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Katherin Youniacutt turned to alcohol at a young age to cope with the abuse she suffered as a child. By 2007, she was a full-blown alcoholic. Late one night, an off-duty police officer approached her car at a gas station and when he drove off, the officer said she hit him with her vehicle. She pleaded guilty to an assault conviction and served several years of probation.

While serving his sentence, Youaniacutt found his faith again. With the help of her husband and a new church community, she entered treatment and was sober by 2011. She felt called to help others struggling with addiction, and with donations from her fellow church members, began pursuing a master’s degree in social work.

Youniacutt, now a grandmother living in suburban Lubbock, was concerned about her criminal record and wrote to the Texas State Board of Social Work Examiners to verify her eligibility to obtain a license to practice while studying for her degree .

“I was due to apply in 2018 as part of my program at school and I got a reply from the council saying they would look at everything on a case-by-case basis,” she said.

However, after earning his degree and passing his licensure exam in 2022, he was denied his license without a review or investigation.

“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 said. “Then came the letter saying I didn’t qualify for a license based on that offense.”

The law appears to have changed in 2019. Prior to this, the licensing authority could refuse licenses when a criminal record made someone unfit to treat patients by examining their history and current circumstances.

However, just months after the board gave Youniacutt the green light to take the licensing test, the state passed a the new law which banned certain applicants for life. Essentially, it classifies social workers and psychologists as part of the health care profession, requiring a licensing authority to automatically reject an applicant for certain crimes, such as those registered as sex offenders or who have committed an offense involving the use of or threat force.

The law passed quietly, even a representative of the author of the bill, Rep. Greg Bonnensaid R-Friendswood Houston Chronicle in 2023 that no one in their office remembers any detail about the legislation. Bonnen’s office did not respond to a request for comment from The Texas Tribune.

Darrel Spinks, executive director of the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council, which oversees counseling and social worker licensing, said they were never consulted about the law’s implications.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have any more insight into why HB 1899 was passed than other members of the public,” Spinks said, adding that five applicants have been denied licenses this year, a relatively small amount that is consistent with with the figures from previous years. .

Although it does not specifically name social workers, a summary of bill states that concerns have been raised about the prevalence of licensed healthcare professionals using their position of authority to commit crimes against vulnerable patients. This bill was meant to end that by making certain crimes, such as sex crimes, ineligible for a health care professional license.

John Bielamowicz, presiding member of the Texas Board of Psychologists and a member of the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Board, said the law ties their hands.

“The council and its member councils have consistently used all available tools to increase access to the licence. Within the limits of the law, we have widened pathways in mental health fields, making it easier for qualified people to enter this essential profession,” he said.

Texas – and the country – faces a double whammy: an exploding mental health and substance abuse crisis, and a severe shortage of professional social workers to address these issues. More than a third of the counties in Texas lack of access to an authorized clinical social worker.

Meanwhile, one in three Americans has a criminal record, according to studies. However, nationally, there are tens of thousands of laws that make it harder for people with criminal records to work.

This is the place Institute of Justicea nonprofit, public interest law firm whose mission is to end the abuse of government power steps in. Attorneys for the nonprofit are working with Youniacutt and others to challenge the 2019 law.

“The Texas Constitution is on our side,” said James Knight, an attorney with the Institute for Justice, which plans to file a lawsuit Wednesday against the state on behalf of Youniacutt and Fort Worth resident Tammy Thompson.

Knight said every person should be able to get a fresh start by rehabilitating and making an honest living. However, this 2019 law prevents people 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 said. “This lawsuit is about ending the government’s ability to deny people the right to work.”

A useless solution?

Thompson, fresh off a tough divorce in the early 2000s, turned to meth to cope with the stress of suddenly becoming the primary caregiver for her children. This led to her only conviction, which came from a 2006 incident at her father’s apartment complex, when an argument between her and a stranger led to an assault charge she didn’t learn about until two years later late during a traffic stop.

Thompson accepted a plea deal in exchange for parole, but her continued use of meth violated her terms and she spent two years in prison. She used her time in prison to build a fresh start and earned a GED before she was released.

“I remember leaving and trying to figure out what my parole was, what jobs I could do; I had no car, no money, no ID, and I remember thinking to myself, I wish I had someone to help me re-enter society,” Thompson said. “I decided to check out Tarrant County Community College and told them my story. They asked if I had ever thought about helping people as a social worker, and that’s where it all started.”

She took the opportunity and earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in social work. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she learned that her journey could end here.

“I had taken the test with one of my friends, and she got hers back and passed, and it was a beautiful and super emotional moment. But when she got it back and I didn’t, I started to panic,” Thompson said. “Then I finally got the letter saying I was turned down.”

Thompson appealed that decision, but was denied twice and told that if her appeal was unsuccessful a third time, she would lose her right to ever get her license.

“I didn’t want to affect anything in the future, so I walked away from it,” Thompson said.

Knight said cases like Thompson’s are why his organization is challenging what he sees as a draconian licensing ban that infringes on “people’s rights to make an honest living in an occupation of their choice.”

“It imposes a permanent, lifetime license restriction without regard to individual circumstances or mitigating factors,” he said.

Texas needs social workers

Social workers they are often the first point of contact for many people seeking mental health help. Found in hospitals, education centers, and mental health care facilities and more, social workers provide access to services to meet a person’s life needs, such as finances, housing, community resources, and government benefits.

Texas has 26,000 social workers at various levels. Clinical social workers, master’s social workers, and baccalaureate social workers all have different education and practice requirements to be licensed, and all are prohibited to certain offenders.

A licensed clinical social worker is considered the most advanced license and can practice counseling, while licensed master social workers can provide counseling under supervision. A baccalaureate licensed social worker only needs a bachelor’s degree, but typically handles non-clinical services such as case management and advocacy.

While 91 counties in Texas lack licensed clinical social workers, there are shortages in less specialized areas as well – 74 counties lack licensed master’s social workers and 65 counties lack licensed baccalaureate social workers.

Achieving a feat like becoming a licensed social worker requires many years of expensive education and clinical hours. Having a failure at the finish line can be overwhelming, said Youniacutt, who earned two and a half hours of clinical hours to fulfill his licensure requirements.

“I was devastated,” Youniacutt said. “I had to accept that this might not be for me, which was hard because my education cost me a lot of money.”

Younaicutt decided to continue working with health care facilities, doing work that did not require a license. However, she dreams of opening a social work clinic tailored to her community and using the expertise she has gained from her previous life experiences.

“I’ve had a lot of people in the health care field stand up and say you were made to do this and I was born to be a social worker,” Younaicutt said. “So I’m disappointed that I feel like I’ll never be allowed to do that.”

Thompson said it only makes sense for people who have been rehabilitated to help others who may be going through similar situations.

“It’s the most hypocritical thing I’ve ever come across in my life. How can you push as social workers that you’re here because people matter, but then you don’t let those same people succeed in that position,” Thompson said. “All data show it doesn’t matter position as peer clinicians, therapists, or social workers, having therapy or treatment works better when it comes from someone who has walked the same lines in life as you.”