How To Become A Family Manager: What It Is and Career Path

What is a family manager and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Family managers work with vulnerable families and help them move past their trauma. They may work with families that have been involved in abuse cases or are in danger of being separated. Family managers provide a variety of services to keep families together and especially to protect children from abuse. They may connect families to other services, such as healthcare, mental health providers, and community-based resources. They can provide case management during a family's legal battle. Family managers usually work with a whole team of social workers or family support workers and may supervise other staff, write reports to share information, or lead meetings.

Family managers need to know a lot about child welfare and social work in order to provide families with the support that they need. Many have bachelor's or master's degrees in social work, although it is possible to succeed in this position with a high school diploma alone.

Many family managers have previous experience as family support workers or child welfare specialists. On average, they earn $53,861 a year.

ScoreFamily ManagerUS Average

Salary

3.5

Avg. Salary $44,666

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

9.7

Growth rate 12%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

5.3

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.88%

Asian 5.14%

Black or African American 11.17%

Hispanic or Latino 14.30%

Unknown 5.37%

White 63.14%

Gender

female 76.58%

male 23.42%

Age - 45

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 - 45

Stress level

9.7

Stress level is very high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

5.0

Work life balance is fair

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a family manager

Explore family manager education requirements

Most common family manager degrees

Bachelor's

58.8 %

Associate

14.5 %

Master's

14.1 %

Start to develop specific family manager skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	30.94%
Community Resources	9.11%
Child Safety	5.20%
Foster Care	5.16%
Care Management	4.92%

Complete relevant family manager training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 6-12 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New family managers 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 family manager based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real family manager resumes.

Research family manager duties and responsibilities

Manage caseloads for Medicaid; interviewing and instructing clients in proper preparation of documentation.
Train coordinators and supervisors in leadership skills, and how to maintain professional therapeutic relationships with individuals and families serve.
Provide information and linkages to other entitlement services such as; ISP, SSI and food stamps.

Prepare your family manager resume

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

Choose from 10+ customizable family manager resume templates

Build a professional family manager 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 family manager resume.