New BSW From COSC

[studyingfortests]

If anyone is interested in their new BSW program, I would highly recommend contacting your state licensing to see "how" to get certified or licensed in Social Work.  They'll know for certain the requirements and make sure the program meets those requirements, if not, they'll point you in the right direction to make sure all missing prerequisites for certification/licensing are met.

The catch is, good luck actually reaching anyone at any state licensing board. Maybe if you live in South Dakota or Montana or somewhere. In CA it is pretty much impossible to get a human on the phone at BBS, and getting an email response is even less likely.

But, as far as I know, every state in the continental US now recognizes only CSWE-accredited programs. The CSWE curriculum is pretty locked down and very strict, so any CSWE accredited school will meet basic state requirements in every state.  Some states, like CA, will require a handful of specific courses unique to CA (such as one on CA law, one on suicidal screening, one on diversity and oppression specific to California residents, and a couple of others.)  Not even all CA-based CSWE accredited schools include this coursework, so NASW has a package for several hundred bucks (other CE providers have it for much less) that will give you these credits as CEs, which CA is fine with. Basically, it's a no-brainer.

What's a bigger deal is threading the needle of complex requirements for practica and supervised hours. California has iincredibly complicated requirements, and some other states are similar, while others are super lax. This is something where there's more variability by state than the actual coursework a CSWE-accredited program offers, and it is also something that any CSWE-accredited program can address... the catch is, an online program may not have enough students from your particular state to know all the ins and outs.

I don't think there are any states where a non-MSW social worker can practice independently, and among those who allow BSWs to practice at all, there are generally pretty significant restrictions on what BSWs can do.

In short, I have a very, very hard time understanding any possible reason why anyone would go the BSW route. The MSW, especially if done with an alt-credit undergrad and then a two year MSW, is going to be a whole lot shorter, and probably less expensive, than any possible permutation of BSW+MSW. 

If there is a compelling reason for anyone to have a BSW, I'd be interested in knowing what it is. There may be one, but I certainly can't come up it.