NASW Cautious about Bush's Faith-Based Initiative

WASHINGTON—The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is cautious about President Bush's faith-based initiative. President Bush minimizes the important historic and current roles that religious organizations have played and currently play in providing social services and charitable support to persons in need.

The social work profession and social workers themselves have a long history of providing services within religious institutions; and Bush's initiative may pose serious challenges to this historical relationship.

Social workers are often involved in the staffing, administration and evaluation of charitable-voluntary agencies. NASW maintains that a complementary relationship between public and private resources is necessary to sustain the network of services that is essential to maintain, encourage, develop, and promote family and individual well being. However, the association also believes that any public-private partnership must uphold certain fundamental principles of social service delivery:

• Access to Services
  Social services must be available, accessible, and offered in a way that encourages voluntary use. NASW does not support the exercise of any arbitrary criteria, including gender, marital status, sexual orientation, disability, religion, political views, race, ethnic or national origin, to limit service access.
• Accountability
  The Administration's emphasis on results and the dissemination of results is timely. Social service systems must contain the mechanisms to provide maximum accountability.
• Separation of Church and State
  NASW strongly supports the constitutional principle of separation of church and state. NASW maintains that the expression of religious belief is a personal and private matter that should be neither constrained nor promoted by the government in any way. NASW opposes the use of tax policy, administrative regulations, or the distribution of government funds to support organized religion in any manner.
• Appropriate Staffing
  NASW supports the efforts of faith-based organizations in providing the basic necessities of life to people in need. However, families and individuals in crisis often face multiple, complex problems and issues. Staff should be trained, competent and qualified to deliver social services to individuals and families facing a life crisis.
• Maintaining Government Responsibility
  NASW reaffirms the essential role of government in developing policies and programs that expand opportunities, address social and economic justice, improve the quality of life of all people in this country, and enhance the social conditions of this nation's communities.

As the President’s faith-based initiative continues to take shape, social workers, with their long history of delivering services in both sectarian and non-sectarian organizations, will be involved in efforts to ensure that the initiative embodies these fundamental principles.

For a full copy of NASW’s position statement on faith-based human services, please contact NASW Public Affairs at 202-336-8228 or email lcurry@naswdc.org.

The National Association of Social Workers (NASW), in Washington, DC, is the largest membership organization of professional social workers with 153,000 members. It promotes, develops and protects the practice of social work and social workers. NASW also seeks to enhance the well being of individuals, families and communities through its work and through its advocacy.