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Job outlook for adoption social workers in the United States
Are adoption social worker jobs in demand?
Adoption social worker job and salary trends over time
Adoption social worker jobs over time
Adoption social worker job growth rate over time
| Year | # of jobs | % of population |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,376 | 0.00% |
| 2020 | 3,258 | 0.00% |
| 2019 | 3,254 | 0.00% |
| 2018 | 3,179 | 0.00% |
| 2017 | 3,042 | 0.00% |
Average adoption social worker salary over time
Adoption social worker salary by year
| Year | Avg. salary | Hourly rate | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $53,309 | $25.63 | +2.2% |
| 2024 | $52,164 | $25.08 | +2.4% |
| 2023 | $50,931 | $24.49 | +4.3% |
| 2022 | $48,851 | $23.49 | +2.6% |
| 2021 | $47,607 | $22.89 | +2.1% |
Adoption social worker jobs by state
Most common states for adoption social workers
| Rank | State | Population | # of jobs | Employment/ 1000ppl |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vermont | 623,657 | 157 | 25% |
| 2 | District of Columbia | 693,972 | 154 | 22% |
| 3 | South Dakota | 869,666 | 168 | 19% |
| 4 | Nebraska | 1,920,076 | 341 | 18% |
| 5 | Delaware | 961,939 | 166 | 17% |
| 6 | Wyoming | 579,315 | 100 | 17% |
| 7 | Washington | 7,405,743 | 1,195 | 16% |
| 8 | Idaho | 1,716,943 | 270 | 16% |
| 9 | Oregon | 4,142,776 | 611 | 15% |
| 10 | Utah | 3,101,833 | 472 | 15% |
| 11 | West Virginia | 1,815,857 | 273 | 15% |
| 12 | Georgia | 10,429,379 | 1,443 | 14% |
| 13 | Colorado | 5,607,154 | 785 | 14% |
| 14 | Connecticut | 3,588,184 | 501 | 14% |
| 15 | Virginia | 8,470,020 | 1,121 | 13% |
| 16 | New Mexico | 2,088,070 | 269 | 13% |
| 17 | Tennessee | 6,715,984 | 779 | 12% |
| 18 | Missouri | 6,113,532 | 748 | 12% |
| 19 | California | 39,536,653 | 4,200 | 11% |
| 20 | Alaska | 739,795 | 83 | 11% |
Adoption Social Worker job outlook: Expert opinions
Our panel of adoption social worker experts
Ohio State University
Ohio University
Baruch College of the City University of New York
Ramapo College of New Jersey
Ohio University
Colorado State University - Pueblo
College of Saint Scholastica
University of Alaska Anchorage
Metropolitan State University
Louisiana State University at Shreveport
Tuskegee University
NYU Silver School of Social Work
Millikin University
Vanguard University
Angelo State University
Deanna Wilkinson Ph.D.
Associate ProfessorOhio State University
Human Development, Family Studies, And Related Services
What general advice would you give to an Adoption Social Worker?
Deanna Wilkinson Ph.D.: The best way to maximize your salary potential is to do your homework. Start with self-awareness. What can and will you be able to contribute to the organization that will help the organization achieve their goals. Be able to “sell” your strengths, fit with the position, and areas for future growth. It is important to have realistic salary expectations while also sharpen your negotiation skills. Research to find out what are people in similar positions making in your community.
What Adoption Social Worker skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Deanna Wilkinson Ph.D.: My advice to HDFS graduates beginning their careers is to seek out opportunities that align with your passions and will allow you to utilize your academic knowledge and skills to help children and families in meaningful ways.
What will help Adoption Social Workers increase their earning potential?
Deanna Wilkinson Ph.D.: In the next 3-5 years, technology, diversity and inclusion, and problem-solving skills will become more important in the field of HDFS. The helping professions will play an important role as technology continues to reshape human daily life and social interactions.
What general advice would you give to an Adoption Social Worker?
