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Katherin Youniacutt turned to alcohol at a younger age to deal with the abuse she’d suffered as a toddler. By 2007, she was a full-blown alcoholic. Late one evening, an off-duty police officer approached her automotive at a gasoline station and when she drove away, the officer mentioned she injured him together with her car. She pleaded responsible to an assault conviction and served a number of years of probation.
Whereas serving her sentence, Youaniacutt discovered religion once more. With the assistance of her husband and a brand new church neighborhood, she entered remedy, and by 2011, she was sober. She felt referred to as to assist others fighting dependancy and, with donations from her fellow church members, began pursuing a grasp’s diploma in social work.
Youniacutt, now a grandmother residing within the suburbs of Lubbock, was involved about her felony historical past and wrote to the Texas State Board of Social Employee Examiners to confirm her eligibility to acquire a license to observe whereas she was learning for her diploma.
“I did have to apply in 2018 as part of my program at school, and I got a response back from the board saying that they would look at everything on an individual case-by-case basis,” she mentioned.
Nevertheless, after incomes her diploma and passing her licensing examination in 2022, she was denied a license with out a evaluation or inquiry.
“I had already completed a year with the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office rehabilitation program with the understanding that I would become a licensed social worker,” Youniacutt mentioned. “Then the letter came saying that I didn’t qualify for a license based on that felony.”
Seems the regulation modified in 2019. Previous to that, the state’s licensing authority might deny licenses when a felony historical past made somebody unsuitable to deal with sufferers by reviewing their historical past and present circumstances.
Nevertheless, just a few months after the board gave Youniacutt the inexperienced gentle to take the licensing check, the state handed a new regulation that banned sure candidates for all times. Basically, it classifies social staff and psychologists as a part of the well being care career, requiring a licensing authority to mechanically deny an applicant for sure felonies, resembling these registered as a intercourse offender or who’ve dedicated a felony offense involving the use or risk of drive.
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The regulation handed quietly, as even a consultant for the invoice’s creator, Rep. Greg Bonnen, R-Friendswood, instructed the Houston Chronicle in 2023 that nobody of their workplace remembers any particulars in regards to the laws. Bonnen’s workplace didn’t reply to a request for remark from The Texas Tribune.
Darrel Spinks, government director of the Texas Behavioral Well being Government Council, which oversees counseling and social employee licenses, mentioned they have been by no means consulted on the implications of the regulation.
“Unfortunately, I have no more insight into the rationale for why HB 1899 was passed than other members of the public,” Spinks mentioned, including that 5 candidates have been denied licenses this yr, a comparatively small quantity that’s in keeping with prior years’ numbers.
Though it doesn’t identify social staff particularly, a abstract of the invoice states that considerations had been raised relating to the prevalence of licensed well being care professionals utilizing their place of authority to commit crimes towards weak sufferers. This invoice was meant to place a cease to this by making sure crimes, like intercourse offenders, ineligible for a well being care skilled license.
John Bielamowicz, the presiding member of the Texas psychologists’ licensing board and member of the Texas Behavioral Well being Government Council, mentioned the regulation ties their palms.
“The Council and its member boards have consistently employed every available tool to increase access to licensure. Within the bounds of the law, we’ve broadened pathways into mental health fields, making it easier for qualified individuals to enter this essential profession,” he mentioned.
Texas — and the nation — face a two-fold drawback: an exploding psychological well being and substance abuse disaster and a dire scarcity {of professional} social staff to handle these points. Greater than a 3rd of Texas’ counties lack entry to a licensed scientific social employee.
In the meantime, one in three People has a felony document, in line with research. But, nationwide, there are tens of hundreds of legal guidelines that make it tougher for folks with felony histories to work.
That is the place the Institute of Justice, a nonprofit, public-interest regulation agency whose mission is to finish the abuse of presidency energy, is available in. The nonprofit’s attorneys are working with Youniacutt and others to problem the 2019 regulation.
“The Texas Constitution is on our side,” mentioned James Knight, an lawyer on the Institute for Justice, who plans to file a lawsuit towards the state on Wednesday on behalf of Youniacutt and Fort Value resident Tammy Thompson.
