What your child’s BCBA owes you

Q: Is there an ethics code my child's BCBA has to follow?

Yes. The Behavior Analyst Certification Board publishes the Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts. Every BCBA and BCaBA applicant and certificant is required to adhere to it, effective January 1, 2022, and it replaced the 2014 Professional and Ethical Compliance Code. The current document is marked as updated 08/2024.

Q: Does the ethics code cover the RBT who runs my child's sessions?

Indirectly but firmly. The code's glossary defines a supervisee as anyone whose behavioral service delivery is overseen by a behavior analyst, and says supervisees may include RBTs. Standard 4.04 makes the behavior analyst accountable for the professional activities of their supervisees that occur as part of the supervisory relationship. So the person overseeing your child's program carries responsibility for the sessions delivered under that oversight.

Q: Am I owed the behavior plan in writing before it starts?

Yes. Standard 2.16 requires behavior analysts to describe in writing, before implementation, the objectives and procedures of the behavior-change intervention, projected timelines, and the schedule of ongoing review, and to provide this to the stakeholders. Explanations are also required when modifying existing or introducing new interventions.

Q: What happens if our BCBA leaves or services end?

Three standards apply. 3.14 requires appropriate and timely efforts to avoid interrupting services and communication about the steps being taken. 3.15 requires a written plan for discontinuing services, with your acknowledgment documented. 3.16 requires a written transition plan with target dates, transition activities, and responsible parties when your child moves to another behavior analyst.

Q: Who pays for the services can affect what is recommended. What does the code say?

Standard 3.08 addresses this directly: when a third party such as a school district or agency requests services, the behavior analyst places the client's care and welfare above all others, and resolves conflicts between the third party's requests and their own recommendations in the best interest of the client.

Q: How do I complain about a BCBA's conduct?

The BACB enforces the code through its Code-Enforcement Procedures, and its enforcement section states complaints are received and processed according to those processes. The code also says behavior analysts may need to report serious concerns to authorities that can provide more immediate relief or protection before any report to the BACB. If a child is at risk, contact your local child-protection or emergency services first.

There is a book of rules, it is public, and you are allowed to hold your provider to it.

The Behavior Analyst Certification Board (BACB) — the body behind the BCBA credential — publishes an Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts. Every BCBA and BCaBA applicant and certificant is required to adhere to it, effective 1 January 2022; it replaced the 2014 code, and the current document is marked as updated 08/2024.

This page is that code, translated. Not the whole thing — the parts that are about you: what you are owed before anything starts, while it runs, and if it ends. Every statement below carries the code section it comes from, so you can check us the same way you should be able to check anyone.

1. Nothing starts, and nothing changes, without your informed consent 2.11

The code requires informed consent from clients and stakeholders before initial implementation of assessments or behavior-change interventions, when making substantial changes to interventions, and when exchanging or releasing confidential information or records. Behavior analysts are responsible for explaining, obtaining, re-obtaining, and documenting that consent.

In practice: a signature you were handed without an explanation is not informed consent. If a plan changes in a meaningful way, you are owed the explanation and the ask again.

2. The plan, in writing, before it begins 2.16

Before implementation, behavior analysts must describe in writing: the objectives and procedures of the intervention, any projected timelines, and the schedule of ongoing review — and provide this to you. The same duty applies when they modify an existing plan or introduce a new one.

What a written plan should carry

The objectives — what specifically is being worked on.
The procedures — what will actually be done in sessions.
Projected timelines.
The schedule for reviewing progress.

3. The data exists for a reason 2.17 · 2.18

Behavior analysts must graph, summarize, and use the data to make decisions about continuing, modifying, or terminating services — and monitor the intervention continually. If the data show the desired outcomes are not being realized, they must actively assess and take corrective action.

You should never be in the position of taking progress on faith. The numbers your team collects are decision material under the code, and the review schedule from 2.16 is when they owe you that decision-making in plain language.

4. The person running sessions is the BCBA’s responsibility 4.04 · 4.09

The code’s glossary defines a supervisee as anyone whose behavioral service delivery is overseen by a behavior analyst, and says supervisees may include RBTs. Standard 4.04 makes the behavior analyst accountable for the professional activities of their supervisees that occur as part of the supervisory relationship; 4.09 permits delegating tasks only after confirming the supervisee can competently perform them.

What this means on your sofa

If a technician delivers your child’s sessions under oversight, the overseeing behavior analyst’s responsibility covers those sessions. “That was the RBT, not me” is not a boundary the code recognizes.

