LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Social workers are limited to the states they're licensed in, but in the next two years those workers may only need one license to cross state lines and practice.
“They get that access to a Kentucky license and all of the states that are part of that compact," said Matt Schafer, the deputy program director with the Council of State Governments National Interstate Compacts.
The Social Work Licensure Compact, a new bill recently passed by Kentucky and six other states, could allow social workers to blur stateline boundaries with only one license. However, this will not go into effect for another two years.
Legislatures say, think of it like your driver's license.
“You hold one state-issued license and that would allow you to practice in all of the states that are compacted," explains Schafer.
The compact was created after lawmakers noticed a huge need for it with military spouses: “Military families are moving on average of every one to two years.”
Schafer says this can be a burden since it takes nearly nine months to get a new license.
“They’re out of the workforce and just going to have to move again in the next few months," Schafer says.
Since COVID, telehealth has boomed across the nation which has helped with travel, but workers are still restricted. According to socialworkguide.org, Kentucky has nearly 11,000 social workers across the state. Additionally, 15% of kids ages 3-17 in Kentucky deal with mental health issues. With this compact, Kentucky social workers can cross state lines and help kids in other states that have limited resources, and those states can travel to Kentucky to help kids here.
“This isn’t a quick fix to the problem," Schafer wants people to know, "this is something that hopefully will be in the profession for a generation, so this is a really a long term solution.”
