Support, Not Surveillance: How Social Workers Can Confront Pregnancy Criminalization

6:00pm to 7:30pm ET

LIVE WEBINAR

Presenters: Lauren Wranosky, MSW; Morgan Hill, MSW; Caitlin Becker, MSW

NASW-NYS Members: $15

NASW Other Chapter Member: $30

Non-Members: $37.5

NASW-NYS Student and Transitional Members: FREE

This workshop is approved for 1.5 continuing education credit hours for licensed social workers, licensed mental health counselors, licensed marriage and family therapists and licensed psychologists

Workshop Description
Join Pregnancy Justice, Bronx Defenders, and Network to Advance Abolitionist Social Workers to learn how to confront pregnancy criminalization in your capacity as a professional social worker. Utilizing Pregnancy Justice's Confronting Pregnancy Criminalization guide and providing an overview of the current reproductive justice landscape, attendees will be equipped with practical tools to implement in daily practice. This training is designed for both social work professionals and students who, are seeking information due to recent policy changes or have a fear of losing their professional license or employment due to state abortion access laws. The presenters will use an abolitionist framework grounded in familial support rather than surveillance to discuss ways in which social workers can work with pregnant clients from a public health lens, which focuses on family preservation, rehabilitation, empowerment, and the dignity and worth of the person.

Learning Objectives

After the completion of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Describe strategies on confronting pregnancy criminalization within their professional capacity at the micro, mezzo, and macro level. 
• Discuss the harms of mandatory reporting laws and routine drug tests with pregnant clients.
• Describe applicable federal and state guidance, such as Federal Reporting Laws (CAPTA/CARA), NYS and NYC mandatory reporting laws, and NYS Department of Health Guidance. 
• Discuss abolitionist concepts and strategies with regard to the family policing system.  
• Discuss ethical considerations of relevant policies and approaches focusing on family preservation, rather than surveillance or criminalization. 

This workshop is approved for 1.5 continuing education credit hours.

NASW-NYS is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Mental Health Practitioners as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers (Provider ID #0014), licensed mental health counselors (Provider ID #MHC-0053), licensed marriage and family therapists (Provider ID #MFT-0037) and licensed psychologists (Provider ID #PSY-0088).

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Presenters:

Lauren Wranosky, MSW.

Lauren Wranosky (she/they) is a holistically trained social worker with experience in direct practice, policy, and research. They are passionate about enacting policy informed by data, practice, and lived experience to confront deliberately designed systems of oppression. Prior to Pregnancy Justice, Lauren worked in mental health, hospice, and skilled nursing. 

Lauren holds a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) from Azusa Pacific University and a Master of Social Work (MSW) from Columbia University, where she studied Public Policy and International Social Welfare. During her graduate studies, she interned with Pregnancy Justice focusing on public policy and abolitionist social work. 

Morgan Hill, MSW.

As an advocate for restorative and reproductive justice, Morgan aligns with the idea that advocacy, unconditional compassion, humility, and the undoing and abolishing of oppressive systematic structures must take place to allow for real societal equity to happen. Morgan is a trained Birth Doula and licensed social worker who received her master’s degree in social work from Columbia University and her undergraduate degree in psychology from The State University of New York at Plattsburgh. She has worked for 7 years at The Bronx Defenders with the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Project and currently works as the Project Director.

Caitlin Becker, MSW.

Caitlin Becker (she/her) has been a defense social worker for the past 12 years, representing individuals charged in the criminal legal, civil, immigration, and family policing systems.  She is a member of the National Association for Public Defense's (NAPD) Well Being Summit and co-chairs the National Alliance for Parent Representation's Committee on Interdisciplinary Representation.  She is a leader in the field of public defense, advancing holistic defense around the country.  As a collaborator with NAASW, Caitlin and her colleagues strive to amplify a practice of social work aimed at dismantling the prison industrial and family policing complex in all its forms, and building the life-affirming horizon to which abolition aspires.