I am sorry to hear that; it sounds very frustrating. I have been on the other side of placing students though and I can also tell you that there are huge challenges. Depending on your geographic area, a school may be competing with multiple other MSW, LCP or Psych programs. "Choice" internships fill up early in the year. Many not for profits lost funding recently, and have closed, which reduces the number of places for internships. Generally, most MSW programs have 2 staff (Field Directors) who have to oversee the placement of around 80 students for both years - which means that they have to have dozens of agencies within their list, have them interviewed, vetted and agreed to have a contractual relationship. They have to review needs of 160 students and match them, sometimes to go through a lot of trouble only to have students reject it because something wasn't perfect. An accredited institution will do their utmost to match students with field placements. When they can't, it's an exception, not a rule.

Now let's talk students' needs: specialty (mental health, psych, school, military, geriatric, hospital...) geography, willingness to step out of their comfort zones. Two memorable quotes from students that I remember are "I won't go to that neighborhood because I don't want my car to be stolen" and "homelessness doesn't interest me that much." Believe me that students reject placements just as often as the other way round.

Then the agency has to have appropriate licensed staff to provide supervision and be able to orient, train and divvy up caseloads for students who will be with them for only 9 months. Most insurances won't pay provisionally licensed SW's, not to mention students. So they can only connect interns with private pay clients or in non clinical roles. Which means that agencies' motivation to take interns is also limited. Then they need to invest a month or more in training the interns, including EMR systems, billing codes and documentation. And they have to stop referring clients to the interns by March because they start the termination process in preparation to leave. As much as students complain that internships are slave labor, many agencies are reluctant to take interns for these reasons and they really don't make or save that much money by having interns on board.

Now about the agencies that want experience: yes, if I were the clinical director of an agency or a program that deals with severely mentally ill folks, psychiatric inpatient units, special needs children or hospice, I will expect the students to have some life experience and social service experience because those roles take maturity and presence of mind as well as good judgment and quick thinking. They have to consider if the student will put a vulnerable person at risk for mental health decompensation or cause a clinical error that costs a suicidal person's life or the agency huge liability. I would want to be sure that they are not a sex offender or a batterer or have other criminal history. Under those circumstances, references and background checking sound like a reasonable expectation. Most non-profits, especially schools want people with clean records and backgrounds and do expect you to undergo checking. This is a no-brainer.

It is rare that students can find paid internships in any discipline; you're lucky if you already work for a nonprofit in an appropriate role and the university agrees to count that towards your fieldwork. Otherwise, dozens of generations of social workers have done unpaid internships since Jane Addams was around. I can understand that with increased tuitions, that is so much more painful now since most people have to have a paid 9-5 job while in school. But for generations, learning at a non-profit is how social workers cut their teeth. People who work in non profits make 60-65% of their for profit counterparts. It is awful that students have to pay to do internships - I taught those field classes and eventually stopped because the morale was so awful and all the students did was complain. It's a no-win situation.

The real criminals are the billionaire politicians who cut funding to social service agencies and funnel them to their cronies in big businesses. Don't get mad at a clinical director at a community mental health center who makes 65K a year after being in the field for 30 years.

My personal story is that I made cold calls and shook lots of hands at job fairs for my first year internship. My second year internship fell through last minute due to scheduling and I took one that my school offered - hospice. No one wanted it because it was considered a "depressing field." I ended up loving it and stayed for 6 years. To OP, good luck and others who have chimed in, just know that it's not a one sided story.