either find the money now to get qualified professionals in place where they are needed or we pay later with the results of not having qualified social workers who serve as mental and behavioral health professionals as well as caring for our most vulnerable populations, the elderly and poor,  and our greatest assets for our future-our children in schools who can thrive and be successful with proper interventions from school age instead of later mental health or incarceration or being non productive members of society.  The choice is ours pay now for better mental health services or pay later for more emergency room visits, hospital stays, homelessness, substance abuse, crime and incarceration.  

Fight for our future communities now by raising your voices.  Call your state senator.  Email your representative. Talk about this bill.   Post on social media about what is going on.  Demand a government that works for all of us in this great state of Illinois.  You can find your elected officials here https://www.elections.il.gov/electionoperations/districtlocator/districtofficialsearchbyaddress.aspx.  Let them know that you support SB 1604.  Please pass it.  Our students, children and communities deserve better.

The Future of Social Work: Supporting SB1604

Starting and completing a college education is not an easy feat, and this is especially true for social work students here in Illinois. As a social work student myself, I have seen the stress that trying to finish an undergraduate degree can cause. As a requirement to complete a social work degree, the student will normally finish around 400-420 hours of work in a field placement. A field placement means that the student will be working in an agency under the supervision of a fully qualified professional. This adds up to around 30 hours a week of work. However, it is important to note that all of this work is unpaid. On top of the 400 hours of unpaid work, the student will also have to pay the tuition for the actual fieldwork class. In many of my classes, I have classmates who are non-traditional students going back for a degree who already work full-time jobs and have families to support. Unfortunately, for them to be able to finish their education, they will have to put their paid work on the back burner for their field placement. Whether this means completely quitting a job or simply cutting the hours spent at work, a great amount of income will be lost while the student completes their field placement. For families who completely depend on their income, they will be struggling financially for months until they can return to work. 

There is a solution to this ongoing issue of getting more students to finish their social work degree. The solution is Senate Bill 1604. This bill states that schools can apply for grants to give their students stipends to cover tuition and the cost of their work. This would greatly help in the field of social work, as it would allow more students to comfortably finish their education without having to sacrifice financial resources. Not only would this bill allow more students to finish their education, but it would also make the field of social work more appealing to the masses. As of now, there is a severe shortage of social workers across almost every specialty. There is a great need for school social workers, as our state is seeing a deficit of jobs that we cannot seem to fill. Our schools are struggling, and having more school social workers will help our children and their futures. This will also provide more workers in the much-needed and vast growing fields of mental healthcare and senior healthcare. Many students will turn away from the field of social work when looking for an occupation simply because of the sheer commitment it takes to complete the degree. Having to finish 400 hours as an unpaid internship is a great barrier that is in the way of allowing the field of social work to flourish. By supporting Senate Bill 1604, you will be supporting the quality of life of future generations. 

Reflections on entering the career of being a social worker

 What does it mean to be a Social Worker? I think about this question quite often as I internally struggle in choosing a direction in my life. I’m 35 years old and have experienced a lot of ups and downs, as have most people my age. I feel like I’m ‘maturing’ late in life—academically anyways— because I see all of my friends who are super successful. One, who I would argue I admire the most and is probably the most important friend to me, is a neurosurgeon and the most brilliant person I’ve ever met.

When I look at him, and others like him, who are younger than me and have done so much more, I feel like I’m just abysmally behind in life. Then I remember that comparison is the thief of joy; we all have one life to live and every person is special in their own way. I lived a lot of my twenties taking care of my grandparents, and those memories I formed with them are always going to be important to me. Sure I didn’t do four years majoring in Microbiology and then studying for the MCATs to go on to become a doctor (which I at one point had aspirations of doing), but that doesn’t mean I never can become one.

I’ve always made it a point to care about others. When my elderly neighbors needed help shoveling, I would always be out there—admittedly not as early as I should have been, I’m not an early riser—to help them. Taking care of my grandparents and seeing all the nurses and PT’s come and go made me think that I wanted to be a nurse. Taking care of those that struggle. So 2.5 years ago I set out to become one. I took all the classes I needed to take and did all the testing I needed to do to get into Nursing school, and I got into every one that I applied to.

