TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV/Gray Florida Capital Bureau) – The Florida House has approved a bill that would allow Florida to join the Social Work Licensure Compact, a multistate agreement that streamlines licensing for social workers.
Currently, social workers must restart the licensing process to work in Florida. Under the compact, a social worker with a clean, active license in their home state could apply for a multistate license instead.
Thirty-one other states are already members of the compact. Florida ranks near the bottom for the number of social workers nationwide.
More Florida politics:
Rep. Christine Hunschofsky, D-Parkland, said the state needs more behavioral health capacity.
“We don’t have enough behavioral health workers,” Hunschofsky said. “We need more capacity there and this is something allowing our social workers to continue to work with their clients even if they have to leave town and be out of state for a bit. So it gives us more access to care.”
The bill hasn’t moved in the Senate.
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