L. Justin Wheeler: There are often salary discrepancies between settings – for example, hospital and government settings tend to have higher salaries than private nonprofit, community behavioral health, or education settings. Even so, within the same agency there can be higher earning potential in different programs, depending on many factors including demand and program funding source and type. Knowing your local market and opportunities is important, as is locating salary data for social workers and related fields. Pursuing skill development through training, supervised practice, and consultation in areas of interest can improve marketability.
What Adoption Social Worker skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
L. Justin Wheeler: Technology including telehealth, electronic medical records systems, AI, practice evaluation data collection, and other areas will continue to grow and require ethical and proficient users. There will always be a need for social workers to help shape policies and legislation based on human needs and human rights, so leadership, advocacy, and facilitation skills are important. And as loneliness and behavioral health needs expand, the core relationship-building and problem-solving skills social workers learn will be in high demand.
What will help Adoption Social Workers increase their earning potential?
L. Justin Wheeler: One of the best ways to improve skills, continue to learn, and access support is to work as part of a team – take advantage of opportunities for group supervision, peer consultation, and interprofessional collaboration.
What general advice would you give to an Adoption Social Worker?
Timothy Aubry: I don’t think people should try to maximize their salary potential. I think graduates should find a salary they can live on and prioritize finding a fulfilling job. If their primary concern is money, they are seeing the job as a means to something else, and the money itself is just a means to some other kind of satisfaction. They’ll be unhappy at work and try to make up for it by buying things they probably won’t have any time to enjoy—justifying the miserable job they have. I’d suggest finding a job that is not just a means to an end, but that allows you to feel happy while you are working, fulfilled in what you are doing. In that kind of situation, as long as you can pay the bills, you won’t care as much whether you’re making more than your neighbors and your friends, since you won’t be measuring the value of your life by how much money you make.
What Adoption Social Worker skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Timothy Aubry: I can’t really predict which skills will be important in the next 3-5 years, but that’s exactly why a liberal arts degree is a good bet. The reason I say that is that the liberal arts teach you to be flexible and open-minded, to rethink your assumptions continuously, to read new situations, and to adjust your ideas in response to new evidence. In other words, studying the liberal arts will prepare you to navigate an ever-changing job landscape and adapt to whatever demands and requirements come to prevail in the future. Rather than tie yourself down to one particular field or skillset, why not develop your mind so you can be prepared for all variety of challenges and possibilities?
What will help Adoption Social Workers increase their earning potential?
Timothy Aubry: Try to think about what kind of job would be fulfilling and would allow you to do meaningful work that helps other people and not just think about what job will make the most money. Once you’ve decided on a field, be tireless and relentless in your search. Keep sending out cover letters, keep following up, keep trying. Don’t take rejections personally. It’s a hard market, and you have to search exhaustively in order to find a job that will truly make you happy.
What general advice would you give to an Adoption Social Worker?
Dr. Timmesha Butler-Davis PhD, LCSW: Social work encompasses a vast array of roles, making it challenging to pinpoint a specific day-to-day function. Social workers operate in a generalist capacity, providing direct services like therapy, case management, or client advocacy. Alternatively, they may engage in macro-level activities such as policy advocacy, organizational leadership, or education. A typical day might involve individual client sessions, documenting clinical notes, planning therapeutic interventions, or advocating on Capitol Hill. At its essence, social work strives to challenge social injustices and foster a more equitable society.
What Adoption Social Worker skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Timmesha Butler-Davis PhD, LCSW: Perhaps the most rewarding aspect of social work is its capacity for significant impact. Whether it's guiding someone through coping mechanisms in therapy or fostering empathy within marginalized communities, social workers play a pivotal role in effecting positive change. However, it's worth noting that the extensive documentation and writing required in this field are often perceived as less favorable aspects.
What will help Adoption Social Workers increase their earning potential?
Dr. Timmesha Butler-Davis PhD, LCSW: One of the greatest strengths of social work lies in its versatility. Given the continual evolution of social norms and societal shifts, the field offers remarkable longevity. Despite being a relatively young profession, social work is in a constant state of growth and adaptation, inherently tied to the needs of the communities it serves.
