Post job

Explore jobs

Find specific jobs

Explore careers

Explore professions

Best companies

Explore companies

OverviewJobsSalaryResume

Skills

What They DoEducationCertificationsDemographicsJob DescriptionHow To HireBest CompaniesBest StatesBest CitiesRemote JobsJob OutlookComparePart Time jobsEntry Level jobsFull Time jobsWork From Home jobs
zippia ai icon

Automatically apply for jobs with Zippia

Upload your resume to get started.

Foster care worker skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
Quoted experts
Dr. Amy Pearce Ph.D.,
Dr. Dianna Cooper
Foster care worker example skills
Below we've compiled a list of the most critical foster care worker skills. We ranked the top skills for foster care workers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 26.5% of foster care worker resumes contained foster care as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a foster care worker needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 foster care worker skills for your resume and career

1. Foster Care

Here's how foster care workers use foster care:
  • Performed data management activities, formulated service plans, delivered case management, foster care coordination and counseling.
  • Worked as a Treatment Foster Care Worker doing individual counseling with severely emotionally disturbed youth and teenagers.

2. Social Work

Here's how foster care workers use social work:
  • Facilitated continuous interactions with social workers, health care professionals, lawyers, educational professionals, and family members.
  • Provided leadership and direction to social work personnel concerning case management, reporting and client relationship management.

3. Child Abuse

When a child who is under 18 is mistreated by an adult, it is considered child abuse. There are many forms of intentional harm and mistreatment for example physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, medical abuse, and neglect in providing adequate basic life necessities.

Here's how foster care workers use child abuse:
  • Participated in regular rotation of 24-hour on-call beeper coverage to respond to emergency allegations of child abuse or neglect.
  • Conducted complaint investigations concerning child abuse allegations and/or regulatory and legal compliance issues.

4. Social Services

Here's how foster care workers use social services:
  • Developed and monitored individualized service plans in conjunction with referring agencies, and other social services professionals.
  • Coordinated with state social services representative.

5. Foster Children

Here's how foster care workers use foster children:
  • Provided home-based counseling and crisis intervention for foster children, biological parents and foster/adoptive parents during casework contacts.
  • Provided or referred foster children to needed resources such as psychological evaluations, medication evaluations and individual counseling.

6. Community Resources

Community resources are a set of resources that are used in the day to day life of people which improves their lifestyle in some way. People, sites or houses, and population assistance can come under the services offered by community resources.

Here's how foster care workers use community resources:
  • Referred client and parental figures to community resources to assist in recovery from developmental, emotional, psychological and physical illness.
  • Advised patients on community resources, made referrals and devised realistic yearly and quarterly Individual Service Plans

Choose from 10+ customizable foster care worker resume templates

Build a professional foster care worker resume in minutes. Our AI resume writing assistant will guide you through every step of the process, and you can choose from 10+ resume templates to create your foster care worker resume.

7. Compassion

Here's how foster care workers use compassion:
  • Developed deep trust and credibility through empathy, integrity, compassion and consistently providing sound advice and helpful support.
  • Interact with all animals with compassion and concern for their well-being.

8. Court Reports

Here's how foster care workers use court reports:
  • Completed documentation, prepared court reports and testified regarding progress of children and biological families towards identified treatment goals.
  • Prepared court reports, participated in court hearings, and participated in psychiatric/medication referrals & reviews.

9. Mental Health

Mental health is the state of wellbeing in which an individual can cope with the regular stresses and tensions of life, and can work productively without having any emotional or psychological breakdown. Mental health is essential for a person of any age and helps them make the right decisions in their life.

Here's how foster care workers use mental health:
  • Referred family to additional community supports to aid with mental health, educational, medical or recreational services.
  • Provided referrals to different community and mental health services.

10. State Regulations

State regulations are the rules made by the state authorities under a specific Act. When a government intervenes in the private market to implements policies, they are known as state regulations. These policies help in achieving the economic, political, and social targets which might not be able to achieve otherwise.

Here's how foster care workers use state regulations:
  • Conducted and facilitated permanent placements in compliance with contract, agency and state regulations and expectations.
  • Carried out placements and monitored foster homes to ensure foster homes met and maintained state regulations regarding safety of children.

11. DCFS

Here's how foster care workers use dcfs:
  • Developed written Integrated Assessments and individualized DCFS service plans including referring all clients to necessary services within the community.
  • Attended MAT meetings with DCFS in order to collaborate and develop a plan for successful placement of children detained by DCFS.

12. CPR

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation or CPR is a medical procedure that involves chest compression to help a patient breathe. This artificial ventilation helps in keeping the brain function in place and regulates blood throughout the body. CPR is a lifesaving procedure that is used in emergencies.

Here's how foster care workers use cpr:
  • Attend Med blood borne and CPR classes, opportunity in crisis training, prepare meals.
  • Background check certified in CPR for children services

13. Casework Services

Here's how foster care workers use casework services:
  • Provided overall casework services to children and adolescents referred for therapeutic foster care and/or adoption services.
  • Coordinate preparation for audits of casework services.

