AN ACT RELATING TO BUSINESSES AND PROFESSIONS -- LICENSE PROCEDURE FOR SOCIAL WORKERS .

Rhode Island drops clinical social worker exam

Effective upon passage, Rhode Island removes the exam requirement for the Licensed Clinical Social Worker license. Applicants still need an approved graduate degree and must meet the remaining licensing requirements. These include being at least 21, having U.S. citizenship or legal resident status, and meeting safe-practice standards. The separate Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker license still requires clinical licensure, 24 months of supervised experience, and continuing education. That independent license also requires an exam or a comparable license, certification, or registration accepted by the board. The board must consider language accommodations, exams in other languages, and alternative qualifications that may omit licensing exams. It can adopt rules for these options; the law does not automatically provide them.