By John DeSio
The Global Social Work Student Conference on March 30 offered students from Fordham and colleges across the nation a chance to explore their chosen fields and network with future social work professionals.
The event, held at Fordham’s law school on the Lincoln Center campus, featured keynote speaker Mitchell Goldman, a filmmaker and active member of the Redlight Children Campaign. The movement uses mass media to inspire individuals to fight against child sexual exploitation.
Goldman discussed his work and the work of his colleagues using film to expose child prostitution, specifically in Cambodia, and praised those in attendance for their dedication to making the world a better place.
“What you guys are up to in your lives is very remarkable,” Goldman said. “I’m quite humbled to be speaking to you about what I’m passionate about.”
Goldman addressed the issue of child sexual exploitation, its root causes, social stigma outside of the United States, and the horrors that face children who are forced into this form of slavery.
“This is not a cultural issue; this is not a debatable issue in my mind. This is black and white,” Goldman said. “I’m here to take a stand for someone who can’t take a stand for herself, because she’s a child and she doesn’t know any better.”
Following Goldman’s speech students broke out into smaller work sessions to delve into more specific areas of their field. Shirley Gatenio-Gabel, Ph.D., assistant professor at Fordham’s Graduate School of Social Service, offered a workshop on international child welfare policies. She noted that other countries do not offer the same services for children that are offered here, and discussed different approaches on expanding such programs in America and abroad.
“We take it for granted very often in the United States that government helps people who are in need. That is not the case in most countries of the world,” Gatenio-Gabel said.
She also pointed out that in developed nations neither children nor seniors are expected to work, yet seniors typically receive protection from the government, such as Social Security benefits, while children are often not afforded similar benefits. However, that is changing.
“This idea that children should have lives that are free from want, free from disease, free from hunger, free from violence, those are all increasingly seen as a human right,” she said.
The workshop run by Gregory Acevedo, Ph.D., focused on global migration and the role that social workers can play in addressing associated issues. Acevedo discussed different paradigms of action and thought that can affect migrant workers, be they social, sexual or economic, and how social workers can foster change in how migrant workers are treated across these lines.
He also spoke of the need for social workers to do more than simply act on their beliefs, but also to be mindful of the concerns of their opponents and work to change their minds rather than simply force their point of view.
“Social workers can’t just lead with our values,” Acevedo said. “That’s nice, that’s good, but values aren’t going to win the day. It needs to be a battle of strategy and tactics. Where do we fight? How do we fight? We need to think about where we work, and where we work is structural and political, but it’s also about ideas.”
Another workshop, led by Marciana Popescu, Ph.D., and several of her students, discussed their experience working at a school in the Dominican Republic that cares for Haitian immigrants.
Popescu’s group worked within the school to examine issues that effect these Haitian immigrants and to use lessons learned at the school in their work at home. The students were so touched by their time at the school that they even sold t-shirts at the conference to benefit school programs.
Like those students who worked to help the underprivileged school, Goldman urged all those in attendance to follow their hearts throughout their careers in social work, and not to allow detractors to throw them off their path.
“We’re making a difference,” Goldman said. “If you have passion in any area in your life, you’re sitting here, you want to make a difference, I say just get started.”
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