What general advice would you give to an Adoption Social Worker?
Jennifer Shadik: Social work can be a challenging profession. We are often helping people who have experienced trauma or are going through extremely difficult situations. We are there to help them navigate these challenges, while building on their strengths and resources. Helping people through these challenging circumstances and seeing them grow and change is very rewarding. Building relationships with people, helping them learn new knowledge and skills, and advocating for social and economic justice are gratifying aspects of being a social worker.
What Adoption Social Worker skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Jennifer Shadik: There is a great need for trained social workers. Social work is a vast profession and you will find social workers practicing with children in schools, providing care for behavioral health or substance use disorders, as well as working in hospitals and hospice care. There are many jobs for trained and licensed social workers; the social work degree is very flexible, allowing social workers to work with a variety of populations and problems.
What will help Adoption Social Workers increase their earning potential?
Jennifer Shadik: Social workers are involved in helping individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities in a variety of ways. Depending on the specific job, they may provide education, mediate conflict, connect individuals and families to resources, provide therapeutic intervention, and/or develop policies to help at an individual or national level.
What general advice would you give to an Adoption Social Worker?
Pamela Richmond Ph.D.: Challenges social workers can face are high caseloads, not enough resources to assist clients and exposure to horrific aspects of humanity. Social workers enjoy being a part of the change process by recognizing the strengths and resiliency of individuals, families, groups, organizations and communities. Workers advocate for individuals that are marginalized and oppressed, ensuring they have a voice. They enjoy looking at solutions to problems and empowering others to make changes beneficial for their lives.
What Adoption Social Worker skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Pamela Richmond Ph.D.: Social workers are trained to understand and intervene on three levels—micro (individuals and families), mezzo (formal groups and organizations) and macro (community and the broader society). Given the challenges currently taking place nationally and internationally such as poverty, immigration, abortion controversy, societal racism/discrimination and the war in the middle east, social workers are trained to intervene and advocate for change on a variety of system levels.
What will help Adoption Social Workers increase their earning potential?
Pamela Richmond Ph.D.: Social workers employed in a variety of diverse settings to include prisons, hospitals, child welfare, homeless shelters, nursing homes, substance abuse facilities, mental health facilities, community organizations and politics (and there are many, many more settings). The setting and the population of clients the social workers assist (children, youth, adults, etc.) will determine the specific day-to-day workload. However, general daily tasks completed regardless of the setting include interacting with clients/community constituents, responding to phone calls/e-mails, problem-solving, teamwork within the organization employed and/or with community constituents and documentation. Social workers entering the profession have fulfilled placement work during their educational training. Meaning, prior to graduation they have been placed in an agency working under the supervision of a social worker applying what they have learned in their coursework. As a result, when they begin their work as a social worker, they are ready to apply the knowledge, values and the skills they have learned to fulfill the tasks mentioned above.
What general advice would you give to an Adoption Social Worker?
Nancy Kelley PhD: The next 3-5 years may see some changes that will require certain skills to be even more important and prevalent in social work practice than ever before. One of the most pressing challenges social workers are currently facing is the extremely contentious political environment of the United States and the direct impact that has on equity and justice issues that have always been at the root of all social work efforts. The divisiveness that has been exacerbated in this country over the past several years has stifled social welfare policy efforts and has threatened social work education to effectively address longstanding and emerging social issues. Social workers will need to be especially adept at negotiating conflict embedded in divisive concepts and highly skilled to effect legislative change. This, combined with other unprecedented demographic and cultural changes, such as the aging of our population, increased cultural diversity and intersectionality within the U.S. population, and health and mental health crises, including illicit drug and addiction epidemics, make for extremely complex cases of vulnerable populations social workers serve. The level of knowledge and skill social workers must acquire and activate simultaneously, including trauma-informed approaches to be used cross-culturally, is immense. Another major need for advanced social work skills is with regard to the environment, including the effects of climate change on human conditions, and environmental justice. Some of these significant changes to the landscape of social work practice will force social workers to beef up their interprofessional and macro-practice skills. Lastly, I think the great unknown is related to technology--how to manage the digital ethics at the speed of technological advances will be essential to the field of social work.
