Title 54.1-3701 of the Virginia Code
expressly exempts from its social work licensure requirement under subparagraph
4 “persons employed as salaried employees or volunteers of the federal
government, the Commonwealth, a locality, or of any Agency established or funded
in whole or in part by any such governmental entity or of a private, non-profit
organization or agency sponsored or funded, in whole or part by a community
based citizen group or organization”.
We oppose this exemption from the
requirements of licensure as not being consistent with the overriding stated
purpose of the Virginia Social Work Licensure requirements designed to protect
the health, safety and welfare of the public.
We call to your attention that the
model Social Work Practice Act states that there are no exemptions from
Social Work practice requirements, except for students currently
participating in an approved Social Work Program, when completing an internship,
an externship or other social work experience requirement for such programs.
Exempting any social worker or group of social workers from regulatory oversight
is contrary to the purpose of the Act. (Model Social Work Practice Act, p 5.)
Section # 103 of the Model Act
states as follows: “It is the purpose of this Act to promote, preserve and
protect the public health, safety and welfare by and through the effective
control and regulation of the practice of Social Work; the licensure of social
workers; the licensure, control and regulation of persons, in or out of this
State thru practice social work within this State.” (Model Social Work Practice
Act, p 4)
The Social Work Practice Act
reflects the basic principles that a Board must have full knowledge of the
Social Worker practicing social work within its jurisdiction and must
effectively protect the public through regulation. (Model Social Work
Practice Act, p 4)
In our view, the concept of
licensure exemption is anti-professional. The exemption confuses the public
perception of the otherwise high standards of social work practice. All other
professions require licensure with no exemptions for their practitioners.
Exemptions to us appear to be unethical in that they adversely affect the
health, safety and welfare of those receiving social work services.
The criminal case involving the
Commonwealth of Virginia vs. Asher Benjamin Levin reported by the Circuit Court
of the City of Alexandria in 2001 is a tragic case in point. In this case a
three year old girl, Katelyn Frazier, was fatally injured by “blunt impact head
trauma” on December 29, 2000 after being returned to her natural mother’s (Penee
Marie Frazier) home from her foster home. Three months after she was moved from
foster care and transitioned to her mother’s chaotic, abusive home, Katelyn died
of fatal injuries for which her mother’s live-in boyfriend, Asher Benjamin
Levin, was charged. The mother was also charged and both were convicted of
felony child abuse and neglect.
The City of Alexandria Welfare
department had legal custody of Katelyn during the transition to her mother’s
care due to her prior family history of abuse and neglect of her four children,
all under six years of age. In addition the mother suffered from a dual
diagnosis of substance abuse and Bi-Polar disorder. Furthermore, the mother’s
boyfriend had been convicted and re-arrested on theft charges. The family lived
in squalor and chaos. Multiple bruises on Katelyn’s body were noted by witnesses
and social workers, from September 2000 until Katelyn was killed on December 27,
2000, according to newspaper accounts.
The Child Welfare League of America
was commissioned by the City Manager of Alexandria to review the City Agencies
involved in this loss of life of a three year old child due to abuse and
neglect. The League’s initial report was not made public (though it was seen by
the Washington Post); reportedly it was revised by the City Manager to look more
favorable. Based on the initial League report, the Post stated that “in their
visits, [the social worker’s] observations were focused on the living conditions
rather than the physical safety and well being of three year old Katelyn Frazier
who was fatally injured in her mother’s apartment in Alexandria.” (Washington
Post, Wednesday, August 8, 2001)
The Post further wrote:
Although Katelyn’s case received
intense scrutiny, social service providers made more than 30 visits to the home
in the three months after she was returned to her mother – the bruises and
condition of the home at the time of her injuries are prompting concerns among
some authorities and experts about the quality of oversight the Frazier family
was receiving and whether warning signs were ignored.
Many experienced social workers have
expressed concern about the effect of Virginia licensing law’s exempt status on
the quality of services, making the argument that while DHS caseworkers are
referred to as social workers, they may actually not be social workers in terms
of education and training. Virginia’s licensing law exempts those employed by
public or non-profit agencies from social work licensing. Because DHS “social
workers” need not be licensed there is no requirement for graduate training,
supervision or continuing education.
There are thirty social workers on
the Child Welfare Staff. Only twelve of them hold Masters of Social Work
degrees, and only one holds a state license. Of six supervisors, three hold MSWs
and one has a Bachelor of Social Work degree. In a highly educated, well-to-do
city, we have somehow been slow to professionalize a department whose personnel
are asked to support, assist and sometimes make life altering decisions for
children and families. Katelyn tells us this state of affairs can no longer be
tolerated. There is no absolute guarantee against tragedy but there are measures
that we can take to guard against a child ever being again abandoned while in
the care of the system.”
S. Randy Sengel, Commonwealth
Attorney of the City of Alexandria who prosecuted Katelyn’s mother and her
boyfriend, decided against filing criminal charges against the two city workers
in the case. He called his decision not to prosecute them “a close call”. Sengel
said: “I certainly believe that the social workers who were responsible for
Katelyn were careless, but this carelessness did not rise to the level of
criminal negligence.” Should they have known that Katelyn was being abused?
“Yes.” Should they have known that leaving her in that home would result in
death? “Not necessarily.” (Washington Post, February 21, 2003)
In a recent communication with
Sengel, he had this to say, “It is essential to increase the level of social
workers training. Anything we can do to increase training and education for
social workers and police in recognizing child abuse and neglect would help
prevent these terrible tragedies.” He had no knowledge of the exempt status for
“social workers”. When he heard this, he said, “They need to be licensed like
other professionals”.
The two social workers involved in
the Katelyn Frazier case were the case worker and her supervisor in Alexandria
DHS. The case worker was a LSW but her VA license had expired in 1999 and is no
longer in the system. Her supervisor was not in the system at all according to
the Virginia Board of Social Work; there was nothing to indicate licensing.
These social workers were not
sanctioned by the VBSW because they were not licensed. Exempt unlicensed
practice compromises the main purpose of VBSW’s task of fully protecting the
public health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the Commonwealth of
Virginia. The VBSW needs to have authority over all practice of Social Work.
Thank you for your consideration of
these remarks in your discussions about what we view as negative impact of
exempt status on the ability of VBSW to fully protect the public.
We thank you for you for your commitment and work toward the goal of protecting
the health safety and welfare of the public.
Alice
Kassabian, Ph.D., LCSW
Member of Focus Group
HB 1146 Subcommittee
Legislative Committee, GWSCSW |
Margot
Aronson, MSW, LICSW
Chair of Legislative Committee, GWSCSW |
