In a recent decision, School of Social Work Dean, William C. Rainford, at Catholic University of America (CUA) issued a statement ending a long-standing partnership with the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) because it supported women’s reproductive rights.
According to the university’s website, Dean Rainford was appointed to lead the School of Social Work in June 2013, and his biographical information states that he is nationally recognized as a social justice advocate. This major change in University policy comes less than three months after Dean Rainford’s appointment.
Many social work students have taken to Twitter to express their outrage for the decision. However, an on campus student social work group, NCSSS Action, reached out to the Chronicle of Social Change to go on record about their opposition to the new policy. According to the group’s organizer Andy Bowen,
“The other students and I are still coalescing around strategy and action, but we won’t go quietly into the night here,” said NCSSS Action organizer Andy Bowen, in an e-mail to The Chronicle of Social Change. Will Rainford, who in April of 2013 was named dean of the National Catholic School of Social Service (NCSSS), informed students in a recent letter that he will “no longer allow NCSSS to officially partner or collaborate with NASW.” The reason, he said, is “based solely on NASW’s overt public position that social workers should advocate for access to abortions.” Read More
The timing of this decision is surprising especially when NASW has been on record about its support for reproductive rights as early as 2004. According to the NASW website in its activities, projects, and research section, it states:
- Healthy Families, Strong Communities is an NASW project funded by the United Nations Foundation to engage the U.S. and the broader international community in the strengthening of maternal health and reproductive health.
- Human Rights Update on Social Workers Addressing the Rights of Women and Girls Worldwide through MDG5 (10/8/2010 pdf)
- NASW Policy Statement on Family Planning and Reproductive Health – appears in Social Work Speaks, a compilation of over 60 NASW policy statements on social work-related issues.
- Female Genital Cutting – an NASW research page focusing on the practice of female genital cutting, otherwise referred to as female genital mutilation or female circumcision.
- March for Women’s Lives – a 2004 rally co-sponsored by NASW for women’s reproductive rights.
Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, women’s reproductive rights have been an area of contention for conservative and religious groups. In several Red States, such as Texas and North Carolina, Republican led legislatures have begun passing some of the most restrictive laws limiting women’s reproductive rights and women’s ability to gain access to preventative care.
In 2012, Catholic University of America joined a lawsuit with Wheaton College asserting the Affordable Care Act is a violation of the school’s religious liberty. During the conference call, Wheaton College President Dr. Phillip Graham Ryken and The Catholic University of America’s president John Garvey stressed their schools’ alignment on pro-life beliefs according to the Huffington Post.
This major policy shift by the university’s School of Social Work does not align with the mission and values of a social work education. The role of a social worker is to help a client who is in crisis or help them improve their outcomes through intervention. As a social worker, if you can not set aside your personal beliefs to provide a client all necessary information to make an informed decision, you are ethically obligated to refer them to someone who can.
Suppose the logic of this university is accepted and applicable to make policy decisions based on religious beliefs. What prevents it from teaching future social workers the tenets modeled as it relates to members of the LGBT community or women seeking health care advice? What prevents any religion from making policy decisions based on ideology to be enforced on a minority group? In my opinion, CUA’s shift in policy is in direct conflict with the Council for Social Work Education’s Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS). If institutions are modelling practices and instituting policies in violation of accreditation standards, should the institution retain its accreditation?
In EPAS section 2.1.4, Engage Diversity and Difference in Practice states:
Social workers appreciate that, as a consequence of difference, a person’s life experiences may include oppression, poverty, marginalization, and alienation as well as privilege, power, and acclaim. Social workers
- recognize the extent to which a culture’s structures and values may oppress, marginalize, alienate, or create or enhance privilege and power;
- gain sufficient self-awareness to eliminate the influence of personal biases and values in working with diverse groups;
- recognize and communicate their understanding of the importance of difference in shaping life experiences; and
- view themselves as learners and engage those with whom they work as informants.
The website for the commission and board who oversees the accreditation for schools of social work can be found at http://www.cswe.org/About/governance/CommissionsCouncils/CommissiononAccreditation.aspx.