To cut a story short, my friend who has a masters SW and does therapy told me that he thinks I would be a good therapist and to consider Social Work. There was a lull in between my semesters, where I decided not go continue in a private Nursing university because of the cost and instead go to ISU nursing in Springfield. There was an opportunity to do as he suggested and try my hands at Social Work.

I wanted to specialize in psych for nursing anyways, so this seemed logical in my mind. Getting my BSW at UIS and then doing a 1-year graduate program within U of I. It would only take a little longer than becoming a nurse, and I could still get into a master’s program for nursing while holding a bachelors in a different field.

I have enjoyed the Social Work program at UIS so far. While there hasn’t been a huge focus on therapy and therapeutic approaches to things as of yet, I think it has told me enough to get a good idea of my future in this field. But there’s that voice in the back of my head that is always there: ‘is this truly what you want to do in life?’. I honestly can’t answer that. I’ve always been an indecisive person and compare myself to others, such as the neurosurgeon who has always had a linear plan in his mind—to become a great doctor. I wish I had same perspective when it comes to a life plan.

I think you would be an exceptionally good therapist, mental health social worker, or family counselor. If you find the work enjoyable, I would encourage you to continue in this direction. The therapeutic skills are mostly taught in Practice I and Practice II. Then, in your field placement and your first job with a BSW you will learn a lot more, and in an MSW program you can mainly focus on mental health and counseling skills. 

Of course, psychiatric nursing is close to mental health social work, and is probably just as good as social work if you mainly want to focus on persons with serious mental illness and you imagine you would enjoy working in a residential setting.

I have always been interested in the life reviews of persons who have had near death experiences.  From what I gather, the things we do that may be most significant in our lives are often little gestures of kindness or love we show to someone.  Things we do that seem prosaic or incidental to the main narrative of our life may be the most important acts we ever chose to perform. 

J. R. R. Tolkien once wrote a short story called Smith of Wootten Major.  Superficially it seems a story about cakes, village life, and a special ability bestowed upon a child that allows him to travel into the world of faery.  It seems like a setting for a meditation upon the contrast between the mundane world and the world of fantastic and awesome marvels. Within this story, the King of Faery has taken on the life as a mortal, and he has lived for decades as a very low-status working-class sort of person (a baker's assistant) in service to a terrible boss. At one point, he reveals his true identity to the main character (Smith), and asks Smith to return to him the magic that allowed Smith to journey into the fantastic realms of Faery.  Smith unhesitatingly does so, and then observes that it seems unfathomable to him that someone such as the King of Faery should submit to live a low-status life in an obscure village for so many years.  The King replies to the effect that the decades of life in disguise were worthwhile, because he has been repaid for his “suffering” by Smith’s simple unselfish act of giving back the key that opens the way into Faery.  That has always struck me as a very good insight into our lives.  The great acts of our life may be simple acts of unhesitating unselfishness, generosity, or self-sacrifice. Helping a neighbor shovel snow may be as significant as being the President of the United States and signing some sort of treaty that brings great benefit to the whole world. 

I'm saying, I guess, that utilitarianism only goes so far.  The Greatest Good to the Greatest Number works well enough, up to a point.  But, it seems to me sometimes that there may be ways in which the small acts between individuals are not any less important than the great acts of group leaders.  As Wittgenstein said in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, “no cry of torment can be greater than the cry of one man. Or again, no torment can be greater than what a single being may suffer... The whole planet can suffer no greater torment than a single soul...” (suggesting that torment is not multiplied to a greater intensity simply because many bear it rather than few; and implying likewise that benefit and joy is not multiplied into greater intensity if we do something that benefits many rather than few).  

I am a professor who teaches macro practice and social policy to social work students, so I naturally point out that political action may do a great benefit to many more people than therapy.  For example, our class has played a small part in helping to pass legislation that will help social work students in the state (with scholarships to assist them in completing their studies when they are doing field placements).  That legislation, when it is finally enacted and funded, will help hundreds of students each year, and the increase in supply of social workers will lead to more people receiving mental health care or good quality social work services, so there ripples of benefit that go out to people all over the state.  But, at some deep level, I'm pretty sure that helping one person climb out of a situation of misery and hopelessness and confusion to a place where they can feel good, and get their life back under control, may be no less important than helping pass legislation that benefits thousands or millions of people.

