How To Become A Child Welfare Worker: What It Is and Career Path

What is a child welfare worker and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted expert

Virginia Schwindt

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a child welfare worker. For example, did you know that they make an average of $23.09 an hour? That's $48,032 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 64,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a child welfare worker?

Virginia Schwindt

MSW Field Director/Associate Professor, Union University

Take the licensing test as soon as you are able to, and be open to where you work. It is great to want a specific population or employer, but being open to other experiences may be where God wants you to be. Don't limit yourself because, as a social worker, you can do so many different things.

ScoreChild Welfare WorkerUS Average

Salary

3.8

Avg. Salary $48,032

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

10.0

Growth rate 9%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

9.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.51%

Asian 2.67%

Black or African American 13.37%

Hispanic or Latino 15.12%

Unknown 4.19%

White 63.14%

Gender

female 78.68%

male 21.32%

Age - 42

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 - 42

Stress level

10.0

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.5

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

6.2

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a child welfare worker

Explore child welfare worker education requirements

Most common child welfare worker degrees

Bachelor's

58.4 %

Master's

34.1 %

Associate

5.1 %

Start to develop specific child welfare worker skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	18.54%
Community Resources	10.58%
Social Services	8.91%
Mediation	8.11%
Law Enforcement	6.84%

Complete relevant child welfare worker training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New child welfare workers 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 child welfare worker based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real child welfare worker resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming a licensed child welfare worker usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed child welfare worker in most of states. 32 states require child welfare workers to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Kansas	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Licensed Master Social Worker
Alabama	Degree required	State exam required	Licensed Bachelor Social Worker (LBSW)
Arkansas	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Licensed Certified Social Worker
Hawaii	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Licensed Social Worker
Idaho	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Social Workers

Research child welfare worker duties and responsibilities

Help children/youth in state custody achieve permanency whether through reintegration, adoption or custodianship.
Counsele veterans and Medi-Cal clients individually to provide behavioral interventions in order to address their anxiety, depression and anger.
Provide need base services to clients in the DHS system.
Review and approve routine correspondence; compile and report caseload statistics on weekly basis to team supervisor using SACWIS technology.

Prepare your child welfare worker resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your child welfare worker 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 child welfare worker resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable child welfare worker resume templates

Build a professional child welfare worker 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 child welfare worker resume.