Amendments to Update Social Workers Act

The province has introduced amendments to update the Social Workers Act.

A committee of the Nova Scotia Association of Social Workers recently reviewed the act, presenting a thorough list of recommended changes to government.

Community Services Minister Peter Christie introduced legislation in the House of Assembly today containing every one of the committee’s recommended amendments.

"Social workers know the challenges they face on a day-to-day basis, and they’ve told us how to address them through amendments to legislation," said Mr. Christie. "Amendments have now been introduced to deal with issues ranging from mobility of social workers between provinces, to the professional conduct of social workers. These changes make the act more effective for today’s social worker and the operation of their professional organization."

The bill contains 29 amendments, touching many aspects of social work. Amendments include:

• Authorizing the association’s Board of Examiners to use dispute-settling mechanisms allowing for more satisfactory treatment of complaints made by the public.

• Changing the registrar of the Board of Examiners from a volunteer to a staff position to help deal with a steadily increasing workload in the office of the registrar.

• Adding "provisional registration" requirements to ensure social workers coming into Nova Scotia from outside the province are qualified to practise here.

• Adding "conduct unbecoming" to the grounds by which the complaints committee may investigate and consider the conduct of an association member.

"These amendments came about through the input of people practising the profession of social work in this province today," said Jill Ceccolini, president of the Nova Scotia Association of Social Workers. "We wanted to bring our act in line with legislation in other parts of the country, as well as legislation governing other professional associations here in Nova Scotia. We believe these amendments accomplish that goal."

The current Social Workers Act became law in 1994. It affects approximately 1,450 social workers now practising in Nova Scotia.