The B.C. Association of Social Workers is calling for the province to make registering with the regulatory college mandatory for all social workers in the province.
Right now it is voluntary for many, including those who are employed by the provincial Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) or the federal government.
“It’s a public safety issue,” said Michael Crawford, the president of the B.C. Association of Social Workers.
“When people are seeking help and they sit down in front of a person that refers to themselves as a social worker they currently have no guarantee that that person has social work education…they have no guarantee that if they have concerns about that person’s practice that they can refer their complaint to a regulatory college.”
The professional association believes mandatory professional college registration could help head off cases like that of Kelowna’s Robert Riley Saunders.
The former MCFD social worker was sentenced to five years for defrauding the province using joint bank accounts he set up with young people for whom he was supposed to be caring.
“The B.C. government hired Mr. Saunders and he was using a fake university credential,” said Crawford. “The college wouldn’t have accepted his degree out of his hand they would have insisted on getting that credential directly from the university.”
Jennifer Lewis, the wellness manager for the Okanagan Nation Alliance, who has been outspoken on the Saunders case, agrees the proposed change could provide more accountability.
But Lewis believes this type of incremental change does not go far enough.
“The answer in my view for Okanagan people, in our own territory, is for us to do our own work. We have extremely high standards of care for our children. We have extremely stringent practices and protocols that we use. That would be the answer,” said Lewis.
In a statement, the MCFD said it is committed to ensuring ethical and competent social work in the province.
“We are continually working to strengthen oversights and controls within the ministry, and last spring, we launched a broad public engagement on the oversight of all social workers in B.C.,” said the provincial government statement.
That public consultation is about to wrap up and those in favour of mandatory professional college registration are hoping it leads to change.
— with files from Jules Knox and Kathy Michaels