Recent feedback, both formal and informal, has brought to our attention the barrier the following standard for clinical internship accreditation creates between accreditation and endorsement:
Current Standard: Clinical internship will only accept students who have:
a. 100 hours of experience with well infants, children, youth and/or families
b. 100 hours of experience with infants, children, youth and/or families in stressful situations, health care settings and/or programs designed for children with special needs
c. Successfully completed child life coursework inclusive of the 6 applied areas of study, as required by the ACLP
d. Completed the academic course work portion of the ACLP eligibility assessment.
ACLP is therefore amending this standard to include students actively enrolled in ACLP endorsed programs.
Updated Standard: Clinical internship will only accept students who have:
a. 100 hours of experience with well infants, children, youth and/or families
b. 100 hours of experience with infants, children, youth and/or families in stressful situations, health care settings and/or programs designed for children with special needs
c. Successfully completed child life coursework inclusive of the 6 applied areas of study, as required by the ACLP
d. Completed the academic course work portion of the ACLP eligibility assessment or are actively enrolled in an ACLP endorsed academic program.
This means, effective immediately, ACLP accredited internship programs may also consider accepting students who are actively enrolled in an ACLP endorsed program, even if they have not yet completed their program of study. The rationale for this change stems from feedback received from academic and clinical stakeholders. Primarily, we heard that part d of this standard has presented an ongoing challenge for accredited internship programs that have been unable to accept attractive candidates from endorsed programs who have relevant experience but course work remaining in their program of study. The amendment to part d allows accredited internships to use their discretion to determine if/under what circumstances an applicant from an endorsed program may complete remaining course work and the internship simultaneously.
Internship Coordinators should note that students coming from endorsed programs will still complete an Eligibility Assessment. Their evaluation report will verify their enrollment in an endorsed program, but will not include a listing of the 10 required courses, as the endorsed curriculum has already been reviewed by ACLP. Internship Coordinators can expect students coming from endorsed programs to include the endorsed program letter along with their internship application materials. Coordinators can utilize this letter to assess a student’s progress towards graduation, and make a determination as to whether the candidate is ready for internship.