Social Work & Religion: A Duty to Inform

As we entered into week two, the class was given the assignment to read pages 178- 207, a section of our textbook that described the field of social work and its inherent affiliation with religion. The authors, Philip Popple and Leslie Leighninger, spent a significant amount of time detailing the religious roots of social welfare. They highlight that this religious affiliation was not limited to one specific cohort. Rather, Popple and Leighninger explain that associations span numerous populations including early Egyptian, Jewish, Christian, and Muslim cultures. In fact, they attribute the profession of social work to three specific movements, each having derived from the church: Charity Organization Society (COS) movement, Settlement House movement, and the development of institutions to deal with an entire range of social problems.

Eventually, the field of social work became more secular. Following the general secularization of society, public view began to stray from the “God’s Will” mentality of unfortunate events. Instead, individuals began to seek scientific, rational explanations for more of life’s events. As the growth of government services increased, funding with religious affiliation decreased. The 1960’s and 1970’s brought along with it waves of new students entering the social work profession, fueled by political and ideological incentives rather than religious motives.

Today, it can be argued that the tides are once again turning. The argument that social work has begun to see the reversal of secularization does not go without merit. In the past few years there has been a large amount of growth in conservative churches. Principles such as lack of birth control have fostered large population increases. Since President Reagan, trends in governmental control have shifted to incorporate more religious association. Communities continue to see the establishment and growth of professional organizations such as the North American Association of Christians in Social Work. Education programs continue to develop, offering a religious focus while those in doctoral pursuits are choosing dissertations with a religious aim. Still, social work and religion continue to be sensitive companions.

It has been a common argument that religion presents difficulties for both the individual social worker and agency. Those with strong religious views tend be less concerned with the material needs of the client. Agencies face concern with policies that outline client self- determination and non-judgementalism. Furthermore, most agencies agree that social work is not a place for “whitnessing”. The subject is often the topic of much debate and has not gone without capturing the attention of the media.

Author George Will begins his piece Code of Coercion by recapping the 1943 Supreme Court case, West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette, where it was determined that government funded schools could not force children in attendance to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. He goes on to argue that this decision continues to be disparaged by teachers at public universities, particularly in the field of social work. Fortunately, George Will’s accusations fall apart with minimal investigation. Highlighted as a shining example of his allegations, Will tells the story of a former UIS student, Sandra Fuiten, who halted her pursuit of a BSW after a professor “told her that it is impossible to be both a social worker and an opponent of abortion” (Will, 2007). Between her comments for the Indianapolis Star and her self- written article, Anti- Catholic Social Work, one can see through her use of language and inconsistencies that her credibility is questionable at best. At one point, Fuiten states, “Surely Jane Addams has turned over in her grave myriad times, but I am sure she has at least for me.” I think, the only one that would be turning over in their grave would be Ms. Sandra Fuiten’s legal consultant.

All things considered, I challenge Mr. Will to pay homage to several other famous Supreme Court cases such as Brown v. Board of Education (1954), Roe v. Wade (1973), and United States v. Nixon (1974). For in the company of educators, doctors, and government officials, social workers share the responsibility of informing the individual(s) in which they serve regardless of race, gender, status, political affiliation, or religious identification. It is not a question of forgoing personal beliefs but rather maintaining client autonomy and self-determination.

Social Worker Safety

A student wrote this paper for one of the descriptive paper assignments.

The dangers of Social Work are on the rise. Studies have shown an increase in verbal and physical abuse in the past 15 years. Some states are taking steps to help protect Social Workers. Many of these states are fighting budget crunches, like many other policies. In 2007, a bill was introduced by Dennis Moore of Kansas. He re-introduced it again in 2009. The Bill, Teri Zenner Social Worker Safety Act, is still in committee today. The Bill lays out a plan on issuing grants to states that find themselves in need of funds to properly train and protect their workers. The Bill could help states ease the burden their budget cuts have had. Currently, the Bill offers $5 million dollars a year in grant money to states, but this amount needs to be increased. Social Workers have a direct correlation to the future well being of children and need to be funded accordingly.

