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LEGISLATION AND ADVOCACY - VIRGINIA
Sept 07 Legislative Virginia Statement re: licensing
reater Washington Society for
Clinical Social Work
Statement on Social Work Licensure Exemption in the Commonwealth Of Virginia
Question: Do current exemptions from the requirements for licensure serve the best interests of citizens of the Commonwealth?
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.
For GSCSW Legislative
Information contact:
GWSCSW
PO Box 3235
Oakton VA 22124
202-537-0007
Fax: 703-938-8389
email: gwscsw@gmail.com
Website http://www.gwscsw.org