What Adoption Social Worker skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Nancy Kelley PhD: Probably the first piece of advice I would give to graduates beginning their social work career is to keep an open mind-- one never knows what life might bring, so opportunities may arise that you weren't expecting. Every professional encounter provides an opportunity for experience and professional development that will inevitably advance one's career. Secondly, every professional experience, whether positive or negative, has take-aways and lessons learned so be prepared to find the silver lining in all you do. Third, don't give up; persistence and patience usually pays off in the long run when you are committed to a cause. Sometimes social workers undertake a lot of trial-and-error before successfully accomplishing our goals. Fourth, be sure to practice self-care; we cannot help other people if we do not care for ourselves first. We need to be able to 'practice what we preach,' so to speak, and give ourselves permission to prioritize self-care and seek support when needed. Lastly, remember that cultural competency is a life-long, career-long process. In order to expand our cultural competency, we need to continuously practice cultural humility when interfacing with diversity in all of its forms by embracing lifelong learning and self-reflection, mitigating power imbalances, and aspiring for institutional accountability.
What will help Adoption Social Workers increase their earning potential?
Nancy Kelley PhD: Unfortunately, everyone needs money and has bills to pay. Social work historically has been at the bottom of the totem pole when it comes to salaries, regardless of education level, professional licensure, etc. Oftentimes, social workers have felt the need to concede to making a difference over making money as if 'making a difference' and fulfilling our passion through our livelihood makes up for inequitable wages. I do think that sometimes it is true that social workers are overworked and underpaid. Even with one of my 'tips' for earning more money being to supplement your salary by taking on extra opportunities like consulting or having a private practice on the side or being an independent grant writer for nonprofits. However, that may help maximize earnings and be a great way to utilize diverse skill sets of a social worker and help to build your professional networks, it also perpetuates stress and the feeling of being overworked. So, that may not be an appealing option. A better strategy to maximize salary potential when starting your social work career, is to be assertive and learn the art and skill of negotiation. We (especially women and social workers) are not usually very good at selling ourselves and getting others to see our value. However, if you are able to emphasize your experiences and education and be comfortable with that, it will serve you well when navigating the job market. Before you get to that point however, I suggest taking advantage of whatever educational opportunities are available to you. For example, if you are working on your BSW, find a way to earn a minor or a certificate that will complement and supplement the BSW, such as a certificate in gerontology or a minor in criminal justice. Having some area of specialized training and education can give you an edge in the labor market. Likewise when working on an MSW-- is there an opportunity for a dual degree program or to adjunct your MSW with a certificate or other kind of specialized credential? Again, that opportunity will likely not present itself again and may very well increase your earning potential. Another strategy to help increase your salary is to be an active member of professional organizations; this gives you easy access to continuing education opportunities and for keeping up with the literature. Staying current with developments in the social work field and your particular area of practice can make you more valuable to employers and lead to higher salaries. Another strategy is to think outside the box-- there are a lot of social work jobs that might have alternative titles and have higher salaries attached to them, especially positions that might be more administrative or leadership positions-- for example a 'development director,' 'program coordinator,' 'community outreach specialist,' 'clinical supervisor,' 'social services director,' 'program evaluator,' 'quality assurance/improvement manager,' or the like. Additionally, looking for social work positions outside of the nonprofit world can also be a way to have higher earnings. More and more corporations and businesses are hiring social workers. Such positions might be something like being a social worker in an Employee Assistance Program or at a Student Counseling Center on a college campus or it could be a position with a corporation assisting with their corporate giving goals and efforts to give back to the community through community service of some kind-- social workers are good at organizing fundraising events and creating partnerships with nonprofits to help populations in need or specialized causes. Social workers are also hired by organizations such as United Way or Community Foundations who grant funds to nonprofit organizations and these entities often have opportunities for higher pay. Nowadays, social workers can be found in various nontraditional settings, such as hospital and healthcare systems, school systems, and government agencies, which often have higher salaries and more competitive benefits.
