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The differences between family educators and child support specialists 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 support specialist. Additionally, a child support specialist has an average salary of $38,271, 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 support specialist are customer service, social work, and child support cases.
| Family Educator | Child Support Specialist | |
| Yearly salary | $35,404 | $38,271 |
| Hourly rate | $17.02 | $18.40 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 9% |
| Number of jobs | 24,959 | 143,623 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 5 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| 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 support specialist is primarily in charge of monitoring child support payments, ensuring individuals with financial obligations comply with the legal settlement terms. They mainly work in the legal industry, where their responsibilities include assessing the clients' financial situations, gathering and analyzing financial statements, performing interviews and follow-up calls, and producing regular progress reports. Furthermore, as a child support specialist, it is essential to maintain records of all transactions and procedures, resolving issues and concerns should there be any.
Family educators and child support specialists have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Family Educator | Child Support Specialist | |
| Average salary | $35,404 | $38,271 |
| Salary range | Between $25,000 And $50,000 | Between $29,000 And $49,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Rockville, MD |
| Highest paying state | - | New Jersey |
| Best paying company | - | University of Rochester |
| Best paying industry | - | Government |
There are a few differences between a family educator and a child support specialist in terms of educational background:
| Family Educator | Child Support Specialist | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 63% | Bachelor's Degree, 60% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Psychology |
| Most common college | California State University - Long Beach | University of Pennsylvania |
Here are the differences between family educators' and child support specialists' demographics:
| Family Educator | Child Support Specialist | |
| Average age | 42 | 42 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 19.7% Female, 80.3% | Male, 19.9% Female, 80.1% |
| 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, 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% |