A 2002 survey conducted by the National Association of Social Workers found that violence and threats were common. The survey which was taken from 800 social workers found that 19 percent of them had been victims of violence and 63 percent of them had been threatened. What is so shocking is the number of respondents who had been threatened. In many cases, not only in the public sector, but also in the private sector social workers find themselves making home visits alone and not knowing what they will find when that door opens. In 2006, a similar study was head by the same organization. This time it involved 5,000 participants. The results were just as telling, with 44 percent responding that they face safety issues while on the job. Social workers making in home visits are there to ensure the safety of the children involved and are constantly looking for signs that they may be in a dangerous setting. These surveys show that not only do they need to be looking out for the child’s safety but their own as well. A 2000 Bureau of Labor Statistics found that social service workers were 7 times more likely to be victims of violent assaults while at work, than other workers in the private sector. It is clear that this is a dangerous yet necessary field.

In 2008, the U.S. saw a major downturn in the economy which lead to fewer tax revenues but not lower spending. This combination meant many states found themselves in budget crisis, from California to Florida to Michigan. All states in the union found themselves with choices to make and cuts to the budget to produce. Many states looked at the Social Workers as areas they could cut employees by adding to the case loads of other case workers. The state of Illinois is looking at a budget shortfall of 13 billion dollars this coming year. Legislatures are looking at the state’s Human Services Budget for cuts. These cuts would test a budget already stretched too thin. On Feb 24^th, the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability released a study showing the state of Illinois underfunded the Human Services Budget by 4.4 billion dollars from 2002 to 2010. States need assistance to ensure that they can keep these vital programs operating and operating at the safest possible levels.

In 2007, Dennis Moore, a lawmaker from Kansas introduced the HR-2165 Teri Zenner Social Worker Safety Act. This bill would allow states to receive federal funding to help ensure the safety of Social Workers. The bill is in honor of Teri Zenner, a social worker in Kansas, who had been stabbed and killed in a routine in home visit in 2004. This tragic event may have something good come from it if legislation like this can be passed. The first Teri Zenner Social Worker Safety Act referred in the future of this paper as HR-2165 was dedicated to provide funding for proper training of social workers. HR-2165 had eight areas where funds were to be directed. First, funds would be used to provide safety equipment such as cell phones and GPS devices for workers, training in self defense and crisis management, facility safety improvements, provision of pepper spray for self defense, cultural competency training, training to help work with the mentally ill, educational resources to train staff on safety awareness measures and finally other activities determined by the Secretary to be safety training. Of these eight points the three most important may be the self defense and crisis management training, installation of safety equipment, and provision of pepper spray. Sadly this bill died in Committee only to reappear in 2009 under HR-1490 Teri Zenner Social Worker Safety Act. The bill was yet again introduced by Dennis Moor and sponsored by 50 others but it too is currently stuck in Committee. It would seem that safety of social workers takes a back seat in politics and many Americans don’t fully understand what social workers do, with many not having any experience with them. HR-1490 is an exact copy of HR-2160, but it would seem the states need of the bill is even greater at this point with the budget cuts that many states are facing.

One of the issues with HR-2160 and HR-1490 is the apparent lack of funding in the bill. The bill only offers a $5 million dollar provision to be spread among all states every year for five years. Most states like Illinois, where the Human Services Budget has been under funded by $4.4 billion dollars over 8 years, would see this grant money as a drop in the pool lacking funds. The bill needs to make more money available for grants especially in this economic climate. The key would be to ensure that the money given to the different states organizations is really used to increase the safety of the social worker in the field. Training sessions should be set up in major cities throughout each state to make sure that social workers have access to the latest techniques in dealing with a crisis. It is possible, if the bill was to make it out of committee and onto the floor for a vote it would garner national attention. Then it could be expanded as Americans learn what social workers find themselves up against on a daily basis.