What general advice would you give to an Adoption Social Worker?
Dr. Michele Sneed DSW, LGSW: Social work is known for its versatility. The day-to-day activities can greatly vary depending on the work setting. Certain core responsibilities can be identified among social workers across various contexts. These include things such as; conducting assessments, advocating for clients' rights and needs, offering support and counseling, engaging in community outreach efforts, and documentation, among other duties. Although tasks may differ, the fundamental aspects of social work underscore the profession's commitment to promoting well-being, social justice, and empowerment for individuals and communities.
What Adoption Social Worker skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Dr. Michele Sneed DSW, LGSW: The profession of social work is experiencing a remarkable surge in employment opportunities, with projections indicating above-average growth. This combined with the profession's flexibility, competitive wages, and sense of fulfillment makes social work a wonderful career path.
What will help Adoption Social Workers increase their earning potential?
Dr. Michele Sneed DSW, LGSW: The concern frequently voiced by social workers is the documentation aspect of their work. While acknowledging its crucial role in accountability and transparency, social workers often find documentation to be time-consuming and tedious. This stems from the perception that excessive time spent on paperwork detracts from the meaningful interactions they could be having with the individuals and communities they serve.
Matthew Cuellar
Associate Professor and BSW Program ChairUniversity of Alaska Anchorage
Social Work
What general advice would you give to an Adoption Social Worker?
Matthew Cuellar: Understanding how to use AI, balancing ethics in a changing and increasingly diverse world, and incorporating fresh and new perspectives in to old and unchanged processes within rigid climates. Respect and understanding of all voices is and will continue to be key to effective social work practice, education, and scholarship.
What Adoption Social Worker skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Matthew Cuellar: Pave a road that involves work you love to do. Maximizing salary potential is not just about making more money. It is about striking the optimal life/work balance for compensation that a given individual finds acceptable to meet their unique needs.
What will help Adoption Social Workers increase their earning potential?
Matthew Cuellar: Be familiar with licensure and/or other professional requirements and keep your long-term goal in focus. Network as much as possible, and be open to different perspectives and ideas that you might not be familiar with. Choose a path that involves working within your passion, and be proud to be a change agent for the people you represent.
What general advice would you give to an Adoption Social Worker?
Monica Bies: It can make sense to have a salary range in mind and do not hesitate to negotiate. Although it may feel uncomfortable, it is a regular and accepted practice. A new social worker might also ask about various roles and opportunities for growth and advancement within the agency.
What Adoption Social Worker skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?
Monica Bies: I can’t emphasize enough the importance of consistent and supportive supervision that allows one to continue to expand knowledge and skills.
What will help Adoption Social Workers increase their earning potential?
Monica Bies: An ability to incorporate anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices and policies that advance equity in all settings in which we live and work.
What general advice would you give to an Adoption Social Worker?
Andrew Schoolnik: Saying 'yes' to as many challenges and tasks as possible. The accumulation of these experiences will create new opportunities and the cumulation of myriad opportunities is central to career advancement. The 2021 revision to the Social Work Code of Ethics includes the importance of self-care, and saying 'yes' must be balanced with this.
What will help Adoption Social Workers increase their earning potential?
Emily Yowell Ph.D.: Psychologists should be aware of what others in their field are making for similar positions. It is important to ask for what your work is worth in an initial position to assure raises are based on a solid starting salary. Newer psychologists may also consider asking for an early review that prompts an early conversation around potential raises, bonus, or other job benefits.
Kacie Blalock Ph.D.
Associate Professor; Director, Master of CounselingLouisiana State University at Shreveport
Department Of Psychology
What soft skills should all Adoption Social Workers possess?
Kacie Blalock Ph.D.: Soft skills that are essential for counselors include emotional intelligence, empathy, multicultural competency, interpersonal abilities, and authenticity.
What are the best companies to work for an Adoption Social Worker?
