About NAPSW
What is a Perinatal Social Worker?
Employed in a variety of settings, perinatal social workers help individuals, families, and communities respond to psychological issues that emerge during the period from pregnancy through an infant's first year of life.
Within the health care professions, there is increasing recognition that the feelings and concerns associated with the perinatal period are exacerbated by problems such as medically high risk pregnancies, premature and sick newborns, drug use by the pregnant woman and/or her family, domestic violence, psychologically and intellectually limited parents, ambivalence about the pregnancy, and poverty.
Perinatal social workers intervene to:
- ameliorate the effects of these and other problems;
- assist in creating healthy and nurturing parent-child relationships;
- advocate for the client within the health care setting and in the community.
When a perinatal loss occurs, the perinatal social worker helps families to understand, express and cope with their feelings of grief.
As health care consultants, perinatal social workers provide information and support to other members of the health care team.
Where We Work
NAPSW Associates can be found typically in the following facilities:
- Newborn Intensive Care Units (NICUs)
- Prenatal Clinics
- Family Medicine Departments
- Public Health Agencies
- Genetics and Infertility Clinics
- Hospitals
- Family Planning Clinics
- Developmental Follow-up Centers
- Graduate Schools of Social Work
- Adoption Agencies
- Mental Health Clinics and Private Practices
What We Do
NAPSW Associates assist in the following health care settings:
- Pregnancy and Family Counseling
- Bereavement Counseling
- Discharge Planning and Follow up
- Case Management Referrals, Networking, and Outreach
- Teaching of Social Work Students
- Teaching of Families
- Teaching of Nurses, Physicians, and Other Health Care Providers
- Family Support Groups
- Research
The National Association: Organization
The National Association of Perinatal Social Workers was incorporated in 1980 for the purpose of promoting, expanding, and enhancing the role of social work in perinatal health care. The organization's objectives include:
- education
- program planning
- evaluation
- research
- standard setting for perinatal social work
