What does a child welfare specialist do?
Child welfare specialists are professionals who are responsible for protecting children and youngsters from harm by visiting their homes and other residential facilities to investigate their living conditions. These specialists are required to determine the suitability of the homes and resources of foster and adoptive parents for child placement. They must serve as child advocates by attending court proceedings to provide inclusive court proceedings. Child welfare specialists must also work closely with local enforcement to ensure the safety of children.
Child welfare specialist responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real child welfare specialist resumes:
- Manage TANF program, in turn this help clients develop skills to enter the workforce.
- Provide comprehensive case management to DCFS clients and their families to achieve case goals as outlined in the client service plan.
- Manage a caseload TANF clients, assess clients eligibility to receive benefits, assist with placement of clients in various programs.
- Complete behavior, mood and communication sections assign to social services on the MDS.
- Advocate for the rights of incapacitate adults who are the alleged victims in APS referrals.
- Assist clients in resolving conflicts with DHS workers or service providers while maintaining professionalism in an emotionally charge climate.
- Managed/Monitore children while in DHS custody.
- Provide comprehensive case management to DCFS intact families by assessing family functioning.
- Facilitate qualitative surveys to patients and family members to review and evaluate programs.
- Assess potential patients for clinical appropriateness and funding; provide intake for appropriate patients.
- Educate clients on programs as well as encouraged rehabilitation practice attentive and active listening skills critical to each client/customer/case.
- Review applicant documentation to determine eligibility for state and federal aid programs, including Medicaid, food stamps and emergency assistance.
- Enter all notes about services and contacts make with families and services providers using the SACWIS database system.
- Mentore and evaluate BSW interns.
- Establish parentage by performing client DNA samples to be send to LabCorp.
Child welfare specialist skills and personality traits
We calculated that 30% of Child Welfare Specialists are proficient in Social Work, Foster Care, and Child Safety. They’re also known for soft skills such as Emotional skills, Communication skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Child Welfare Specialists that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Social Work, 30%
Consulted with supervisor regularly to ensure effective social work practice.
- Foster Care, 16%
Maintained documentation on individual plan development and accomplishments and decreased the number of children in foster care system.
- Child Safety, 4%
Entered information gathered during investigations in Access in an effort to assess child safety and validity of allegations.
- Child Welfare, 4%
Facilitated reunification of families involved in the Child Welfare system through the development and implementation of individual service plans.
- Court Hearings, 3%
Testified at court hearings regarding family reunification, termination of parental rights and safety plans.
- Community Resources, 3%
Arranged and encouraged parent and children to engage with service providers and community resources that make reasonable progress towards parent/child reunification.
Common skills that a child welfare specialist uses to do their job include "social work," "foster care," and "child safety." You can find details on the most important child welfare specialist responsibilities below.
Communication skills. Another essential skill to perform child welfare specialist duties is communication skills. Child welfare specialists responsibilities require that "clients talk to social workers about challenges in their lives." Child welfare specialists also use communication skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "maintained communication with clients, biological parents, foster parents and service providers by face- to-face, in-home and telephone contact. "
Problem-solving skills. Another skill that relates to the job responsibilities of child welfare specialists is problem-solving skills. This skill is critical to many everyday child welfare specialist duties, as "social workers must analyze their clients’ complex situations and develop practical solutions." This example from a resume shows how this skill is used: "achieved a 100%/zero deficiency rating on state survey social services automation design consultant select software solutions. "
Compassion. child welfare specialist responsibilities often require "compassion." The duties that rely on this skill are shown by the fact that "social workers often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." This resume example shows what child welfare specialists do with compassion on a typical day: "interact with all animals with compassion and concern for their well-being. "
The three companies that hire the most child welfare specialists are:
- ICF52 child welfare specialists jobs
- Bethany for Children & Families
12 child welfare specialists jobs
- Children's Home Society of Florida6 child welfare specialists jobs
Choose from 10+ customizable child welfare specialist resume templates
Build a professional child welfare specialist resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your child welfare specialist resume.Compare different child welfare specialists
Child welfare specialist vs. Advocate
An advocate is a voice for the voiceless. It is their responsibility to speak on behalf of an individual or a particular cause. Most of the duties will vary depending on the line of organization or duty involved; however, an advocate must have extensive knowledge or background on the subject matter. Furthermore, an advocate must be present at gatherings regarding the cause, assist in the negotiation and mediation processes involving contracts and legal documentation, provide or convey accurate information, and defend what they represent.
There are some key differences in the responsibilities of each position. For example, child welfare specialist responsibilities require skills like "social work," "foster care," "child safety," and "child welfare." Meanwhile a typical advocate has skills in areas such as "cpr," "customer service," "developmental disabilities," and "cleanliness." This difference in skills reveals the differences in what each career does.
Advocates tend to make the most money working in the government industry, where they earn an average salary of $40,536. In contrast, child welfare specialists make the biggest average salary, $48,390, in the technology industry.The education levels that advocates earn slightly differ from child welfare specialists. In particular, advocates are 6.9% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a child welfare specialist. Additionally, they're 1.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Child welfare specialist vs. Service counselor
Service counselors provide guidance to couples, individuals, groups, and families who are going through issues that influence their well-being and mental health. They comprehensively approach their clients by utilizing a "wellness" model that focuses on and motivate the client's potentials. Their duties include inspiring clients to talk about their emotions and experiences, helping them determine their action plans and goals, as well as designing therapeutic methods. Also, they may refer their clients to other services or psychologists.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, child welfare specialist responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "foster care," "child safety," "child welfare," and "adoptive parents." Meanwhile, a service counselor has duties that require skills in areas such as "patients," "support services," "rehabilitation," and "customer service." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Service counselors may earn a lower salary than child welfare specialists, but service counselors earn the most pay in the education industry with an average salary of $43,030. On the other hand, child welfare specialists receive higher pay in the technology industry, where they earn an average salary of $48,390.In general, service counselors achieve similar levels of education than child welfare specialists. They're 2.6% less likely to obtain a Master's Degree while being 1.4% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for child welfare specialists in the next 3-5 years?
MSW Field Director/Associate Professor, Union University
Child welfare specialist vs. Counselor
Often, counselors are known to be the go-to person in times we are in need of emotional and psychological support. They help people to manage and overcome the issues which affect their mental health and well-being. Counselors face different kind of situations which may involve trauma, addiction, disabilities, abuse, suicide, anger management, career, and even personal relationships. They provide care, counseling, rehabilitation, and support services. Every counseling requires collaborative effort both from the counselor and client to become effective.
Some important key differences between the two careers include a few of the skills necessary to fulfill the responsibilities of each. Some examples from child welfare specialist resumes include skills like "foster care," "child safety," "child welfare," and "court hearings," whereas a counselor is more likely to list skills in "patients," "cpr," "family therapy," and "mental health issues. "
Counselors earn the highest salary when working in the education industry, where they receive an average salary of $37,750. Comparatively, child welfare specialists have the highest earning potential in the technology industry, with an average salary of $48,390.Most counselors achieve a similar degree level compared to child welfare specialists. For example, they're 0.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.3% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Child welfare specialist vs. Family support worker
A family service worker is a social service agent who assesses the needs of family and promotes wellbeing, social justice, and human rights through governmental and social service agencies. Family service workers offer services that can include counseling and mediation to families that will help them navigate the protocols of the social system. They act as liaisons between families facing problems and different government organizations. Family service workers also ensure that families in need are getting the benefits they are entitled to, as well as help them access various community resources.
Types of child welfare specialist
Updated January 8, 2025











