Meeting in all-day session at the New York meeting in December, the Executive Council considered many issues other than the certification debate reported on page 33.
Gary Grossman, chair of the Committee on Gay and Lesbian Issues, presented the latest version of a proposed position statement on adoption by gay and lesbian parents. The position statement argues that based on available scientific evidence and the best interests of children and families, homosexual people should not be prevented from becoming parents.
Speaking in support of the statement, Bob Galatzer-Levy said, “This is not an abstract or minor issue. In Florida, a little boy with severe neurological deficits could not be adopted by his gay foster father, who had cared for him from birth through the age of ten, because of a state law forbidding gay adoption. . … It's a real nightmare for kids.” Frequently, he said, children with gay foster parents are preferentially placed with or adopted by “straight” parents who may be abusive. The position statement will come up before Council and Board for a final vote at the May meeting.
The Committee on Community Clinics chose the Clinical Services of the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis for its Psychoanalytic Community Service Clinic of the Year Award. The award will be presented in May. Brenda Bauer, announcing the award for the committee, cited the Chicago clinic's broad range of services for the community, its sliding fee scale, and the Barr Harris Children's Grief Center.
Jim Pyles, APsaA's political lobbyist, spoke to the Council about the current status of our political efforts in Washington. Pyles said, “We are consolidating the beachhead.” We are still fighting efforts to stall implementation of the privacy regulations previously reported in several issues of TAP.
The September 11 terrorist acts have endangered implementation of the privacy regulations and have posed similar challenges to the confidentiality of health care records. “In a time of crisis, fear leads to bad law,” said Pyles. The Conference of Governors, working with health administration academics at Johns Hopkins and Georgetown, has drafted a state model emergency health act, which Pyles called “frightening.” It gives complete authority to any governmental entity to sweep up any information “needed,” including health care records, in a crisis.
Photo by Mervin Stewart
The economic impact of September 11 is being felt throughout the country. Health care costs are rising at a rate of 13–15 percent per year. More people are uninsured because of layoffs, and state monies for Medicaid are down. Some “experts” respond with a call for “more information” — outcome measurement, practice guidelines, and more laws to allow collection of sensitive information. We have to make sure that the promise of privacy is realized, and we have to keep pushing ahead in a time of threat. Our experience in the privacy area makes us important resources in this fight.
The Council endorsed a position statement issued by the American Psychiatric Association, “Minimum Necessary Guidelines for Third Party Payers for Psychiatric Treatment.” A comparable position statement written specifically for psychoanalysis will be presented to the Council in May. The idea behind this new “minimum necessary” effort is to have organizational backup to help practitioners define the minimum necessary information to release to insurance companies and to help them resist requests for “complete records” or the like.
Correction
“A Brief History of CAFI,” in the previous issue of TAP [35/4], included a sentence that began: “CAFI was charged by the Budget and Finance Committee to ‘maintain a close relationship with independent groups. …’”
The statement should have read, “CAFI was charged by the Board. …”
The Council approved the new practice guideline, “Interacting with Third Parties,” a product of extensive work by the Committee on Peer Review. The new guideline will appear as a tear-out supplement in TAP 36/3.
Mark Smaller, chair of the Committee on Social Issues, asked the Council to endorse a position statement that condemns psychiatric abuses in the People's Republic of China. The Council passed the statement, which can be read on page 31.
In other Council action, the Birmingham Psychoanalytic Study Group was made an affiliated study group. Bob Galatzer-Levy received thanks for his work on the Fund for Psychoanalytic Research. Allan Compton was appointed the Association's trustee to administer the Sigourney Trust. Erik Gann reported that the practice survey of the Committee on Psychoanalytic Practice is complete. See the full report on page 37.
Ron Benson opened his first meeting as Board chair noting that this was the first time BOPS was meeting after the September 11 tragedy. Benson was the third chair of BOPS in calendar year 2001 — an unprecedented situation for our Association. Impressively, BOPS has been able to carry on its many activities without notable disruption.
Benson announced six new committee chairs. Eric Nuetzel is chair of CAFI, Myrna Weiss is chair of the Committee on Institutes, and Steven Levy is chair of the Committee on Research and Special Training. William Bernstein will co-chair the Committee on New Training Facilities. Stuart Hauser now chairs the Committee on Research and Education (CRED) and serves as BOPS' science advisor. Robert Emde was named cochair of CRED.
The Committee on Institutes (COI) reported on productive site visits to Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Cincinnati and is planning a full site visit to Washington. The committee will make a mini-visit to the new Psychoanalytic Center of Philadelphia this spring.
Fall visits are planned to Southern California, Denver, and San Diego. The COI discussed a proposal to have a consultant from the Committee on Societies (COS) join its site visit teams. The COI does not want this proposal to go forward, since it is unclear what role a COS consultant would have as part of a mandatory accreditation visit to an institute.
The Berkshire Psychoanalytic Group was approved as a new training facility. Work continues on the part of the Committee on New Training Facilities to help the Greater Kansas City New Training Facility accommodate and incorporate candidates and faculty from the closed Topeka Institute. The Committee on Child and Adolescent Analysis (COCAA) will work with Kansas City to develop a child analytic program there.
Leon Hoffman and Calvern Narcisi, longtime chairs of the Committee on External Credentialing, asked that their committee be discharged. Its work has concluded with the development of the Accreditation Council for Psychoanalytic Education. The Board thanked Hoffman and Narcisi profusely for their tireless efforts over the years.
Ruth Karush reported that COCAA has approved a final draft of the brochure “About Psychoanalysis for Children and Adolescents.” The draft will go to the Council Committee on Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis (COCAP) for approval.
Marvin Margolis reported that the Ethics Case Book, based on our new ethics code approved in December 2000, is complete and will be mailed to every member. Frenkel and Company,
APsaA's liability insurance carrier, is helping to underwrite the cost of the distribution.
Two new members have joined the American Psychoanalytic Foundation (APF): Mark Smaller and Linda Procci. The foundation would like to hire a part-time executive director to deal with fundraising and grant requests. The APF has closed its Washington office and is now working out of New York. Ample funds are available for grants; the APF is interested in receiving proposals for innovative and transportable programs.
The Affiliate Council voiced its concern over the diminished number of candidates applying for training. There are fifty-six new candidates nationally this year and forty-six new affiliate members. The Affiliate Council is supporting regional symposia sponsored by local affiliates organizations as one means of increasing recruitment.