Social worker safety has seen an increase in attention in the past 15 years but not in action. Surveys have shown that many social workers feel that they are in dangerous situations when out in the field. In a study conducted in 2002, 19 percent had been victims of violence while 63 percent had been threatened. Studies like this show there is a very present danger in social services field and it is important to ensure that the workers are going into the field with the best possible training and equipment. In 2007, Dennis Moore introduced a bill that would provide states with grant money to provide such training and funding. Although that bill would die, it did make reappearance in 2009 and is currently in committee, where it will hopefully find its way to the floor for a vote. Over the years, there have been several high profile stories of social workers meeting their deaths in the field but many more acts of violence or threats never go reported.

A student reaction paper on social work education and ethics

I found George F. Will’s article from the Washington Post, “Code of Coercion” quite interesting. Some good points are brought up in the article such as whether or not a certain field or program of education should even come with a so called set of ideological “rules”. Sure there are codes of ethics and guidelines for conduct in most professions, but these are not absolute, and surely don’t mean the same thing to everyone.

Yes, there are four main questions I think we need to consider. 1) Are there ideological rules in the NASW code of ethics? 2) Should there be ideological rules in the NASW code of ethics? 3) If there should be ideological rules in the NASW code of ethics, does the code of ethics have the right rules, is it missing some, and does it have some that should not be included? 4) Are social work students supposed to subscribe to the NASW code of ethics, or merely be familiar with it?

The answers are: 1) yes, there are ideological rules in the NASW code of ethics. 2) Yes, there ought to be ideological rules, because professions have ideologies (or at least they ought to have ideologies). For example, in medical ethics doctors must subscribe to an ideology that they will do no harm to a patient. That is why ethical physicians will not assist in administering the poisons in lethal injection executions, although they will certify that a condemned prisoner has died. This is an ideology that doctors must preserve and protect the life and health of their patients, because by definition, that is what doctors do. Social workers should also have an ideology that defines what it is that social workers do, or ought to do. 3) The question of whether the NASW code of ethics includes the correct rules is one that is debatable, and is in fact debated within social work. I personally don’t object to any specific ideological rules in the present form of the code of ethics, but I think in certain places emphasis is misplaced, and I would change it in some ways, because I think it could be improved. There could be a substantial discussion of which values or ideologies in the code of ethics are in fact objectionable or wrong. George Will did not engage in such a discussion, so his contribution is not useful on that score. As I read it, the NASW code of ethics is not especially objectionable, and I struggle to understand how a fair-minded person familiar with the role of social work in society could object to the ideology enshrined in the code of ethics. 4) Social work students must be familiar with the code of ethics. They must be familiar with it in part because if they violate certain points of the code of ethics they could be punished or disciplined.

I have intimate familiarity with three schools of social work, and at none of these three were students required to subscribe to the code of ethics or make any sort of statement of belief or values in which they endorsed the NASW code of ethics. In fact, I had a Catholic field supervisor in my own MSW training who emphasized ethics as one of his top priorities, but told me he was not a member of NASW and would not become a member because he did not agree with 100% of the NASW code of ethics, and so he instead belonged to other professional social worker associations. The ideologically controversial portions of the NASW code of ethics are not the points that would be brought up and used against a social worker in a disciplinary setting. That is, no one objects to the ideology around duties to clients and professional responsibilities to clients, and that is the part of the ethical code where violations can land you in trouble. It is in the more broadly-worded exhortations for social workers to believe in and advocate for certain types of things that some people take issue, and these are not the sort of ethical rules where violations do direct harm to clients. At least that is how it appears to me.

A major point in Will’s article is that the National Association of Scholars did their research on ten major public universities and found that social work students are encouraged to be as liberal as possible for the most part. Their examples could be extreme cases, but they do make a good argument anyway. I personally believe that to some extent people seeking a degree in social work must have an open mind and a true desire to help everyone, no matter what they may have done, or what walk of life they are from. Some people may call that liberal, but I just call it what I truly believe is right, and it is what I desire to do.

Their examples are not merely extreme cases. In fact, their examples are false. That is, some of their examples just didn’t happen, and are in essence, lies.

