State Budget Stalemate Could Cost Non-profits Billions
from Crain's Chicago Business
Chicago-area non-profit organizations are slashing spending amid the state budget stalemate and the prospect that Illinois is at risk of losing billions of federal dollars for a slew of social services. Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed a bare-bones budget last week, a welcome move for many social services providers because the spending plan would have deprived the state of as much as $5 billion in federal funds for programs that serve the poor, the homeless and other needy groups. More

Illinois State Budget Crisis
from NASW IL
The mood in the human services community this past Independence Day weekend was similar to the many towns and villages around the state that couldn't afford to have fireworks celebrations due to the lack of funds. In short ... not much to celebrate. The new fiscal year has already started. No budget. No additional revenues. And no jobs for thousands of people. More

Mentally Disabled in Housing Fight
from The Chicago Tribune
Samuel Golden admits he wants to keep his 53-year-old daughter, who functions at the level of a 2-year-old, in what some critics would label a large "institution." Her life, he said, would deteriorate if she were forced to move into a smaller group home that couldn't provide adequate therapy and daily activities. But Stanley Ligas, 41, who has Down syndrome and can hold a job and balance a checkbook, wants to do just that -- leave a 96-bed facility in favor of a residential home with two or three other people and live closer to his sister. More

Social Work Recruitment Crisis Must be Tackled
from Personnel Today
Ask yourself the question - why would anyone want to be a children's social worker? If I were to be totally honest, I'm not sure that I would encourage any of my family or close friends to start a career in social work at the moment. The reason is that social workers have been vilified in the national media over the past few years. When a profession is criticized in this way the people working in it often feel as if the criticisms were directed personally at them. As a consequence, many have chosen to leave or taken different career directions. More

A Biology of Mental Disorder
from Newsweek
Understanding the biology of mental illness would be a paradigm shift in our thinking about mind. It would not only inform us about some of the most devastating diseases of humankind but, because these are diseases of thought and feeling, it would also tell us more about who we are and how we function. More

Study: Abusers Control their Partners Through the Pocketbook
from Public News Service
While most Americans know people who are, or have been, victims of domestic abuse, we don't always see a connection between domestic abuse and "economic abuse," according to a new study. Katherine Campbell, a member of the National Association of Social Workers who is in private practice, says couples do argue about money sometimes. That's normal: the thing to watch out for is one partner trying to use the pocketbook to control the other. More

Safety Net Is Fraying for the Very Poor
from The New York Times
Government "safety net" programs like Social Security and food stamps have pulled growing numbers of Americans out of poverty since the mid-1990s. But even before the current recession, these programs were providing less help to the most desperately poor, mainly nonworking families with children, according to a new study by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a private group in Washington. More