New Article: Emily Cooke, Defund Social Workers, New Republic (September 23, 2022). Excerpt below:
Whose conscience is cleaner than that of a social worker? Few jobs demand as much selflessness, or let you be of greater service to those in need; in few jobs will you get paid less while helping people more—the typical measure of occupational rectitude. The social worker cares about people, not status or money. Toiling in the dense bureaucratic thickets of state agencies and adjacent nonprofits, she soothes the angry, comforts the sick, and connects the poor with the resources they lack. (As a rule, we think of social workers as women; upward of 80 percent of them are.) In the moral sweepstakes, her only close competitors are teachers and nurses. Her mere existence stanches the blood pouring from liberals’ hearts.
Since mid-2020, as outrage over police violence reached an apex and calls to defund police departments gained momentum, it has seemed obvious to many on the left that social work is the solution. If nearly a quarter of the people shot by officers are in a mental health crisis, the argument goes, social workers should respond to certain emergencies rather than cops: Fund social services, not police. A 2020 study by Data for Progress found that 68 percent of voters supported the creation of a “new agency of first responders.” In Eugene, Oregon, 17 percent of public-safety calls are currently handled by a three-decades–old program called Crisis Assistance Helping Out on the Streets, frequently cited as an example of how this approach might work. With CAHOOTS, a medic and a crisis worker (who may not be a licensed social worker) respond to calls involving mental health, homelessness, or substance use. Olympia, Washington, launched a similar program in 2019; Denver started a pilot the following year; last year, in Harlem, New York City debuted B-HEARD. The National Association of Social Workers released a brief supporting the creation of such “innovative approaches.” It seems like common sense, the idea that you could reduce violence by diverting money from bloated police departments and sinking it into programs populated by social workers.
Poverty Law 