How To Become A Case Planner: What It Is and Career Path

What is a case planner and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Debra Minsky-Kelly

The last defense for many dysfunctional families is a case planner. This can be a very high-stressful job but one that is also rewarding.

A case planner works to protect abused or neglected children by working with families to treat their unhealthy dynamics and heal moving forward. This can involve working with children or families one-on-one, visiting children at school or at home, and connecting families to other community resources.

A typical case planner works with ten or fifteen families, conducts regular visits, and fills out lots of paperwork. This means that this is not just a 9 to 5 position in a comfy office but involves a lot of long hours and fieldwork. For many case planners, the reward of helping families is worth the extra work.

What general advice would you give to a case planner?

Debra Minsky-Kelly

Director of Field Education / Clinical Assistant Professor of Social Work, Carthage College

I think there are two critical skills for social workers, whether they are first entering the workforce or seasoned professionals. These skills are humility and an appreciation for ambiguity in our work. A humble approach to our work empowers clients to become experts on their circumstances. Social workers are then positioned in a collaborative role to help clients use existing skills and resources to improve their situations. An appreciation for ambiguity is closely related to the idea of humility. It helps us to remember that practice situations we face in this field are often far more complicated than they appear on the surface. Thus, all social workers need to make a strong commitment to lifelong learning and ongoing consultation with colleagues to ensure that multiple perspectives are included as we work to solve complex problems.

ScoreCase PlannerUS Average

Salary

3.4

Avg. Salary $43,496

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

8.9

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

10.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 2.16%

Asian 6.10%

Black or African American 12.34%

Hispanic or Latino 25.88%

Unknown 5.17%

White 48.35%

Gender

female 80.79%

male 19.21%

Age - 43

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 43

Stress level

8.9

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.1

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a case planner

Explore case planner education requirements

Most common case planner degrees

Bachelor's

70.2 %

Master's

23.9 %

Associate

4.4 %

Start to develop specific case planner skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	17.57%
Foster Care	16.32%
NYC	4.85%
Substance Abuse	4.75%
Crisis Intervention	4.56%

Complete relevant case planner training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New case planners learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a case planner based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real case planner resumes.

Research case planner duties and responsibilities

Manage a caseload of families with children in DSS custody awaiting return home to family of origin base upon progress make.
Keep current on Medicaid rates/services they will reimburse for Medicaid recipients.
Sign patients up for all Medicare and Medicaid benefits that are offer to them.
Perform concurrent review to assure appropriateness of admission, inpatient/acute care, rehabilitation/SNF status, and discharge using establish InterQual guidelines.

Prepare your case planner resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your case planner resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a case planner resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable case planner resume templates

Build a professional case planner resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your case planner resume.