Dear NASW-WI member,
We urge you to email and call your State Representative/ Senator and ask him or her to support and sign on as a co-sponsor to the Social Work Safety bill. This bill would help protect the safety of social workers making home visits by exempting them from the Castle Doctrine. The Castle Doctrine allows resident to use deadly force if they “reasonably believe” someone has or is breaking into their house.
The Social Work Safety bill would let the public know that they need to cooperate with social workers during home visits and that social workers have the same authority as police officers in emergency situations. In addition with the passage of this bill, if a social worker is killed or injured by the resident during a home visit the resident could not use the Castle Doctrine as their legal defense.
If you have a story about a safety situation you experienced as a social worker, please put that in your letter, email, or phone call. Please send a copy of your letter or email to NASW WI Executive Director Marc Herstand at marcherstand@naswwi.org. If you receive a response from your State Senator or Representative, please forward the response to Marc Herstand at marcherstand@naswwi.org. Finally if you would be willing to testify in favor of this bill at a future hearing, please email Marc.
We thank you for your participation and activism!
An example of a letter/email to your State Representative or Senator:
Dear Representative/ Senator
I am writing to you to ask you to sign on as a co-sponsor to the Social Work Safety Bill, a bill that would amend the Castle Doctrine. As a social work professional in Wisconsin, this is very important to me because I could be making daily home visits in my career. This amendment would place social workers, along with other human service, social service, and public health professionals, on the list of professionals that are exempt from the Castle Doctrine. I hope you understand how important this is for these professionals in Wisconsin and I hope you that you sign on as a co-sponsor.
Sincerely,