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

What is a family protection specialist and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a family protection specialist. For example, did you know that they make an average of $19.05 an hour? That's $39,627 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 9% and produce 64,000 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreFamily Protection SpecialistUS Average

Salary

3.1

Avg. Salary $39,627

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 88.57%

male 11.43%

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 family protection specialist

Explore family protection specialist education requirements

Most common family protection specialist degrees

Bachelor's

73.3 %

Master's

17.9 %

Associate

7.3 %

Start to develop specific family protection specialist skills

Skills	Percentages
Social Work	27.51%
Child Abuse	15.21%
Foster Children	6.94%
Vulnerable Adults	5.53%
Risk Assessments	5.04%

Complete relevant family protection specialist training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New family protection specialists 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 protection specialist based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real family protection specialist resumes.

Research family protection specialist duties and responsibilities

Help children/youth in state custody achieve permanency whether through reintegration, adoption or custodianship.
Mediate conflicts between patients, handle medical emergencies, assist patients in developing and implementing positive and cooperative living skills.
Testify in youth and chancery court when warrant.
Determine participants' eligibility for program by gathering data and maintaining information to ensure clients are compliant for TANF program regulations.

Prepare your family protection specialist resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your family protection specialist 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 protection specialist 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 protection specialist resume templates

Build a professional family protection specialist 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 protection specialist resume.

Apply for family protection specialist jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a family protection specialist job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do family protection specialists rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Family protection specialist reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jan 2024

Pros

The children are always worth it.

Cons

Stressful, dangerous neighborhoods, sometimes parents are dangerous as well. Work life balance isn't good. Documentation is very time consuming and you will bring that home to finish. If your agency requires that you do your app recorded time sheets then that will prove ardously time consuming constaint that cuts right into your work/home life balance...it's terrible. Wear and tear on your car, no shows from parents upsetting children and paid mileage is horrible. Get ready to barely have a life.