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The differences between family educators and child protective investigators can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. It typically takes 2-4 years to become both a family educator and a child protective investigator. Additionally, a child protective investigator has an average salary of $47,903, which is higher than the $35,404 average annual salary of a family educator.
The top three skills for a family educator include social work, child development and CPR. The most important skills for a child protective investigator are patrol, social work, and local law enforcement.
| Family Educator | Child Protective Investigator | |
| Yearly salary | $35,404 | $47,903 |
| Hourly rate | $17.02 | $23.03 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 24,959 | 15,938 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Years of experience | 4 | 4 |
A family educator ensures that parents are educated on their family members' nutritional, medical, and educational needs. These educators support and encourage self-sufficiency for the family that they work with by helping navigate family problems. They enable parents to obtain the education and skills to raise physically, emotionally, and psychologically healthy children. Family educators must have strong communication skills, good decision-making skills, strong self-esteem, and knowledge of human development.
A child protective investigator is responsible for investigating incident reports for child-violating cases, collecting court evidence of child abuse, and keeping the child under safe custody for protection. Child protective investigators conduct field investigations by locating the area of concern, interviewing witnesses, and analyzing similar cases of violence. They coordinate with medical professionals to check the child's condition and record any signs of trauma and injuries. A child protective investigator may also attend court procedures to represent the child and testify to press charges with the abuser.
Family educators and child protective investigators have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Family Educator | Child Protective Investigator | |
| Average salary | $35,404 | $47,903 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $50,000 | Between $37,000 And $61,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Camden, NJ |
| Highest paying state | - | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | - | Saks Fifth Avenue |
| Best paying industry | - | Government |
There are a few differences between a family educator and a child protective investigator in terms of educational background:
| Family Educator | Child Protective Investigator | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 73% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Criminal Justice |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | SUNY at Albany |
Here are the differences between family educators' and child protective investigators' demographics:
| Family Educator | Child Protective Investigator | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 19.7% Female, 80.3% | Male, 32.4% Female, 67.6% |
| 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, 13.4% Unknown, 4.2% Hispanic or Latino, 15.1% Asian, 2.7% White, 63.1% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.5% |
| LGBT Percentage | 10% | 10% |