Social Work News: Dir. Tami Gouveia Calls for Social Work Leadership in Response to DOGE
Tami Gouveia, director of the Center for Innovation in Social Work & Health (CISWH), discusses why social workers should lead efforts to navigate public turmoil caused by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). She emphasizes that DOGE initiatives are more than political strategies: they are causing substantial trauma and anger among the vulnerable Americans that social workers serve.
Excerpt from “America at a Crossroads – How Social Workers Must Lead During This Time of Policy Turmoil” by Tami Gouveia:
As we reach this critical crossroads, the question is not whether social workers – and other care providers – will act, but how boldly and collectively we will lead. Everyday people, activist groups, state leaders, and other lawmakers are stepping forward to push back. As social workers, we are called to join them; our code of ethics demands it.
Immigrants have been put on deportation flights to other countries and sent to foreign prisons in brazenly unconstitutional defiance of a federal judge’s court orders. Civil rights organizations are fighting in court against executive orders targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs that imperil hard-won civil rights and equity advancements in education and employment. To fund tax cuts for billionaires and corporations, the Congressional budget plan requires massive cuts to Medicaid and probably Medicare, meaning millions of low-income children, disabled people, and adults will lose their health coverage. And thousands of federal employees lost their jobs overnight, in a move to dismantle civil society as we know it, under the guise of government efficiency.
This is just the beginning.”