Cover Photo: Courtesy of Catholic News Agency
Hei Deona!
I have read in between the lines of the doc.posted on my page regarding social work and women reproductive right as well as the Social Work Dean statement,and have this to say.
As a fervent catholic called in 2011 by God Almighty,to promote human rights in the light of the Church and society,defending my theological project on The Impact of Church State Relations on Human Development,the answer to this questions lies first and foremost in the religious belief of the person concern.That is the person seeking social service assistance,while on the part of the social worker it calls to mind his or her understanding of his or her belief.And should there be differences he or she must stand up courageously and non-violently too ofcourse! If and only if she/he is convinced of responding to God says Acts 5:29… without leaving her/his faith. Thereby righting the Church /Luther’s wrong speaking of mere humans in God’s House……More next time.
I would like to weigh in here in support of Dean Rainford’s position and would like to point out some, perhaps, nuanced distinctions between what Dean Rainford has articulated and what some apparently upset social workers are representing as his position. Dean Rainford has not renounced NASW’s Code of Ethics and, I am sure, that NASW’s Code of Ethics will continue to be referenced as the profession’s ethical code in all NCSSS courses as it is now. The school has a very strong reputation in its discrete and generalized instruction in social work ethics and social justice.
Dean Rainford is separating the INSTITUTION of NCSSS, not individual social work students of NCSSS, from NASW on the basis of POLICY statements by NASW that explicitly call for social workers to advocate for access to abortion funding and services. This is not contradictory to the profession’s Code of Ethics as articulated by NASW. When any organization makes policy statements, there will always be members of the organization who disagree with one or another of these policy statements. Dean Rainford is simply saying that, in light of NASW’s explicit policy statements with respect to abortion, NCSSS as an INSTITUTION cannot in good faith continue an OFFICIAL affiliation with NASW.
Perhaps it is NASW that has failed to be inclusive in how it has chosen to articulate its policy with respect to women’s reproductive health.
Interestingly, this issue never came up at Dr. Rainford’s previous employer, which is also a CATHOLIC university…. if he felt so passionate I wonder why he never pushed for this before. I wonder the hidden agenda? I am sure it has little to do with faith, and more to do with a position of power and making his presence known. Read between the lines… there is so many “social justice” issues going on here, this is a learning lesson for all social work majors, we should right a paper on it!
If Dean Rainford will no longer be partnering or collaborating with NASW then he should remove the National Association of Social Work-Idaho Social Worker of the Year Award from his Biographical Profile. Anyone who is nominated and/or voted into the NASW Social Worker of the Year is accepting the NASW Code of Ethics as their professional standard. His statement of the National Catholic School of Social Service’s position clearly shows he rejects our professions code. I suggest he removes the NASW Award from his faculty bio. He does not represent an NASW Social Worker of the Year.
As one of Dr. Rainford’s former students, I have to say that I’m disturbed and disappointed by his opposition to women’s reproductive rights. He insist that his decision to no longer “officially partner or collaborate with the NASW” will not affect “what students learn in the classroom, what they do in practicum, and how they are ultimately formed as social workers”, I find this contradictory. How can NCSSS continue to offer students the full experience of a social work education while disassociated with the professional organization that mandates the core values of the profession? Social work is centered on the the NASW Code of Ethics which emphasizes self-determination as one of the core values of the profession. How can NCSSS continue to offer a legitimate social work program while publicly announcing that they will no longer affiliate with the NASW “based solely on NASW’s over public position that social workers should advocate for access to abortions”? Clearly, this decision was based on personal values and beliefs rather than on professional values and obligations to clients. Ironically, one of the first lessons that we learn as social work student is to suspend our personal believes in order to advocate and do what is best for clients.
Wow…and men don’t have to take responsibility for their choices? I think its ignorant for a man to have such strong opinions about what women should do with their bodies. Reproductive justice is also about birth control and not just abortion.
The school is 100% correct. Women have and gave hallways had the right to reproduce. They have the right to abstain if they can’t deal with the consequences. What they don’t have the right to is murder incident babies. Grow up. Take responsibility for ur choices. Catholic services can he’ll u with an adoption.