What is a Family Worker?

Some families need a little extra help in order to succeed. They may need extra financial resources, information on navigating the school system, and support as they learn to relate to each other. A family worker works together to helps parents and children with special needs navigate the world.

The family worker's job sometimes overlaps with that of a family support worker. They provide all kinds of support that a family may need. They may help a family navigate the process of applying for government assistance, educate parents on parenting skills, and work together to develop a child development plan.

Family workers take care of any other needs that may pop up for a family. Often this means working around a family's schedule and working nights or weekends. Family workers often get out of the office and conduct home visits in order to help the families they work with. This is not your typical office job, and many family workers say it is more rewarding than one.

What Does a Family Worker Do

There are certain skills that many family workers have in order to accomplish their responsibilities. By taking a look through resumes, we were able to narrow down the most common skills for a person in this position. We discovered that a lot of resumes listed emotional skills, communication skills and interpersonal skills.

How To Become a Family Worker

If you're interested in becoming a family worker, one of the first things to consider is how much education you need. We've determined that 64.4% of family workers have a bachelor's degree. In terms of higher education levels, we found that 13.5% of family workers have master's degrees. Even though most family workers have a college degree, it's possible to become one with only a high school degree or GED.

Learn More About How To Become a Family Worker

Top Family Worker Jobs Near You

Family Worker Career Paths

In addition to switching up your job search, it might prove helpful to look at a career path for your specific job. Now, what's a career path you ask? Well, it's practically a map that shows how you might advance from one job title to another. Our career paths are especially detailed with salary changes. So, for example, if you started out with the role of case manager you might progress to a role such as clinical supervisor eventually. Later on in your career, you could end up with the title clinical director.

Top Careers Before Family Worker

Internship (51,064 Jobs)

17.2 %

Case Manager (84,959 Jobs)

8.8 %

Teacher Assistant (77,358 Jobs)

7.5 %

Top Careers After Family Worker

Case Manager (84,959 Jobs)

14.1 %

Social Worker (77,340 Jobs)

10.6 %

Therapist (159,770 Jobs)

6.6 %

Average Salary for a Family Worker

Family Workers in America make an average salary of $36,992 per year or $18 per hour. The top 10 percent makes over $48,000 per year, while the bottom 10 percent under $28,000 per year.

Average Family Worker Salary

$36,992 Yearly

$17.78 hourly

$28,00010%

$36,000Median

$48,00090%

What Am I Worth?

Roles and Types of Family Worker

There are several types of family worker, including:

Student Worker

Role:

Student workers are enrolled university students taking on paid positions at their campus. They perform simple tasks to assist the campus staff in all kinds of different jobs that are necessary for running the campus.

There are various roles they can fill as student workers, from office assistant to a helpdesk support agent, facilities department escort, or campus events staff, and more. These positions are created by the universities to financially aid students while providing them with opportunities to learn practical work skills.

The tasks vary with the roles: student workers do administrative work filing and typing documents, they carry out deliveries, answer the phone, make photocopies, or assist in academic research and lecture preparations. They help to maintain the IT facilities of the campus, help to resolve students' issues, carry out community service, work on organizing events at the campus, or help with the maintenance of campus buildings.

The jobs are, of course, part-time positions so you can easily work around your academic duties.

Average Salary: $25,735
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Social Worker

Role:

I'm sure you've heard that social work is hard. That's all anyone has to say about it. But what exactly does that mean? As a social worker, your day will consist of provide counseling services, performing administrative duties, taking time to interview potential clients, and meeting with lawyers. This is where the hard part comes into play.

A big part of a social worker's role is to provide assistance to people who are facing challenges in their life. Social workers try to improve their wellbeing and make sure they are being treated fairly. It's the situations that you'll find yourself helping that are the tough parts. From family violence to homelessness, this job isn't protected against some sad stories.

