Who We Are
The Network to Advance Abolition in Social Work (NAASW) is a grassroots formation working to end carceral social work and to realize a world free of police, prisons and punishment. We are committed to supporting the development of life affirming practices and institutions, to advancing solidarity across movements for justice and liberation and to bringing abolitionist politics and principles to social work practice.
Our efforts include:
Research, writing and knowledge generation
Political education
Organizing and peer support
How We Define Social Work
We recognize “social work” to include all workers who identify with the discipline and profession — from social service workers to organizers, clinicians to policy makers, and those with and without social work degrees or licenses.
Our History
The NAASW began the summer of 2020, as the US experienced one of the largest uprising’s in its history, against police violence and for racial justice. During this time social work was offered as a potential solution - social workers could work with police to prevent police violence. Yet so many of us knew that social workers have often been the soft police, and that working in collaboration with the police would not address the root causes of police violence - white supremacy, capitalism and the dominance of policing and carceral punishment. Since 2020 we’ve worked to inject abolitionist politics and principles into social work practice through political education, research and writing, rapid response organizing, and peer support for abolitionist and anti-carceral social workers.