Thursday, October 11, 2007

Survey sent to Gubernatorial Candidates

NASW-NC has made contact with all four of the Gubernatorial campaigns. We want to distribute a survey that will be used by the NC Political Action for Candidate Elections (NC PACE) to make an endorsement.

The survey highlights issues of interest to social workers in NC. It is listed below for you to review. A very big thank you to our social work interns, Kathryn Schley, Melissa Ahrens, and Kelsi Wilson for all their efforts!

As a reminder, our NC PACE committee is made up of members of NASW. Only members of the committee, not staff, will make the endorsement of candidates.

As of this writing, three of the four campaigns have responded with a request for the survey to be emailed or faxed to them.



MEMORANDUM

DATE: October 3, 2007

TO: Candidates for North Carolina Governor

FROM: Jack Register, Director of Advocacy & Legislation

SUBJ: NC-PACE Candidate Questionnaire

In November NC-PACE, the political action committee of the National Association of Social Workers, NC Chapter (NASW-NC), plans to complete its review of candidates and release endorsements for Governor. In order to help us reach endorsement decisions, a candidate questionnaire form is enclosed along with a stamped, self-addressed envelope.

We would appreciate it if you would take the time to fill it out and send it back to us. The deadline for return of the questionnaire is

The National Association of Social Workers, NC Chapter (NASW-NC) is made up of 3000 professionally trained social workers employed in the schools, departments of social service, health and mental health facilities, private non-profit agencies, and in private practice delivering mental health counseling. Members are concerned not only about the issues that directly affect their jobs, but about how public policy decisions affect the lives of their clients.

The NC-PACE endorsements will serve as a guide for NASW-NC members when they go to the polls in November. We hope, as well, to encourage members to help out in campaigns this fall. The complete list of NC-PACE endorsements will be sent to the media.

Thank you in advance for taking time to help us out during your busy campaign schedule. If you have questions, please don’t hesitate to call


Encs.








Political Action for
Candidate Election
North Carolina PACE: An affiliate of the National Associations of Social Workers- NC Chapter


NORTH CAROLINA CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE
(PLEASE TYPE OR PRINT)

PART I: CANDIDATE BIOGRAPHICAL DATA

Name: ___________________________________ Telephone: ___________________

Current Occupation: _____________________________________________________

Office Sought: __________________________________________________________

Previous Work Experience: ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Community/ Volunteer Activities: ________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Affiliations:
________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________


If elected, what will be your top 3 priorities?

a) _______________________________________________________________

b) _______________________________________________________________

c) ____________________________________________________________








PART II: VIEWS ON SELECTED ISSUES

The following issues are highlighted as priorities in the NASW-NC Chapter’s 2007-2008 Legislative Agenda. Our Legislative Agenda reflects advocacy positions aimed at reducing stigma, pursuing a healthy environment, and achieving social justice for all persons in North Carolina.
Please indicate whether you favor or oppose the issues. Comments are optional; additional pages may be attached in order to answer multiple choice questions in more detail.

Do you favor or oppose limiting the term “social worker” only to those with an educational degree in social work?
NC-PACE seeks title protection for the word “social worker.” This reserves the title “social worker” for only those with bachelors, masters, or Ph.D. in social work. Professional social workers posses the specialized knowledge necessary for an effective social services delivery system. Social work education provides a unique combination of knowledge, values, skills, and professional ethics that cannot be obtained through other degree programs or on-the-job training.

Favor ____________ Oppose______________

Do you favor or oppose para-professionals providing mental health services?
NC-PACE supports increasing the accessibility of mental health services along with the delineation of social work as distinctly different from other human services disciplines (such as counseling, clinical psychology, nursing, marital counseling, etc.). NC-PACE promotes the identification of tangible social work skills such as psychosocial assessment, treatment planning, interviewing, and discharge planning, all of which are essential in mental health service delivery.

Favor ____________ Oppose______________

Do you favor or oppose mandatory licensure for N.C. social workers?
In 1984 the NC General Assembly passed and Act for Certification of Social Workers in North Carolina. This created the NCSWL&C Board and set 4 voluntary levels of certification. In 1991 the Act was amended, making certification for clinical social workers mandatory. In 1999 the General Assembly modified the Act to change certification to licensure for clinic social workers Licensure is mandatory for all clinical social workers in North Carolina. Other social workers may choose to receive voluntary certifications.


Favor ____________ Oppose_____________

Do you favor increases in social work salaries and compensation to create equality in pay levels among professionals?
Surveys indicate that social work salaries have not kept pace with inflation, and salaries remain low compared with other professions, even female-dominated helping professions.

Favor ____________ Oppose______________
Do you favor or oppose expanded funding for
The Child Welfare Collaborative?
The Child Welfare Collaborative aims to increase the number of BSWs and MSWs in local Departments of Social Service by providing educational and financial support for social work students who commit to employment in Child Welfare. The Child Welfare Collaborative not only offers support and training for the student, but benefits families, children, local agencies, and the child welfare system.

Favor ____________ Oppose______________

An Aging Collaborative?
Similar to the Child Welfare Collaborative, a Collaborative on Aging would provide educational and financial support for social work students committed to working with the aging population.

Favor ____________ Oppose______________

Do you favor or oppose implementing a bill to enhance social worker safety?
The Teri Zenner Social Worker Safety Act is in honor of Teri Zenner who was stabbed and killed during a routine, in-home visit with a client of the Johnson County Mental Health Center in Kansas in 2004. The bill builds upon a previously introduced resolution to raise awareness about the importance of workplace safety for social workers and caseworkers.

Favor ____________ Oppose______________

Do you favor or oppose implementing a state drug assistance program?
State patient assistance programs, often called “SPAPs” use state funds to pay for a portion of costs for a defined population that meets specific enrollment criteria. NC-PACE believes that implementing an SPAP would better provide affordable medications to a variety of vulnerable and oppressed populations.

Favor ____________ Oppose______________

Do you favor or oppose offering healthcare to undocumented residents?
NC-PACE supports a healthcare policy that ensures all individuals have a right to affordable, accessible, and quality health care continuum. Healthcare reform must promote social justice and avoid racism and discrimination or profiling on the basis of race, religion, country of origin, gender or other grounds.

Favor ____________ Oppose______________

Thank you for your participation.
Please return this questionnaire in the enclosed return stamped envelope by October 26, 2007:

For further information please call Jack Register at 919-828-9650
naswncadvocacy@naswnc.org

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