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.”
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.
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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!
Licensing doesn't stop corruption. People stop corruption.
It just makes people less inclined to lose their job.
In Nova Scotia, you are required to have a mere two year degree in Social Work. Regardless of if it is to create a Parental Capacity Assessment or seize children.
I am an American Citizen residing in Canada. My children have been seized by one of these two year Social Workers. The reason? Because I'm too affectionate with my children.
Child Protection Services is nothing but fraud. Abolish them and end the war on families.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaXINizSj7E
Patterson has a point on the masters however Roach is going in the right direction an amendment would be wise recommending:
“That DHHS require each state to have a licensing of social workers and in addition to the education cited” require an additional two (2) years of education including but not limited to:
***10 hours a week working in domestic violence cases from beginning to end
***10 hours a week class room instruction on the state & federal LAWS OF THE child protection act AND due process w/ projects including viewing cases in the courts both family and child protection
***10 hours a week learning about all of the states resources & non-profits “services” to help family’s stay together
***10 hours a week learning the procedures for investigating abuse and neglect as federally mandated –with a time management class like Franklin Covey.
With grading in all areas; If they do not maintain a 95% overall they should be dropped. Perhaps then as an agency they can gain some respect and actually help the public.
I want to correct an error. I stated it takes 2-3 years and around $30,000 to get an MSW. Licensing would take another 6 years if you are already working and cost at least $5000.
As for Mr. McCloud's comments, all of those trainings are required except a full 10 hours of domestic violence training (it's less). Plus there is a long probation period for CPS social workers and some are let go in that period. If there are incompetent CPS workers, their supervisors should have dealt with it in their probation period or through legal means.
And, finally, the job of every social worker in Children's Administration is to reunite families, not break them up.
To blacklabcrafts, Evidently CPS caseworker's NEED an extensive amount of training. In order to be practicing Social Work, they most definitely need a Degree.
Also,you state "the job of every social worker in Children's Administration is to reunite families, not break them up." Yes, I'm sure reunification is the job they were hired for. Then why isn't it practiced? Family Preservation and Reunification is the last thing on their mind's. Our Federal Govt.is paying CPS for services "Not Rendered." They need to remove their blindfold's. Isn't this considered Federal Fraud? Falsifying paperwork, double and triple billing and what about perjury in order to steal an unabused, non-neglected child? Do they have that many trick's up their sleeve's that they can keep pulling the wool over the Federal Govt.'s eyes? Money isn't everything, as CPS believes it is. The life of a child is worth more than ALL the money in the world!
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