Dr. April Jones: The feedback from business leaders is that they wish to see a balanced mix of new graduates' skills. An unexpected gift mentioned is the ability to use spreadsheets, such as Excel. Companies do not expect to train new employees to use spreadsheets, though it turned out that spreadsheets are widely used (at varying levels of complexity) at all levels in organizations. An assumption here is that if a graduate already has good spreadsheet skills, then the graduate should also have the ability to quickly pick up on other, more complex business IT skills required by the organization.
Businesses also need to know if their new employees can effectively interact with internal or external audiences. In this regard, excellent presentation skills are the minimum expectation from businesses. Presentation skills (both formal and informal) include the ability to read people, communicate, and convey information appropriately to the different types of audiences they may encounter - and these may sometimes include bored, skeptical, adversarial, or even hostile audiences.
Every organization also requires graduates to show that they are good team-players. In addition to that, it is a significant advantage if graduates can also demonstrate good leadership skills in the context of teamwork. This is because new employees with leadership potential are viewed as those who are willing to go the extra mile, able to function with minimum supervision, can roll with the punches to jump back into the fray, and trusted to welcome (instead of to avoid) new assignments or challenges. Leadership skills are also seen as closely aligned with the possession of a corporate entrepreneurial mindset. Such employees are more willing to challenge the status quo, come up with out-of-the-box ideas, and help lead transformation efforts to guide the organization in the future.
Will there be an increase or decrease in demand for Adoption Social Workers in the next 5 years?
Dr. April Jones: Business skills are in great demand anywhere where there is a desire to organize human beings for productive gains. Realistically, new graduates always have to consider if they should relocate for their first jobs. This is because it is natural for business cycles to expand or contract over time in patterns that may not be in sync with the timing of new graduates entering the workforce. For instance, the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic has frozen certain types of jobs in businesses but has expanded other types of jobs instead. This means that new opportunities are being created, but these may be located in other parts of the country.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Adoption Social Workers to find work opportunities?
Dr. April Jones: Large organizations will likely continue to invest in data-mining efforts to understand their supply chain dynamics better. Smaller companies (defined as those with reduced access to funding) will probably make increased use of cloud computing applications to remain competitive. Governments, verification, or certification organizations may invest in blockchain technologies to reliably track sources or destinations of goods.
Benjamin Sher
DirectorNYU Silver School of Social Work
Office of Global and Lifelong Learning
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Adoption Social Workers?
Benjamin Sher: From my perspective as Director of NYU Silver's Office of Global and Lifelong Learning and former President of NASW-NYC, I would say absolutely. NASW National has pushed for professional social workers to be recognized as front-line workers. This does, unfortunately, differentiate PSW a bit from essential workers (doctors, nurses, allied health professionals). However, we have been and will continue to be a key part of the pandemic. There is more of a need for social workers as we see the emotional and social impacts of the virus on people. Professional social workers are the largest provider of mental health services in the country, and we are needed now more than ever.
The inequities in health care that the virus has exposed in our society has also made it essential for social workers to be a part of the solution to the social determinants of health and health disparities. Social Workers, trained in using a systems analysis and person-in-environment perspective, are key to grasping the pandemic problem as a public health issue, and we are very effective at organizing and addressing multiple biological-psychological-social-environmental-justice-spiritual needs for people and communities impacted by the virus. Many schools of social work have been outreached by their local governments to support the contract tracing efforts needed for widespread testing. This happened in both NY and NJ, and NASW-NYC advocated with NY State leadership to hire graduating students and MSW interns as contact tracers. An Op-Ed in City Limits was written on it.
Also - as that many community-based organizations have transitioned to telehealth and tele-mental health services and continue to remain so even as certain parts of the tri-state area are opening up, students who have had internship experience in this model will be very attractive graduating candidates this year.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Adoption Social Workers to find work opportunities?