In fact, many social workers say the hardest part of the job is seeing how cruel people can be toward each other, especially families. You never want to see a kid take the brunt of a fight between two adults, but it happens more than you know. That's the kind of sad reality you might find yourself in as a social worker. There needs to be more people like you in the world.

Average Salary: $50,102
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

Service Worker

Role:

A service worker provides social services in different areas to people with varying needs. They might hold a license to provide assistance for clinical patients with mental health problems, or they might simply help people deal with everyday problems with training as a direct service social worker.

Housing emergencies, medical issues, financial problems, or other crisis situations are the areas where a service worker can typically help out without a license. They interview people to assess their situation, help with sorting out information, arrange support packages, give advice, and provide connections and referrals to other organizations.

You need patience, empathy, and great problem-solving skills to do this job well. You need to be organized and know your way around welfare policies, but perhaps most importantly, you need to be able to gain your clients' trust.

Average Salary: $30,045
Degree: Bachelor's Degree

States With The Most Family Worker Jobs

Number Of Family Worker Jobs By State

Rank	State	Number of Jobs	Average Salary
1	California	5,774	$43,235
2	Florida	3,197	$24,845
3	Texas	3,077	$42,871
4	New York	2,411	$42,873
5	Massachusetts	1,892	$39,535
6	Georgia	1,798	$32,813
7	Washington	1,592	$45,259
8	North Carolina	1,409	$41,481
9	Virginia	1,399	$40,512
10	Illinois	1,216	$43,030
11	Pennsylvania	1,186	$35,282
12	Colorado	1,059	$45,916
13	Tennessee	976	$34,829
14	Missouri	903	$33,528
15	Maryland	832	$47,973
16	New Jersey	787	$60,888
17	Oregon	777	$43,009
18	Michigan	770	$37,955
19	Arizona	734	$35,901
20	South Carolina	706	$34,620
21	Alabama	670	$29,927
22	Ohio	663	$37,776
23	Connecticut	662	$39,321
24	Minnesota	644	$53,787
25	Indiana	643	$31,646
26	Louisiana	536	$28,731
27	Utah	499	$35,831
28	Wisconsin	487	$40,807
29	Oklahoma	473	$29,136
30	Nebraska	379	$36,216
31	New Mexico	335	$39,613
32	Iowa	326	$40,442
33	Arkansas	295	$30,086
34	Kentucky	285	$30,454
35	West Virginia	277	$40,696
36	Idaho	257	$43,130
37	Maine	253	$41,712
38	South Dakota	184	$40,519
39	Hawaii	178	$36,965
40	Mississippi	166	$24,977
41	New Hampshire	163	$44,802
42	Kansas	163	$41,569
43	Nevada	162	$44,766
44	Delaware	161	$34,062
45	Alaska	154	$42,022
46	Montana	115	$39,585
47	Rhode Island	113	$36,315
48	Wyoming	93	$38,976
49	North Dakota	78	$50,135
50	Vermont	72	$40,497

Family Worker Education

Family Worker Majors

Psychology

21.5 %

Social Work

21.2 %

Human Services

9.1 %

Family Worker Degrees

Admissions

Most Popular Majors

Business

Social Work

Communication

Psychology

Counseling Psychology

Top Skills For a Family Worker

The skills section on your resume can be almost as important as the experience section, so you want it to be an accurate portrayal of what you can do. Luckily, we've found all of the skills you'll need so even if you don't have these skills yet, you know what you need to work on. Out of all the resumes we looked through, 21.9% of family workers listed social work on their resume, but soft skills such as emotional skills and communication skills are important as well.

Social Work, 21.9%

Foster Care, 10.7%

Child Care, 8.9%

Crisis Intervention, 6.8%

Community Resources, 5.0%

Other Skills, 46.7%

Choose From 10+ Customizable Family Worker Resume templates

Zippia allows you to choose from different easy-to-use Family Worker templates, and provides you with expert advice. Using the templates, you can rest assured that the structure and format of your Family Worker resume is top notch. Choose a template with the colors, fonts & text sizes that are appropriate for your industry.

