What are career paths in social work?

Child welfare, case management, and addiction counseling are career paths in social work. Here is a more detailed look at these career paths and others in social work:

• Child welfare specialist

  Child welfare specialists make sure children are protected and safe by ensuring that the environments they live in meet certain standards. They also get children necessary medical care and access to schooling. The job can present many difficult decisions, like determining whether or not a child should be removed from their current home.

  In cases where a child is removed from their home, a child welfare specialist will seek out and interview prospective foster and adoptive parents for the child. They also schedule visitation hours with biological and non-biological parents, and represent the child in any court proceedings.

  Lastly, a child welfare specialist also supervises the home life of a child, whether in biological parent, foster parent, or adoptive parent care. They do this by making frequent visits to the child's home.

• Case manager

  Case managers work in the social service or healthcare industry. They may focus on one specific area, such as, family services, geriatric services, mental health care, rehabilitation services, or education. In these areas they act as an advocate for clients and medical patients.

  Some common tasks include meeting with patients and the teams that care for them, filling out paperwork or helping clients to fill out paperwork, developing care plans, and making home visitations to clients to assess their progress.

• Addiction counselor

  Addiction counselors focus on helping clients and groups struggling with substance abuse and other related issues. They often act as a therapist and talk with a client in the hopes to find the foundational causes for their addiction problems. They also provide guidance on how a client can handle life sober. Often they are utilized in conjunction with 12-step programs.

  In addition, these counselors also may work with the family members of an addict. Providing them with the opportunity to air their concerns and grievances, while also giving them advice on how to better deal with the situation.

  Addiction counselors work in hospitals, drug rehabilitation centers, inpatient care centers, outpatient care centers, and sometimes in private offices.

• Medical social worker

  A medical social worker seeks to offer assistance to medical patients and their families by helping them cope with emotional and psychological, social, and financial situations that come with the diagnosis and/or treatment of serious, chronic, or fatal diseases or illnesses. They also educate patients and families on entitlements, health insurance coverage, and community resources.

  Medical social workers can also provide the service of counseling through individual or group therapy sessions. Oftentimes, they will advocate for healthy lifestyles for patients, and communities as a whole.

• Clinical social worker

  A clinical social worker is a licensed mental health professional. They offer counseling services to specific at-risk individuals or groups. Some may also focus specifically on families or children. They help clients by directing them towards social programs, resources, and services that will have a positive impact on their lives.

  Oftentimes, clinical social workers work in conjunction with teams that include other social workers, doctors, nurses, teachers, psychologists, and counselors.

  They are licensed to assess a patient's mental health and give a diagnosis. In addition, they devise treatment plans and have counseling sessions with their patients, with the goal of bettering the patient's mental state.