School-System Advocacy Backed

Two chapters explore ways to assert the need for more social workers in schools.

While the number of school social workers in the country continues to grow, the profession is still unrecognized in some states and must define itself as a viable part of children's lives in education, say NASW members.

As a result, NASW has granted two of its chapters $2,000 each to pursue their goals of placing more social workers in public school settings.

Under 1999 Fizdale Grants, the Idaho and Arkansas chapters will be conducting studies through the winter that they hope will yield data they can use to bolster lobbying legislatively and in individual school districts.

Although clinical social workers in academic settings have increased in number since 1996 (8.6 percent to 17.1 percent overall and 7.7 percent to 8.3 percent at the elementary and secondary levels, according to the Center for Mental Health Services), state mandates in Idaho and Arkansas do not require social workers in the public schools.

Both chapters' grant application summaries reflected their desire to strengthen school social work's position by highlighting the differences between social workers, therapists and counselors in the schools and lobbying for the hiring of more licensed social workers.

Idaho. According to Robin Allen, a member of NASW's School Social Work Section and principal investigator of the "Strengthening the Impact of School Social Work Services in Idaho" project, the chapter is conducting the first state study exploring how many social workers there are in the schools and what their needs are, whether educational or supervisory.

Allen said Idaho's child abuse and teen suicide rates are among the highest in the country. Also, many families — and social workers — are isolated geographically from one another in the primarily rural state. The study will explore how school social workers can keep in touch and present a united front when trying to influence state legislation.

"Part of what I want to do is ask social workers what their agenda is in relation to policy issues," Allen said recently. "We have to figure out ways to keep in touch with each other. I think it will lead to stronger school social work in the state."

After January, when Allen expects the study to be completed, she will present it at conferences, use some of the grant money to distribute it to social workers throughout the state and employ it as an agenda for continuing education. "I've done other research, and I know they don't have supervision by other social workers throughout the day in the rural areas," she said. "We're figuring out ways to help support people."

Arkansas. The use of school social workers in Arkansas is not mandated by the Department of Education. "Local school districts have the option of hiring professional social workers, but there are no requirements or incentives to do so, other than local community pressure," the chapter's grant application summary stated.

The state has 16 educational cooperatives, which are funded by the state and local districts in order to allow smaller, rural districts access to specialists in their schools.

The aim of the chapter's "Acceptance and Employment of Professional Social Workers in Arkansas" project is to work "for a master's-level social worker, licensed at the LCSW level, to be part of the specialist core team in each cooperative," according to Virginia Wright, a school social worker and the project's principal investigator.

In its first phase, she said, it will explore new partnerships within the cooperatives. The second phase will focus on promoting use of school social workers in the larger districts.

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