Explore jobs
Find specific jobs
Explore careers
Explore professions
Best companies
Explore companies
The differences between child protective specialists and child life specialists can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. While it typically takes 2-4 years to become a child protective specialist, becoming a child life specialist takes usually requires 6-12 months. Additionally, a child life specialist has an average salary of $55,201, which is higher than the $52,032 average annual salary of a child protective specialist.
The top three skills for a child protective specialist include social work, social services and mental health. The most important skills for a child life specialist are patients, child development, and patient care.
| Child Protective Specialist | Child Life Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $52,032 | $55,201 |
| Hourly rate | $25.02 | $26.54 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 12% |
| Number of jobs | 75,325 | 90,517 |
| Job satisfaction | 5 | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 76% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Average age | 42 | 43 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 12 |
A Child Protective Specialist is a social worker who handles suspected cases of abuse and neglect in children. They focus on performing research and investigation, conducting home visits and inspections, interviewing families and potential witnesses, gathering evidence, and reaching out to hospitals or schools to collect and analyze data. Through the findings of their investigation, a Child Protective Specialist draws conclusions and develops recommendations for the children's safety and welfare. Moreover, there are instances where they conduct interventions, refer families to other agencies, or coordinate with law enforcement.
The job of a child life specialist is to help children and their families navigate the process of injury, illness, trauma, hospitalization, and disability. These health care professionals perform varied duties that include helping children and their families better understand the procedure and process of their medical experience. They also work on developing strategies to lessen the trauma and improve their understanding of a diagnosis by providing support, guidance, and information to family members. They are also expected to work closely with other members of the health care team in coordinating and managing care.
Child protective specialists and child life specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Child Protective Specialist | Child Life Specialist | |
| Average salary | $52,032 | $55,201 |
| Salary range | Between $41,000 And $65,000 | Between $31,000 And $96,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | New Jersey | California |
| Best paying company | Children's National Medical Center | L.E.K. Consulting |
| Best paying industry | Professional | - |
There are a few differences between a child protective specialist and a child life specialist in terms of educational background:
| Child Protective Specialist | Child Life Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 76% | Bachelor's Degree, 67% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Psychology |
| Most common college | SUNY at Albany | Northwestern University |
Here are the differences between child protective specialists' and child life specialists' demographics:
| Child Protective Specialist | Child Life Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 43 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 21.2% Female, 78.8% | Male, 24.9% Female, 75.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 13.4% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 2.7% White, 63.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.5% | Black or African American, 10.2% Unknown, 4.9% Hispanic or Latino, 15.6% Asian, 7.0% White, 60.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 11% |