Child, Family, and School Social Worker Provide social services and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children and their families and to maximize the family well-being and the academic functioning of children. May assist parents, arrange adoptions, and find foster homes for abandoned or abused children. In schools, they address such problems as teenage pregnancy, misbehavior, and truancy. May also advise teachers.
Child, Family, and School Social Worker is Also Know as
In different settings, Child, Family, and School Social Worker is titled as
- Adoption Social Worker
- Case Manager
- Case Worker
- Child Protective Services Social Worker (CPS Social Worker)
- Family Protection Specialist
- Family Resource Coordinator
- Family Service Worker
- Foster Care Social Worker
- School Social Worker
- Youth Services Specialist
Education and Training of Child, Family, and School Social Worker
Child, Family, and School Social Worker is categorized in Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed
Experience Required for Child, Family, and School Social Worker
A considerable amount of work-related skill, knowledge, or experience is needed for these occupations. For example, an accountant must complete four years of college and work for several years in accounting to be considered qualified.
Education Required for Child, Family, and School Social Worker
Most of these occupations require a four-year bachelor's degree, but some do not.
Degrees Related to Child, Family, and School Social Worker
- Bachelor in Developmental and Child Psychology
- Associate Degree Courses in Developmental and Child Psychology
- Masters Degree Courses in Developmental and Child Psychology
- Bachelor in Developmental and Adolescent Psychology
- Associate Degree Courses in Developmental and Adolescent Psychology
- Masters Degree Courses in Developmental and Adolescent Psychology
- Bachelor in Juvenile Corrections
- Associate Degree Courses in Juvenile Corrections
- Masters Degree Courses in Juvenile Corrections
- Bachelor in Social Work
- Associate Degree Courses in Social Work
- Masters Degree Courses in Social Work
- Bachelor in Youth Services/Administration
- Associate Degree Courses in Youth Services/Administration
- Masters Degree Courses in Youth Services/Administration
- Bachelor in Forensic Social Work
- Associate Degree Courses in Forensic Social Work
- Masters Degree Courses in Forensic Social Work
Training Required for Child, Family, and School Social Worker
Employees in these occupations usually need several years of work-related experience, on-the-job training, and/or vocational training.
Related Ocuupations
Some Ocuupations related to Child, Family, and School Social Worker in different industries are
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers
- Marriage and Family Therapists
- Healthcare Social Workers
- Rehabilitation Counselors
- Social and Human Service Assistants
- Social and Community Service Managers
- Community Health Workers
- Educational, Guidance, and Career Counselors and Advisors
- Health Education Specialists
- Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists
- Mental Health Counselors
- Clinical and Counseling Psychologists
- Substance Abuse and Behavioral Disorder Counselors
- School Psychologists
- Psychiatric Technicians
- Personal Care Aides
- Recreational Therapists
- Eligibility Interviewers, Government Programs
- Patient Representatives
- Psychiatric Aides
What Do Child, Family, and School Social Worker do?
- Interview clients individually, in families, or in groups, assessing their situations, capabilities, and problems to determine what services are required to meet their needs.
- Counsel individuals, groups, families, or communities regarding issues including mental health, poverty, unemployment, substance abuse, physical abuse, rehabilitation, social adjustment, child care, or medical care.
- Maintain case history records and prepare reports.
- Counsel students whose behavior, school progress, or mental or physical impairment indicate a need for assistance, diagnosing students' problems and arranging for needed services.
- Consult with parents, teachers, and other school personnel to determine causes of problems, such as truancy and misbehavior, and to implement solutions.
- Counsel parents with child rearing problems, interviewing the child and family to determine whether further action is required.
- Develop and review service plans in consultation with clients and perform follow-ups assessing the quantity and quality of services provided.
- Collect supplementary information needed to assist client, such as employment records, medical records, or school reports.
- Address legal issues, such as child abuse and discipline, assisting with hearings and providing testimony to inform custody arrangements.
- Provide, find, or arrange for support services, such as child care, homemaker service, prenatal care, substance abuse treatment, job training, counseling, or parenting classes to prevent more serious problems from developing.
- Refer clients to community resources for services, such as job placement, debt counseling, legal aid, housing, medical treatment, or financial assistance, and provide concrete information, such as where to go and how to apply.
- Arrange for medical, psychiatric, and other tests that may disclose causes of difficulties and indicate remedial measures.
- Work in child and adolescent residential institutions.
- Administer welfare programs.
- Evaluate personal characteristics and home conditions of foster home or adoption applicants.
- Serve as liaisons between students, homes, schools, family services, child guidance clinics, courts, protective services, doctors, and other contacts to help children who face problems, such as disabilities, abuse, or poverty.
- Place children in foster or adoptive homes, institutions, or medical treatment centers.
- Supervise other social workers.
- Recommend temporary foster care and advise foster or adoptive parents.
- Determine clients' eligibility for financial assistance.
- Conduct social research.
- Lead group counseling sessions that provide support in such areas as grief, stress, or chemical dependency.
- Serve on policy-making committees, assist in community development, and assist client groups by lobbying for solutions to problems.
Qualities of Good Child, Family, and School Social Worker
- Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
- Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
- Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.
- Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
- Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
- Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
- Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
- Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
- Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
- Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
- Near Vision: The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).
- Fluency of Ideas: The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity).
- Originality: The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem.
- Category Flexibility: The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways.
- Selective Attention: The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted.
- Flexibility of Closure: The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
- Time Sharing: The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources).
- Far Vision: The ability to see details at a distance.
- Speed of Closure: The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.
- Memorization: The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures.
- Perceptual Speed: The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object.
- Auditory Attention: The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
- Visualization: The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
- Hearing Sensitivity: The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness.
- Visual Color Discrimination: The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
- Mathematical Reasoning: The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem.
- Multilimb Coordination: The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion.
- Reaction Time: The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears.
- Trunk Strength: The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without "giving out" or fatiguing.
- Arm-Hand Steadiness: The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
- Number Facility: The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
- Response Orientation: The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part.
- Control Precision: The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
- Depth Perception: The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
- Static Strength: The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects.
- Finger Dexterity: The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects.
- Dynamic Strength: The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
- Stamina: The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
- Gross Body Equilibrium: The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
- Gross Body Coordination: The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion.
- Explosive Strength: The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object.
- Extent Flexibility: The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
- Night Vision: The ability to see under low-light conditions.
- Peripheral Vision: The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead.
- Glare Sensitivity: The ability to see objects in the presence of a glare or bright lighting.
- Rate Control: The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
- Sound Localization: The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated.
- Spatial Orientation: The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you.
- Wrist-Finger Speed: The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists.
- Speed of Limb Movement: The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
- Manual Dexterity: The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects.
- Dynamic Flexibility: The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Tools Used by Child, Family, and School Social Worker
- Computer laser printers
- Desktop computers
- Laptop computers
- Laser facsimile machines
- Multi-line telephone systems
- Personal computers
- Photocopying equipment
Technology Skills required for Child, Family, and School Social Worker
- EasyCBM
- Microsoft Access
- Microsoft Excel
- Microsoft Office software
- Microsoft Outlook
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Microsoft Word
- Patient electronic medical record EMR software
- Student information systems SIS software
- Web browser software