Social Work Licensure Portability: A Necessity in a Post-COVID-19 World

COVID-19 highlights the need for portability of social work licensure to be a priority. The Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) spearheaded some initiatives, such as the creation and promotion of the Social Work Registry and Model Social Work Practice Act, with the hope that these efforts would enhance the ability of social workers to be licensed in multiple states. Neither has solved the portability problem. Licensure endorsement, an approach historically supported by ASWB, does not have the advantages of mutual recognition that is being supported by other professions to facilitate interstate practice. This article, the first written on licensure portability in the social work scholarly literature, examines existing licensure portability models and supports the establishment of a social work interstate compact to overcome barriers to social work mobility and access to client care.