It is with great concern for families in the State of Virginia that I write to you. It is indeed most distressing to know that there is a shortage of qualified mental health professionals to serve Virginia's famlies and that the shortage is a direct result of the misguided and flawed licensing process practiced by the Virgina Board of Social Work. The current process clearly is biased against licensed Social Workers from other states that have had a lapse in active emloyment in the field for over 24 months (2 years). No exceptions. This is discrimination against professional mental health workers who have been licensed, accredited and practiced in other states, but for some reason moved to VA, and for one reason or the other did not seek to get licensed or work in the field for more than two years. Surely the great state of Virginia recognizes that we now all live in a 'Global Society'. People move and become employed in their chosen professional all over the world daily. Equivilently educated and qualified licensed mental health workers should be fairly granted license to practice in VA without predjudice of where they were educated or how long they have been on a professional leave of absense. Assuming that the applicants qualify in every other area of the approval process, those two issues should NOT NOW OR EVER delay or prevent the granting of licenses to these badly needed mental health professionals.

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