Social Work Policy Institute’s Children’s Health Initiative Highlighted at Capitol Hill Briefing
The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) and the University of Southern California School of Social Work (USC) hosted a Capitol Hill briefing Friday, October 19, 2012 in conjunction with the Congressional Social Work Caucus (CSWC). The briefing, Children at Risk: Optimizing Health in an Era of Reform, highlighted the recommendations from the 2011 NASW Social Work Policy Institute’s symposium of the same name, planned with USC and PolicyLab of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Recognizing the cross-disciplinary, cross-sector nature of the topic, co-sponsors of the briefing included the American Academy of Pediatrics, the National Foster Care Coalition, the National Child Abuse Coalition, the Society for Research in Child Development, and the Friends of the National Institute of the Child Health and Human Development.
Rep. Edolphus “Ed” Towns, chair of the CSWC gave opening remarks citing his personal commitment to children’s issues; Dr. Joan Levy Zlotnik, director of the Social Work Policy Institute served as moderator. Dr. Janet Schneiderman of USC provided a Snapshot of Research on Children in Child Welfare and Health Care; Sarah Zlotnik of PolicyLab spoke on Bridging Research and Policy: To Improve Children in Child Welfare’s Behavioral Health. They were joined by Bryan Samuels, Commissioner of the Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), who was invited to highlight the ACYF priorities to more fully address the trauma experiences of children who receive child welfare services including the cross-federal agency efforts to address the high rates of prescribing psychotropic medications for foster children. Commissioner Samuels discussed Optimizing Health: Addressing Social & Emotional Needs of Children in Child Welfare. Read more at: http://www.socialworkpolicy.org/news-events/report-on-health-care-for-children-at-risk.html; http://socialworkcaucus-towns.house.gov/press-release/children-risk-optimizing-health-era-reform; and http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/cb/im1204.pdf.