Benjamin Sher: This is by no means a perfect science, but this map shows you the distribution of social work members in NASW. This, along with the licensing statistics you should be able to find through every state licensing board (e.g., see New York State), should help paint the picture of how many social workers may exist in a particular region or area. I believe that North Carolina has become a growing area for social work, and as you can see, the tri-state area (e.g., NJ, CT, NYC, and NY) are all very attractive places for social workers. To find work opportunities, as is California. Please note these lists do not include unlicensed social workers in a state or region, or social workers who are not members of NASW.
How do you envision technology impacting Adoption Social Workers in the next 5 years?
Benjamin Sher: Technology will have a significant impact on the field. As a matter of fact NASW revised its Code of Ethics in 2017 to include issues around the field and technology (e.g., use of social media with current and former patients, confidentiality, and using safe and secure online sites to engage in the treatment, etc.). Federal and State governments have relaxed requirements around HIPAA and reimbursement for services due to COVID-19.
It is hard to say how long this will last; however, there is no doubt that technology will play a large role in the treatment of people, groups, communities, and organizations served by social workers in the next five years. Access to technology must be a human rights issue, and social workers serve as advocates for the populations they serve in order to have fair, equitable, efficient, low-cost access to online services. Organizations must be given the support to build up their technical infrastructure to support this exponential growth in technology treatment and care.
Will there be an enduring impact of the coronavirus pandemic on Adoption Social Workers?
Mary Garrison: I do think that COVID-19 will have a lasting impact on graduates both psychologically and economically. Graduates this year are experiencing a year like no other - not only is their senior year and graduation experiences altered, but the opportunities ahead are very different from in the past. Due to COVID-19, how "we do business" is different and therefore challenges both agencies/non-profits as well as those looking for their first professional job. There is a great need for front line work to be accomplished, COVID-19, or not. Graduates need to be open, flexible, and take on the challenge of what opportunities come their way.
Are there any particularly good places in the United States for Adoption Social Workers to find work opportunities?
Mary Garrison: Social work and human service employment opportunities are available across our nation. Opportunities are available across our nation in large or small cities. Specifically, rural areas are in SIGNIFICANT need of helping professionals, so those areas may provide incentives to encourage graduates to apply for opportunities.
How do you envision technology impacting Adoption Social Workers in the next 5 years?
Mary Garrison: Technology is here, and we have known that the role of technology has a place in the work we do. COVID-19 has forced us to implement technology in ways that we were not comfortable in doing so across the social work profession...we were thinking about it, listening, but not ready to jump in as a profession. COVID-19 forced us to do just that. All of the technology that is available offers an opportunity for connection, support, and healing, and as we move forward. We must understand how those seeking treatment have to be best served on an individual and group basis.
Dr. Tommy Casarez Ph.D.
Dr., Assistant Professor of Historical and Systematic TheologyVanguard University
Religion, Undergraduate Religion
What general advice would you give to an Adoption Social Worker?
Dr. Tommy Casarez Ph.D.: Opportunities come in many different shapes and sizes, but they are still out there. Whether you are seeking to land a job in education or the non-profit sector, you will need to familiarize yourself and get used to all things digital, for the sake of communicating effectively. The younger your student or service partner's mindset, the more digitally savvy you will need to be, especially in the classroom and in the non-profit world.
Lesley Casarez Ph.D.
Director, Quality Enhancement Plan Program Coordinator, M.S. Professional School Counseling Associate Professor, Curriculum and InstructionAngelo State University
Department of Curriculum and Instruction
What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for Adoption Social Workers in the next 3-5 years?
Lesley Casarez Ph.D.: Graduates will need to learn to use technology in which virtual platforms are taking place and web conferencing platforms. Numerous platforms are being used, so the particular platform itself is not as crucial as being well-versed in how virtual education differs from face-to-face environments. Typically, the instructional role in online learning is more of a facilitator, as the educator guides the students to think critically, integrate, and apply new knowledge. This may be difficult for educators who would rather stand in front of a classroom and pass on their knowledge through lecture-based formats. Additionally, being well-versed in various web conferencing platforms will benefit graduates, as they move into a career that is currently requiring communication in virtual environments.