Child, Family, and School Social Workers

Key Responsibilities

• Lead group counseling sessions that provide support in such areas as grief, stress, or chemical dependency.
• 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.
• 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.
• Evaluate personal characteristics and home conditions of foster home or adoption applicants.
• Maintain case history records and prepare reports.
• Address legal issues, such as child abuse and discipline, assisting with hearings and providing testimony to inform custody arrangements.
• Counsel students whose behavior, school progress, or mental or physical impairment indicate a need for assistance, diagnosing students' problems and arranging for needed services.
• Determine clients' eligibility for financial assistance.
• Place children in foster or adoptive homes, institutions, or medical treatment centers.
• Develop and review service plans in consultation with clients and perform follow-ups assessing the quantity and quality of services provided.
• Serve on policy-making committees, assist in community development, and assist client groups by lobbying for solutions to problems.
• Supervise other social workers.
• Arrange for medical, psychiatric, and other tests that may disclose causes of difficulties and indicate remedial measures.
• Conduct social research.
• 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.
• Interview clients individually, in families, or in groups, assessing their situations, capabilities, and problems to determine what services are required to meet their needs.
• Collect supplementary information needed to assist client, such as employment records, medical records, or school reports.
• 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.
• Recommend temporary foster care and advise foster or adoptive parents.