Child, Family, and School Social Workers

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.

Social occupations frequently involve working with, communicating with, and teaching people. These occupations often involve helping or providing service to others.

Social

Second Interest High-Point

Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.

Enterprising

First Interest High-Point

Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.

Artistic

Investigative occupations frequently involve working with ideas, and require an extensive amount of thinking. These occupations can involve searching for facts and figuring out problems mentally.

Investigative

Conventional occupations frequently involve following set procedures and routines. These occupations can include working with data and details more than with ideas. Usually there is a clear line of authority to follow.

Conventional

Realistic occupations frequently involve work activities that include practical, hands-on problems and solutions. They often deal with plants, animals, and real-world materials like wood, tools, and machinery. Many of the occupations require working outside, and do not involve a lot of paperwork or working closely with others.

Realistic

Third Interest High-Point

Job Zone Four: Considerable Preparation Needed

Maintain case history records and prepare reports.

Interview clients individually, in families, or in groups, assessing their situations, capabilities, and problems to determine what services are required to meet their needs.

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.

Develop and review service plans in consultation with clients and perform follow-ups assessing the quantity and quality of services provided.

Address legal issues, such as child abuse and discipline, assisting with hearings and providing testimony to inform custody arrangements.

Counsel parents with child rearing problems, interviewing the child and family to determine whether further action is required.

Consult with parents, teachers, and other school personnel to determine causes of problems, such as truancy and misbehavior, and to implement solutions.

Arrange for medical, psychiatric, and other tests that may disclose causes of difficulties and indicate remedial measures.

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.

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.

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.

Collect supplementary information needed to assist client, such as employment records, medical records, or school reports.

Place children in foster or adoptive homes, institutions, or medical treatment centers.

Recommend temporary foster care and advise foster or adoptive parents.

Counsel students whose behavior, school progress, or mental or physical impairment indicate a need for assistance, diagnosing students' problems and arranging for needed services.

Evaluate personal characteristics and home conditions of foster home or adoption applicants.

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.

Work in child and adolescent residential institutions.

Determine clients' eligibility for financial assistance.

Computer laser printers

Desktop computers

Laptop computers

Laser facsimile machines

Multi-line telephone systems

Personal computers

Photocopying equipment

Microsoft Access

Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Office

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Word

Patient electronic medical record EMR software

Student information systems SIS

Web browser software

Take as many child psychology classes as possible as well as understanding the juvenile laws in your state.

supporting my children as a single mom in a field that does not financially compensate a person for their time, energy and impact

I visit with families in their home and a great day for me would be finding out that the youth I have been working with has implemented and prospered by applying some of the recommendations I had made, or has utilized some of the resources I had provided and it made a difference in their life, even if only momentarily.

Case Manager

Its very hard and demanding work.  Not everyone is cut out to do this work.  You will have to make many sacrifices, including your family.

Michelle Moller

Case Manager

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Education

Non-Profit Organizations

Helping People

Day to Day

Advice for Getting Started

Recommended Education

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Myself:

Challenges I Overcame

Financial

Michelle Moller

Case Manager

Milestones

Education

Career

Career Roadmap

My work combines:

My work combines:

Education

Non-Profit Organizations

Helping People

Day to Day

Advice for Getting Started

Recommended Education

My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Myself:

Challenges I Overcame

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