Federation HOTLINE: Reject bill to require licensure for CPS workers, Local 1400 member testifies

Federation HOTLINE: Reject bill to require licensure for CPS workers, Local 1400 member testifies

February 8, 2011
Reject bill to require licensure for CPS workers, Local 1400 member testifies
Another attempt to discount social workers came up for a hearing Tuesday, but it was clear it had little support.

The only person to testify for SB 5513 was the bill’s sponsor, Sen. Pam Roach of the 31st District. It came before the Senate Human Services and Corrections Committee.

Regina Patterson, and social worker in Kelso and a member of Local 1400, said the Child Protective Licensure bill would “intensively cripple the department’s efforts toward the task of protecting children. It would eliminate qualified, trained and experienced workers from the field in an effort to replace them with inexperienced and poorly trained workers.”
Patterson said requiring a master’s in social work doesn’t qualify someone to be a social worker.
She said she had just one class in graduate school that dealt with child and family services.
But SB 5513 “would immediately exclude those with education in the areas of psychology, education, juvenile justice, or other related fields.”
It would cost current CPS social workers at least $5,000 and six years to earn a master’s in social work and many experienced workers can’t afford the time and money.
“We think that is unfair to those dedicated social workers who have through experience proved their value to the mission of child protection, even though they may not have an MSW or official license,” Patterson said.
Posted by WFSEc28 at 3:46 PM FacebookShare to Google Buzz
1 comments:

unhappygrammy said...
Do you honestly think it's fair to have a CPS Caseworker, unlicensed and without needed knowledge of Social Work to have the responsibility of choosing who should keep their children and whose children should be removed? Many of the caseworker's are very young and don't even have families of their own. Without Social Worker Licenses, what makes caseworker's any better than the rest of us when it comes to our families? None of them work toward helping families. They don't have a clue!