I wonder whether a good argument can be based on falsehoods and false propositions. I often engage in mind-experiments to create hypothetical situations, and then suggest that if we faced a situation such as the one I have imagined, we would then need to make certain decisions. In fact, these hypothetical situations may be far from realistic; they aren’t based on actual facts, so the situations I ask people to consider might be unlikely. But at least I make it clear I’m engaging in hypothetical mind-experiments and explain the degree to which my imagined situations are based on my suppositions or knowledge about actual facts. Anyway, my purposes are mainly to get people to think about things and reach their own conclusions. The National Association of Scholars is not merely trying to make people think about social work education: they are actively attacking the Council on Social Work Education and the National Association of Social Workers, and trying to change education policies related to social work.

Being open to all ideas and arguments, and then thinking critically about the ideas and arguments, weighing them, and reaching conclusions based on reason, evidence, values, and so forth is in fact the only “ethical value” of liberal education (take a look at various official defining statements about liberal education made by professional associations of university administrators or faculty, and you’ll confirm this is true). That is, we are supposed to be open-minded, and that “liberal” aspect of education is about being broadly informed and willing to listen to alternative points of view, and isn’t very closely connected to the idea of “liberal” as in liberal political ideologies. Libertarians, for example, are usually good advocates for a liberal education and open-mindedness, but when it comes to economic and social welfare policies, Libertarians are the opposite of the political liberals. I think you’re correct that the National Association of Scholars was conflating the two meanings of liberal. Social work has traditionally been built upon a base of liberal education, and the ideals of liberal education related to open-mindedness and liberty (client autonomy) are certainly enshrined within the spirit and ideology of the social work profession.

However, I do not think it was right that Emily Brooker, a social work major from Missouri State University, was penalized because she objected to advocating for homosexual foster homes and adoption based on her religious beliefs. What happened to accepting everyone, religious affiliations included? Ms. Brooker may very well have no qualms with homosexuality, and be ready and willing to help those who cross her path. This particular subject just happened to be something she was not comfortable advocating for.

I agree with you. But I don't trust the N.A.S. presentation of the facts in this case. I personally would oppose any decision by the social work department or any school of social work to force students to advocate for policies that the students personally oppose. There are so many important issues where social work is speaking out for justice and improved policies, and I reckon it should be easy to find something else a student could advocate for. Acceptance of sexual orientations that differ from the mainstream is an important aspect of social work, but we draw the line at some forms of sexual desire (social workers don’t advocate for laws allowing incest, or sex with minors). If some members of our profession haven’t come as far as the profession as a whole in accepting homosexuality, I see no reason to make that one issue a point of contention and punishing the individual social work student or social worker.

If a student doesn’t want to advocate for same-sex couples being allowed to adopt children, then let the student advocate for better training for foster parents, larger stipends for foster parents, bigger tax breaks for domestic adoptions, or greater generosity for adoptive parents who accept a child with chronic health problems or disabilities into their families. These are other important issues, and if we lose a social worker who could advocate for these worthy causes merely because she or he doesn’t want to advocate for some aspect of gay rights, we’ve wasted an opportunity. At least, that is how I see it. (Incidentally, I personally do advocate for gay rights, and have spoken out in favor of same-sex couples being allowed to adopt children.)

I think it is possible to be a good but imperfect social worker if one is racist, homophobic, sexist, nationalistic, chauvinistic, sexually libertine, or prejudiced against persons with disabilities. These are all faults and weaknesses, but it is possible to do some forms of social work where such weaknesses will not destroy one’s ability to provide excellent services and behave according to the code of ethics.

As a social work student thus far I have been taught that it is necessary to set our own values and beliefs aside in order to fully and effectively help our clients. In Ms. Brooker’s case, advocating for this subject was forced upon her, and in any respect I don’t believe that is how the future social workers of the world should be brought up. No one should be forced to do anything they are not comfortable with. We wouldn’t expect or want our clients to feel as if our beliefs are being forced on them so it is only fair not to force social work’s “liberal” beliefs on those that are not yet ready or willing.

You make a good point about our professional duties to set our personal values aside. Perhaps this means that it would be a useful and appropriate exercise to ask a social work student to do something that went against their personal beliefs.