The theme of Ruth Bournazian’s career as a social worker has been collaboration. To date, Ruth is the MA Chapter’s longest active member, and her NASW roots run deep. Ruth was a charter member of NASW, joining as a social work student in 1955. Ruth was also instrumental in founding the New Jersey Chapter of NASW, working to unify the northern and southern halves of the state. Later, in the 1980s, Ruth served as the NJ Chapter’s first woman president and as the chair of the Northeastern Coalition of the Delegate Assembly, collaborating with NJ, NY, and New England states.

Ruth’s career has taken her all over the United States. She started her career in New York City working at the Bureau of Child Welfare while attending Fordham University School of Social Work. She finished her degree at the University Of Chicago School Of Social Work before returning to NYC. As a field director and faculty member at New York University, Ruth worked on a grant to understand why social work students were avoiding entering the field of child welfare - today’s equivalent of working at the Department of Children and Families. Ruth later worked on a federal grant at Rutgers University to develop curricula and trainings for social workers in the addictions field. At Rutgers Ruth was able to earn her PhD and become a faculty member and the Dean of Continuing Education and Professional Development.

Reflecting on her long and interesting career, Ruth said, “It is the opportunities laid before you that determine what you do.” She never missed an opportunity to try something new and expand her engagement with the field of social work. Even now, as a retired social worker living on Cape Cod, she created and organizes the Network of Human Services and the Care Community. The group brings over twenty different human services agencies together to meet face-to-face and collaborate on common objectives like alleviating poverty, creating affordable housing, and increasing access to child care. When she started the group people told her no one would come, but now the group hosts two forums each year on relevant and timely topics, like creating fairer tax policies, convening over 70 attendees at each session. In her spare time she also volunteers at a local thrift store and consignment shop to connect Cape residents with resources in times of emergencies. 

Laflyn Wilson, a new NASW-MA board member and long-time social worker at the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families in Springfield, is committed to changing the world. In his role as an adolescent social worker, Laflyn works with adolescents ages 16 to 22 to prepare them for adulthood. He works with youth to teach them life skills, prepare them to live independently, and help them transition to college, because, admittedly, “none of us had it figured out at 18.” He prides himself on being someone the youth he works with can count on and someone who can help them achieve normalcy in their lives. Laflyn does things like visit students away at college or help others go to prom by securing dresses and hair and makeup appointments - cultural rites of passage for so many. 

As he works to change the world, he also wants to help de-stigmatize DCF. That work starts with better understanding what DCF does. For many, it is hard to talk about the work DCF does, but it is a necessary part of our society. Laflyn describes the work of DCF as going to the darkest corners of Massachusetts and pulling kids out. DCF is the light; rescuing youth from the dark and helping them thrive. 

Laflyn has not always been a social worker; in fact, he has had quite an interesting career path, motivated by his fascination with human behavior. He once had the opportunity to earn his PhD in neuroscience, but once he became a father, he became more interested in first, being a better dad, and second, helping people be better citizens. Later, he got the chance to open a day care center in a low-income area of Springfield. Most of his customers were single minority mothers. Growing up with a single minority mother himself, he knew that this was his opportunity to provide a controlled environment that would help children be better off. In his pursuit to help people elevate themselves “one degree at a time,” he offered the moms at his daycare free child care if they were working or in school.

Years later, as a social worker at DCF, he says that his job is “almost fun” and plans to stay in this role for a long time. His most recent pursuit, joining NASW-MA’s Board of Directors, is an opportunity for him to be part of a larger system and be in “rooms full of people who want to change the world."