Last year, Missouri Coalition for Children (MCC) members served over 185,000 Missouri children, youth and families through a continuum of services including community-based counseling, emergency shelter, respite care, family unification, intensive in-home prevention services, inpatient psychiatric care, foster care case management, early childhood education, and much more. The MCC workforce represents over 5,000 dedicated professionals, a significant portion of whom are professional social workers and counselors.
The Department of Education proposes to remove social work and counseling advanced degrees from professional designation, reducing the amount students can borrow. Preliminary data from American University suggests that 370,000 students could be impacted by the new definition and more than $8 billion in federal loans will no longer be available for student access (roughly 22 percent of annual federal loan disbursements). Without these opportunities, students will have to find funding elsewhere – potentially with predatory lenders at exorbitant rates. Excluding social work and counselors from professional degree eligibility, combined with the OBBBA’s proposed elimination of Graduate PLUS loans, makes it more difficult for students to pursue graduate education in critical service to Missouri families.
Our sector struggles to recruit and maintain staff due to the challenging nature of the work and competing with more financially lucrative opportunities in other related areas. Removing counselors and social workers from professional degree designation will only exacerbate our workforce shortage, leaving more Missouri children and families without essential support and services. Children deserve to get the help they need when they need it. Missouri ranks 31st in access to mental health services and the need for social workers is predicted to grow even more over the next decade. We must prioritize supporting the workforce – not depleting it.
How to reach your U.S. congressional delegation
Visit house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative and submit your zip code. Your House representative will pop up.
Under their photo, click on the envelope icon to go to their contact page. Most representatives have an email form option, an office phone number and a mailing address depending on how you want to reach out and share your opinion.
Missouri’s current U.S. senators are Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, and they represent the entire state. You can reach them at the contact forms linked below:
- Contact Eric Schmitt
- Contact Josh Hawley (scroll down to “Share Your Opinion on Legislation”)
Counselors and social workers are extensively trained individuals, holding degrees from accredited programs (e.g., MSW from a CSWE-accredited program) and having completed thousands of hours of supervised clinical experience to earn their licenses, such as Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) or Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC). Their work involves complex tasks, including crisis intervention, developing evidence-based treatment plans, and navigating intricate social service systems.
I urge you to support retention of professional degree designation for social workers and counselors so that Missouri families can continue to get the critical supports and behavioral health services they need to achieve safety, health and well-being. Trained social workers and counselors are an irreplaceable part of our workforce, and Missouri children and families can’t afford to lose them. Reach out to your U.S. representative and state senators today to share why this matters.
Thank you for your time and consideration of this important matter.
Sincerely,
Mary Chant, CEO, Missouri Coalition for Children