Family Worker Demographics

Family Worker Gender Distribution

Female

85%

Male

15%

After extensive research and analysis, Zippia's data science team found that:

Among family workers, 84.9% of them are women, while 15.1% are men.

The most common race/ethnicity among family workers is White, which makes up 63.1% of all family workers.

The most common foreign language among family workers is Spanish at 87.6%.

Online Courses For Family Worker That You May Like

Advertising Disclosure

1. Supporting Families and Caregivers

This course takes a deep dive into the challenges families and friends of a patient with serious illness face and how you can care for and support them as a provider, social worker or family friend. Supporting Families and Caregivers especially focuses on the children of a patient with serious illness and their caregiver, and teaches you the best way to empower them to get the support they need. By the end of this course, you will be able to provide critical avenues of support for the people...

See More on Coursera

2. Social Services for Families, Seniors and Those with Disabilities

Course 4 discusses four populations: families, poor families, people with disabilities, and people as they age. This course addresses issues of power, oppression, and white supremacy. -The first module identifies the needs of children and the role of the state in child development. We will explore changes in the family and the resulting debates about how to best support families and child development. We’ll appraise family leave and child care programs for their role in supporting paid work and...

See More on Coursera

3. Mental Health and Resilience for Healthcare Workers

This course will help institutions and individuals better manage the mental health challenges of being a healthcare worker. Healthcare providers such as the University Health Network (UHN) address the mental health needs of their staff through several initiatives intended to help build resilience and to provide respite from the demands of their work. This was critical during the pandemic but, of course, healthcare workers encounter high levels of stress even without a pandemic. The primary...

See More on Coursera

Show More Family Worker Courses

Job type you want

Full Time

Part Time

Internship

Temporary

How Do Family Worker Rate Their Jobs?

Top Family Worker Employers

Most Common Employers For Family Worker

Rank	Company	Average Salary	Hourly Rate	Job Openings
1	Harlem Children's Zone	$46,221	$22.22	29
2	Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois	$43,597	$20.96	44
3	Catholic Charities Health and Human Services	$43,367	$20.85	22
4	AVANCE	$42,760	$20.56	26
5	Peace Corps	$42,474	$20.42	24
6	Catholic Charities West Michigan	$41,521	$19.96	28
7	Scan Inc	$40,751	$19.59	15
8	Orchards Children's Services	$40,367	$19.41	72
9	Wolverine Human Services	$39,263	$18.88	15
10	City of New York	$38,812	$18.66	14

Family Worker Videos

Helen Keller - Family Meal Scene - The Miracle Worker

A Day In The Life Of A Social Worker 1

Updated February 6, 2023

What is a Family Worker?

What Does a Family Worker Do

How To Become a Family Worker

Family Worker Career Paths

Top Careers Before Family Worker

Top Careers After Family Worker

Average Salary for a Family Worker

Roles and Types of Family Worker

Student Worker

Social Worker

Service Worker

States With The Most Family Worker Jobs

Number Of Family Worker Jobs By State

Family Worker Education

Family Worker Majors

Family Worker Degrees

Top Colleges for Family Workers

1. Hunter College of the City University of New York

2. University of Washington

3. SUNY at Albany

4. California State University - Long Beach

5. University of Pennsylvania

6. SUNY College at Brockport

7. SUNY at Binghamton

8. Northeastern University

9. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

10. Boston College

Top Skills For a Family Worker

Choose From 10+ Customizable Family Worker Resume templates

Family Worker Demographics

Family Worker Gender Distribution

Online Courses For Family Worker That You May Like

How Do Family Worker Rate Their Jobs?

Top Family Worker Employers

Most Common Employers For Family Worker

Family Worker Videos

Family Worker Related Careers

Family Worker Related Jobs

What Similar Roles Do

Resume For Related Jobs