Virginia Code 54.1-3705: Specific powers and duties of the Board
In addition to the powers granted in § 54.1-2400, the Board shall have the following specific powers and duties:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 54.1-3705
- Board: means the Board of Social Work. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
- Clinical social worker: means a social worker who, by education and experience, is professionally qualified at the autonomous practice level to provide direct diagnostic, preventive and treatment services where functioning is threatened or affected by social and psychological stress or health impairment. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
- Practice of social work: means rendering or offering to render to individuals, families, groups, organizations, governmental units, or the general public service which is guided by special knowledge of social resources, social systems, human capabilities, and the part conscious and unconscious motivation play in determining behavior. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
- Social worker: means a person trained to provide service and action to effect changes in human behavior, emotional responses, and the social conditions by the application of the values, principles, methods, and procedures of the profession of social work. See Virginia Code 54.1-3700
1. To cooperate with and maintain a close liaison with other professional boards and the community to ensure that regulatory systems stay abreast of community and professional needs.
2. To conduct inspections to ensure that licensees conduct their practices in a competent manner and in conformance with the relevant regulations.
3. To designate specialties within the profession.
4. Expired.
5. To license baccalaureate social workers, master’s social workers, and clinical social workers to practice consistent with the requirements of the chapter and regulations of the Board.
6. To register persons proposing to obtain supervised post-degree experience in the practice of social work required by the Board for licensure as a clinical social worker.
7. To pursue the establishment of reciprocal agreements with jurisdictions that are contiguous with the Commonwealth for the licensure of baccalaureate social workers, master’s social workers, and clinical social workers. Reciprocal agreements shall require that a person hold a comparable, current, unrestricted license in the other jurisdiction and that no grounds exist for denial based on the Code of Virginia and regulations of the Board.
8. To maintain on the Board’s website a list of the names and contact information of persons currently approved by the Board to supervise candidates for licensure as a clinical social worker.
9. To allow supervisees pursuing licensure as a clinical social worker to change or add a supervisor from the Board’s list of currently approved supervisors without prior approval from the Board.
1976, c. 608, §§ 54-929, 54-931; 1983, c. 115; 1986, cc. 64, 100, 464; 1988, c. 765; 1994, c. 778; 2018, c. 451; 2020, c. 617; 2023, c. 489.