What Your BCBA Supervision Contract Must Include
By the Ripley Fieldwork Tracker team · Published September 8, 2026 · Reviewed September 2, 2026 · 5 min read
Your supervision contract is not a formality you get around to. Per the BCBA Handbook, the trainee and supervisor must develop and sign a written contract before supervision may begin, and the BACB specifies what it has to contain: responsibilities, individualized training objectives, the circumstances under which your supervisor will refuse to sign your forms, and a seven-year records commitment. Hours logged before that signature exists are the ones you cannot defend in an audit.
Most people treat the contract as paperwork their supervisor handles. It's actually the document that protects your hours if the relationship goes wrong.
When does the contract have to be signed?
Before your first supervised hour, not after.
The Handbook is unambiguous: the contract is signed at the outset of the supervisory relationship, before supervision may begin. This matters most when a job starts fast, and a supervisor says you can sort out the paperwork next week. Every hour you log in that gap sits outside a signed agreement, and there is no retroactive fix an auditor will accept. Wait for the signature. A week of delayed hours is a much smaller problem than a month of uncountable ones.
What clauses does the BACB require in the contract?
Eight elements, and most templates miss at least one.
The Handbook lists what the contract should include. Read this against whatever draft your supervisor hands you.
| Required element | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| Responsibilities of both parties | Including your supervisor's completion of the 8-hour supervision training and everyone's adherence to the fieldwork requirements |
| Individualized activities and objectives | Training objectives written for you, not boilerplate copied between trainees |
| When your supervisor won't sign | Objective, measurable circumstances under which they will refuse to sign your M-FVF or F-FVF |
| Consequences of non-adherence | What happens if either party fails their obligations, including proper termination of the relationship |
| Employer permission | A statement requiring you to get written permission from your on-site employer or manager, when applicable |
| Ethics attestation | All parties attest they will adhere to the Code |
| Records commitment | Both parties retain the contract and documentation for at least seven years from the final supervision meeting, and provide it to the BACB on request |
| Multi-supervisor terms | If several supervisors work at the same organization, a single contract may cover them, but it must specify each person's roles and how forms are completed. All parties sign |
The clause people skip past is the third one. The contract must state, in objective, measurable terms, the conditions under which your supervisor will not sign your verification form. That sounds adversarial. It is actually the single most protective clause in the document, because it converts "my supervisor decided not to sign" from a judgment call into a written standard you can point to.
Can one contract cover multiple supervisors?
Yes, if they're at the same organization and the contract names each person's role.
A single contract can cover several supervisors within one organization, but it must outline each supervisor's roles, responsibilities, and expectations, including how documentation and forms will be completed. Every party signs. This is also where your responsible supervisor is identified, which matters later: the responsible supervisor is the one who signs your monthly forms, and, per the BACB, they must have been qualified to hold that role for the entire duration of the supervision they're certifying.
Can the contract be changed later?
Yes. Amend it in writing, and get every amendment signed and dated.
Fieldwork changes: you switch sites, add a supervisor, move from supervised to concentrated hours, or renegotiate your unrestricted activities. The Handbook allows the original contract to be amended throughout the relationship, but each amendment must be signed and dated by all relevant parties. A verbal understanding that your objectives changed in month seven is not an amendment. Write it down and sign it.
What should I do before signing?
Confirm your supervisor is qualified, then keep your own copy.
Two checks before your signature goes on anything. First, verify your supervisor actually qualifies: an active BCBA in good standing, certified for at least a year and current on the supervision CEU requirement, or certified less than a year while receiving monthly consultation from a qualified consulting supervisor. Second, keep your own copy of the contract and every amendment, stored somewhere that isn't your employer's server.
That second point is the one that saves people. Your contract, your monthly forms, and your hour log are a single evidentiary package, and it needs to survive a job change. Keeping the log in a system you own, rather than in a clinic's internal tracker, is what makes the package portable. The Ripley Fieldwork Tracker is tied to your account rather than your employer, tracks each supervisory relationship separately, and produces the monthly forms your contract obligates both of you to keep, so the paperwork your contract promises actually exists when someone asks for it.
FAQ
Can I log hours before the contract is signed? No. Supervision may not begin until the written contract is signed, so hours accrued beforehand are not defensible.
Does every supervisor need a separate contract? Multiple supervisors within an organization can share a single contract detailing each of their roles. Separate organizations mean separate agreements.
How long do I keep the contract? At least seven years from the date of the final supervision meeting, alongside the rest of your supervision documentation.
Who has to sign? You and every supervisor covered by the contract, plus signatures and dates on any later amendment.
What if my supervisor's template is missing required clauses? Ask that they be added before you sign. The Handbook lists what the contract should contain, and a missing clause is easier to fix now than to explain at an audit.
Ripley is independent and is not affiliated with the BACB. Always verify requirements against current BACB documents.
Sources
- BACB: BCBA Handbook, Supervised Fieldwork Requirements
- BACB: FAQs About Supervised Fieldwork Requirements
- BACB: Documenting Fieldwork: Helpful Answers to Your FAQs
Ripley Fieldwork Tracker is a comprehensive, free online platform designed to simplify the process of tracking Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) fieldwork hours for aspiring Board Certified Behavior Analysts (BCBAs) and their supervisors. With features like real-time progress dashboards, BACB-compliant verification forms, and support for multiple supervisors, Ripley simplifies the certification process with secure, cloud-based tools.