Earlier this year, the Illinois legislature passed Senate Bill 1632, a bill removing the exam requirement for social workers applying for the LSW license, which is reserved for BSW and MSW practice, with BSWs requiring supervised experience before becoming licensed. The new law takes effect January 1, 2022. The Illinois chapter of the National Association […]

Adjusting continuing education requirements has stood out as an important way that regulators have shown flexibility while preserving the importance of public protection. Three members—North Carolina, New York, and West Virginia—share how their jurisdictions responded to the pandemic by adjusting CE requirements for license renewal. And ASWB’s Approved Continuing Education program has continued to approve […]

Among the benefits of ASWB’s Board Member Exchange meetings is the opportunity for member board members to share successes and challenges with one another and gain new perspectives. The September 2020 virtual BMX produced an exchange between two members who are geographically distant but close together in concerns. John Shalett, chair of the Louisiana State […]

Like many other ASWB member boards, the social work regulators in these two jurisdictions have worked with emergency legal provisions related to electronic practice, licensing out-of-state social workers, and continuing education—all while figuring out how to work and meet when gathering in person is impossible. The lessons learned may mean long-term changes for the regulation […]

British Columbia Mark Hillenbrand, registrar and CEO of the British Columbia College of Social Workers, says his office closed in mid-March. “We haven’t been in the office since then.” Nevertheless, the college, which serves approximately 5,000 social work registrants, has continued to provide all services with minimal disruption. Provisional and temporary registrations  No new legal […]

In presenting the bill to the North Dakota House of Representatives in March, Representative Dick Anderson cited several reasons for voting to pass the bill. They include workforce shortages of licensed social workers and the need to make it easier for social workers to gain licensure in North Dakota to “fill more jobs in rural […]

Typically, this license is issued to social workers with an MSW who are in the process of acquiring experience and supervision hours toward earning their Clinical license. The law goes into effect January 2021. According to ASWB Policy 2.1, “The Clinical exam has been developed for use as a licensure requirement by member boards that […]

ASWB’s Education and Research Senior Manager Janice Fitts was on hand to present on the Path to Licensure program. The event was conceived by two Ohio board members who have a history of involvement with ASWB. Erin Michel, who serves on the Regulatory Education and Leadership Committee, and Carl Brun, who serves as an instructor […]