5. Who pays does not get to steer 3.07 · 3.08

When services are contracted through a third party — a school district, a governmental entity, an agency — the code requires the contract to spell out responsibilities, scope, how information will be used, the behavior analyst’s obligations under the code, and confidentiality limits. And when the third party requests something incompatible with the analyst’s own recommendations, the analyst must place the client’s care and welfare above all others and resolve the conflict in your child’s best interest.

6. If services pause, end, or move, you are owed it in writing 3.14 · 3.15 · 3.16

Three standards protect continuity for your child:

Interruptions 3.14 — analysts must make appropriate and timely efforts to avoid disruption of services, in planned and unplanned interruptions alike, and communicate the steps being taken to all relevant parties.
Ending services 3.15 — they must provide a written plan for discontinuing services, document your acknowledgment of the plan, and review it throughout the discharge process.
Moving to a new analyst 3.16 — a written plan that includes target dates, transition activities, and responsible parties, reviewed throughout the transition.

We wrote about what these transitions feel like from the family side — and what to hold onto through one — at Why my child’s therapist changed.

7. Billing, records, and truthfulness 1.01 · 2.05 · 2.06

Behavior analysts must be truthful (1.01), identify their services accurately on bills, invoices and reports, correct inaccuracies in a timely manner when found, and inform relevant parties (2.06). They must know and comply with the requirements that govern storing, transporting, retaining, and destroying documentation — physical and electronic — about their professional activities (2.05).

Two quieter ones that matter to families: analysts must practice only within their identified scope of competence, referring or transitioning when a need is outside it 1.05; and they are responsible even for public statements made by others that promote their services — if a marketer’s claim about a BCBA’s work oversells, the certificant owns correcting it 5.04.

8. If something is wrong: the complaint path

The BACB states it enforces the code to protect clients and stakeholders, with complaints received and processed according to its Code-Enforcement Procedures. You do not need a lawyer to file one.

Where to go first, though

The code itself says behavior analysts may need to report serious concerns to authorities that can provide more immediate relief or protection before any report to the BACB — criminal activity, or behavior placing people at risk. The same order is right for you: if a child is at risk, your local child-protection or emergency services come first, and the board second.

What this code is not

It is a private board’s rules, not a government license — those are separate things, and whether your jurisdiction licenses behavior analysts at all varies. We wrote the difference at Certification vs. licensure. And a code on paper is a floor, not a guarantee: use it to know what to ask for, alongside checking whoever oversees your child’s program in the BACB’s public registry.

Questions people ask

Is there an ethics code my child’s BCBA has to follow?

Yes. The BACB’s Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts applies to every BCBA and BCaBA applicant and certificant, effective 1 January 2022, replacing the 2014 code; the current document is updated 08/2024.

Does it cover the RBT who runs my child’s sessions?

The glossary says supervisees may include RBTs, and standard 4.04 makes the behavior analyst accountable for their supervisees’ professional activities within the supervisory relationship. The person overseeing the program carries responsibility for sessions delivered under that oversight.

Am I owed the behavior plan in writing before it starts?

Yes — standard 2.16: objectives, procedures, projected timelines, and the ongoing review schedule, in writing, before implementation, and explanations again when anything is modified.

What happens if our BCBA leaves or services end?

Standards 3.14–3.16: timely efforts to avoid interruption, a written discontinuation plan with your documented acknowledgment, and a written transition plan with dates and responsible parties.

Who pays for the services can affect what is recommended. What does the code say?

Standard 3.08: with third-party contracts, the client’s care and welfare comes above all others, and conflicts between the payer’s requests and the analyst’s recommendations are resolved in the client’s best interest.

How do I complain about a BCBA’s conduct?

Through the BACB’s Code-Enforcement Procedures. If a child is at risk, authorities that can act immediately come first; the board is second.

Sources — read them yourself

BACB — Ethics Code for Behavior Analysts (PDF, updated 08/2024, effective 1 January 2022; sections 1.01, 1.05, 2.05, 2.06, 2.11, 2.16, 2.17, 2.18, 3.07, 3.08, 3.14–3.16, 4.04, 4.09, 5.04, glossary, and the Application/Enforcement sections)
BACB — Verify BACB Certification (public registry)
Special Learning — Who is working with my child? and Why my child’s therapist changed

Facts on this page were checked against the BACB’s Ethics Code document (updated 08/2024) on 23 September 2026. The board revises its documents without notice to us. If a source and this page ever disagree, the source wins — and please tell us, so we fix the page.

General educational information — not legal advice, and not a substitute for reading the BACB’s own documents or asking your regulator. This page describes a credentialing body’s code; it is not a statement about any individual provider, and nothing here creates a professional relationship with Special Learning. Special Learning is an education company; we are not a law firm, not a credentialing body, and not a licensing authority.