Knight mentioned each particular person ought to be capable to have a contemporary begin rehabilitating themselves and making an trustworthy residing. Nonetheless, this 2019 regulation prevents folks like Youniacutt and Thompson from doing that.
“Rehabilitation is important, and if you pay your debt to society, you should be able to work,” he mentioned. “This lawsuit is to end the government’s ability to deny people the right to work.”
An pointless answer?
Thompson, contemporary off a tough divorce within the early 2000s, turned to methamphetamine to take care of the stress of all of a sudden changing into the first caregiver for her youngsters. This led to her sole conviction, which got here from a 2006 incident at her father’s condominium advanced when a dispute between her and a stranger led to an assault cost she didn’t find out about till two years later throughout a visitors cease.
Thompson accepted a plea in trade for parole, however her continued use of meth violated the phrases of her parole and he or she spent two years in jail. She used her time in jail to construct a contemporary begin and earned a GED earlier than being launched.
“I remember getting out, and I was trying to figure out what my parole was, what jobs I could do; I had no car, no money, no identification, and I remember thinking to myself, I wish I had somebody to help me reenter into society,” Thompson mentioned. “I decided to check out Tarrant County Community College, and I told them my story. They asked if I had ever considered helping people as a social worker, and that is where it all began.”
She seized the chance and acquired a bachelor’s and grasp’s diploma in social work. In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, she realized this was the place her journey may finish.
“I had taken the test with one of my friends, and she got hers back, and she had passed, and it was a beautiful and super exciting moment. But when she got hers back, and I didn’t, I started to panic,” Thompson mentioned. “Then finally, I got the letter that said I was denied.”
Thompson appealed this determination, however she was denied twice and instructed that if her enchantment failed a 3rd time, she would forfeit her proper to ever get her license.
“I didn’t want to affect something in the future, so I just walked away from it,” Thompson mentioned.
Knight mentioned circumstances like Thompson’s are why his group is difficult what he considers a draconian licensing ban that violates “the rights of people to live honestly in an occupation of their choice.”
“It imposes a permanent, lifetime restriction on licensure without considering individual circumstances or mitigating factors,” he mentioned.
Texas wants social staff
Social staff are sometimes the primary level of contact for many individuals in search of psychological well being assist. Present in hospitals, schooling facilities, and psychological well being care services and extra, social staff present entry to companies to handle an individual’s life wants, resembling funds, housing, neighborhood assets, and authorities advantages.
Texas has 26,000 social staff at completely different ranges. Medical social staff, grasp social staff and baccalaureate social staff all have completely different schooling and observe necessities to be licensed and all are barred to sure felons.
A licensed scientific social employee is taken into account probably the most superior license and may observe counseling, whereas licensed grasp social staff can present counseling beneath supervision. A licensed baccalaureate social employee solely wants a bachelor’s diploma however often handles non-clinical companies like case administration and advocacy.
Whereas 91 Texas counties lack licensed scientific social staff, shortages additionally exist in much less specialised areas — 74 counties lack licensed grasp social staff and 65 counties lack licensed baccalaureate social staff.
Attaining a feat like changing into a licensed social employee requires a few years of pricey schooling and scientific hours. Having a setback on the end line can really feel overwhelming, mentioned Youniacutt, who had earned two and a half hours of scientific hours to satisfy licensing necessities.
“I was devastated,” Youniacutt mentioned. “I had to accept that this might not be for me, which was hard because my education cost me a lot of money.”
Younaicutt determined to proceed working with well being care services, doing work that didn’t require a license. Nonetheless, she desires of opening a social work clinic tailor-made to her neighborhood and utilizing the experience she has gained from her earlier life experiences.
“I have had a lot of people in the health care profession who are supportive and say you were made to do this, and I was born to be a social worker,” Younaicutt mentioned. “So I’m disappointed that it feels like I’ll never be allowed to do that.”
Thompson mentioned it solely is sensible for individuals who have been rehabilitated to assist others who may be going by comparable conditions.
“It’s the most hypocritical thing I have ever come across in my life. How can you push as social workers that you are here because people matter, but then you do not let those same people succeed in this position,” Thompson mentioned. “All the data shows that no matter the position of clinicians, therapists, or peer social workers, having therapy or treatment works better when it comes from someone who has walked the same lines in life as you.”
