What does a foster care case manager do?
A Foster Care Case Manager provides social work counseling to foster children, families, and foster parents. They plan and coordinate treatments for the required children in accordance with specified requirements.
Foster care case manager responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real foster care case manager resumes:
- Manage caseloads for Medicaid; interviewing and instructing clients in proper preparation of documentation.
- Prepare court reports, petitions and provide testimony to support case management as required by DHS contract and court mandates.
- Assure that DCFS policies and procedures, and all applicable laws, rules, and policies are follow.
- Supervise visitation between DCFS wards and their parents and siblings in order to observe parent-child interaction and ensure safety.
- Provide services to and on behalf of the consumers, natural families and foster families refer to the agency from DHS.
- Perform concurrent review to assure appropriateness of admission, inpatient/acute care, rehabilitation/SNF status, and discharge using establish InterQual guidelines.
- Conduct intensive case management and quality control for file accuracy in order to ensure HUD regulations are accurately implement.
Foster care case manager skills and personality traits
We calculated that 23% of Foster Care Case Managers are proficient in Foster Care, Social Work, and Foster Children. They’re also known for soft skills such as Compassion, Time-management skills, and Communication skills.
We break down the percentage of Foster Care Case Managers that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Foster Care, 23%
Coordinated services contract agency for Cumberland County Mental Health for children and adults with Developmental Disabilities and Therapeutic Foster Care Agency.
- Social Work, 20%
Provided social work component in an interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary team approach to diagnosis, planning, and treatment.
- Foster Children, 6%
Provided Case Management services to foster children transitioning from Department of Juvenile Justice facilities into therapeutic foster homes across Eastern Kentucky.
- Community Resources, 6%
Coordinated all case activity with relevant agency departments including appropriate referrals to liaison agencies and community resources.
- Child Abuse, 5%
Protect and Placement Specialist appointed to investigate child abuse and identify appropriate foster homes for abused and neglected children.
- Management Services, 5%
Assessed patient and delivered comprehensive case management services; maintained thorough case history records and produced semi-annual reports.
Common skills that a foster care case manager uses to do their job include "foster care," "social work," and "foster children." You can find details on the most important foster care case manager responsibilities below.
Compassion. The most essential soft skill for a foster care case manager to carry out their responsibilities is compassion. This skill is important for the role because "social and human service assistants often work with people who are in stressful and difficult situations." Additionally, a foster care case manager resume shows how their duties depend on compassion: "provide compassionate personalized nursing care services to patients. "
Time-management skills. Another essential skill to perform foster care case manager duties is time-management skills. Foster care case managers responsibilities require that "social and human service assistants often work with many clients." Foster care case managers also use time-management skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "worked under strict deadlines to complete court reports and other required documentation. "
Communication skills. This is an important skill for foster care case managers to perform their duties. For an example of how foster care case manager responsibilities depend on this skill, consider that "social and human service assistants talk with clients about the challenges in their lives and assist them in getting help." This excerpt from a resume also shows how vital it is to everyday roles and responsibilities of a foster care case manager: "maintained open lines of communication with contracted service providers, court personnel, local law enforcement and dcfs. ".
Interpersonal skills. A big part of what foster care case managers do relies on "interpersonal skills." You can see how essential it is to foster care case manager responsibilities because "social and human service assistants must make their clients feel comfortable discussing sensitive issues." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical foster care case manager tasks: "teach independent living skills individually and in groups to including job skills and interpersonal relationship skills. "
Organizational skills. A commonly-found skill in foster care case manager job descriptions, "organizational skills" is essential to what foster care case managers do. Foster care case manager responsibilities rely on this skill because "social and human service assistants must often complete lots of paperwork and work with many different clients." You can also see how foster care case manager duties rely on organizational skills in this resume example: "assisted with conversions from drs hsp to dhs home based funding skills used interpersonal skills organizational skills computer skills"
Problem-solving skills. While "problem-solving skills" is last on this skills list, don't underestimate its importance to foster care case manager responsibilities. Much of what a foster care case manager does relies on this skill, seeing as "social and human service assistants help clients find solutions to their problems." Here is a resume example of how this skill is used in the everyday duties of foster care case managers: "provided counseling, crisis intervention and conflict resolution services to clients and their foster families. "
The three companies that hire the most foster care case managers are:
- Pediatric Partners, now a member of the Sevita family24 foster care case managers jobs
- State Bar of Michigan16 foster care case managers jobs
- NECCO15 foster care case managers jobs
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Compare different foster care case managers
Foster care case manager vs. School social worker
A school social worker specializes in counseling students, families, and faculty members. They are responsible for coordinating with the school to develop programs that prioritize the students' emotional and psychological well-being, respond to any issues and concerns, build rapport to identify their needs, and communicate with support services to provide necessary assistance to any students or families. There are also instances when a school social worker must assist teachers in handling students with behavioral issues, investigating the underlying reasons. Moreover, it is crucial to identify any signs of neglect or abuse, conducting interventive measures right away.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a foster care case manager are more likely to require skills like "foster care," "foster children," "management services," and "court hearings." On the other hand, a job as a school social worker requires skills like "social emotional," "professional development," "behavioral issues," and "group therapy." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
School social workers really shine in the education industry with an average salary of $53,660. Comparatively, foster care case managers tend to make the most money in the professional industry with an average salary of $40,491.school social workers tend to reach higher levels of education than foster care case managers. In fact, school social workers are 34.6% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% more likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Foster care case manager vs. Therapeutic support staff
A therapeutic support staff member specializes in providing guidance and counseling to individuals with emotional support needs, mainly children. They are primarily responsible for building rapport with clients while assessing their different conditions and needs. Through this assessment, therapeutic support staff can develop specific treatments in collaboration with mental health practitioners. One may directly work with schools, clinics, and other medical health facilities. Furthermore, it is essential to maintain all clients' records and monitor their progress, regularly updating the assigned physician or caseworker.
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that foster care case manager responsibilities requires skills like "foster care," "foster children," "community resources," and "child abuse." But a therapeutic support staff might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "autism," "criminal justice," "rehabilitation," and "emotional support."
Therapeutic support staff earn lower levels of education than foster care case managers in general. They're 6.6% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.4% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for foster care case managers in the next 3-5 years?
Sonya Goshe
Assistant Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Ohio Dominican University
Foster care case manager vs. Family support worker
A family service worker is a social service agent who assesses the needs of family and promotes wellbeing, social justice, and human rights through governmental and social service agencies. Family service workers offer services that can include counseling and mediation to families that will help them navigate the protocols of the social system. They act as liaisons between families facing problems and different government organizations. Family service workers also ensure that families in need are getting the benefits they are entitled to, as well as help them access various community resources.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, foster care case managers are more likely to have skills like "child abuse," "management services," "service delivery," and "data entry." But a family support worker is more likely to have skills like "family support," "behavior management," "excellent organizational," and "child development."
Family support workers make a very good living in the government industry with an average annual salary of $40,316. On the other hand, foster care case managers are paid the highest salary in the professional industry, with average annual pay of $40,491.Most family support workers achieve a similar degree level compared to foster care case managers. For example, they're 4.4% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.0% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Foster care case manager vs. Case manager/program manager
Types of foster care case manager
Updated January 8, 2025