14. Substance Abuse

Here's how foster care workers use substance abuse:
  • Monitor birth parents and their attendance in alcohol and substance abuse programs, parenting classes and domestic violence classes.
  • Make appropriate referrals to other service providers, i.e., psychological, domestic violence, substance abuse services.

15. Adoptive Parents

Here's how foster care workers use adoptive parents:
  • Coordinated therapeutic foster/adoptive care with all involved parties; including birth parents, foster/adoptive parents and other caseworkers.
  • Developed home studies for specialized therapeutic foster/adoptive parents caring for children/youth with HIV/AIDS.
top-skills

What skills help Foster Care Workers find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What skills stand out on foster care worker resumes?

Dr. Amy Pearce Ph.D.Dr. Amy Pearce Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Professor of Psychology, Arkansas State University

Typically, I recommend that all psychology majors gain research experience and communicate their findings via conference presentations, or peer-reviewed publications. Highlighting analytical and quantitative skills, plus software training is recommended. Graduates who know how to collect, enter, analyze, interpret, and report data will be desired. If a student plans to directly enter the workforce in a psychology-related field, then picking up courses to complete undergraduate certificate programs, such as neuropsychological testing or statistics, will be beneficial. As will be any internships or applicable job experiences.

What soft skills should all foster care workers possess?

Dr. Dianna Cooper

Associate Professor, Campbellsville University

The "change theory" used in social work practice follows several steps, including engaging, assessing, planning, intervening, evaluating, terminating, and following up. Soft skills are most likely to occur in engagement, intervention, and termination. Social workers are trained to "start wherever the client is," understanding that clients can be individuals, families, groups, communities, or organizations. Social workers are trained to respect the client as the expert in their needs, honor self-determination, use a strengths-based approach, and respect difference while using inclusion. The training turns into soft skills such as being empathetic, warm, genuine, and respectful. Social workers also develop skills in knowing when to listen and when to nudge the client toward action. Social workers are trained to intervene and, when change is completed, to terminate. Helping clients know when to end services also requires soft skills of talking about hard topics, seeing a brighter future and setting goals, recognizing when change is happening, and saying goodbye respectfully.

What hard/technical skills are most important for foster care workers?

Dr. Dianna Cooper

Associate Professor, Campbellsville University

Hard or technical skills are most likely to occur in the stages of assessing, planning, intervening, and evaluating change theory. Social workers are trained to gather lots of information and then analyze strengths and needs. Social workers present their assessments to clients and work together to create goals and the steps that reach goals when executed. The process involves using the client's vision of what "better" looks like. Social workers then use evidence-based techniques to move the client toward the goal and define measures to know when the goal is met. The technical skills used in this process include analyzing many types of information repeatedly, knowing what resources exist and how to refer, knowing how to design effective goals and steps to achieve goals, researching current evidence-based practices, defining and measuring progress, and setting limits and timeframes.

What foster care worker skills would you recommend for someone trying to advance their career?

Lillian Wichinsky Ph.D.

Associate Dean, University of Nevada - Reno

The need for social workers with expertise in mental health care, school-based social work, health and substance misuse are particularly important. Sixty percent of mental health care in the US is provided by social workers and the need is growing.

What type of skills will young foster care workers need?

Dr. Thomas Dearden Ph.D.Dr. Thomas Dearden Ph.D. LinkedIn profile

Assistant Professor of Sociology, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University

Indeed, the way we work is changing. The skills that young graduates will need are diverse. Transferable skills and soft skills will certainly be marketable. These include traditional crafts such as communication, but I also think the world expects more empathy from its employees. Young graduates with an understanding of racism, sexism, and environmental responsibility will become increasingly important.
Do you want to know more?
Read more about what experts have to say about foster care worker

List of foster care worker skills to add to your resume

Foster care worker skills

The most important skills for a foster care worker resume and required skills for a foster care worker to have include:

  • Foster Care
  • Social Work
  • Child Abuse
  • Social Services
  • Foster Children
  • Community Resources
  • Compassion
  • Court Reports
  • Mental Health
  • State Regulations
  • DCFS
  • CPR
  • Casework Services
  • Substance Abuse
  • Adoptive Parents
  • Community Agencies
  • Support Services
  • Birth Parents
  • Permanency Planning
  • Crisis Intervention
  • Family Therapy
  • DHS
  • Independent Living
  • Biological Parents
  • Court Proceedings
  • Child Care
  • Crisis Management
  • Biological Families
  • Family Assessments
  • Therapeutic Services
  • Birth Families
  • Law Enforcement
  • Direct Services
  • Protective Services
  • Community Services
  • Group Therapy
  • Adoptive Families
  • DSS
  • Court Appearances
  • IEP
  • Court System
  • Medical Appointments
  • Juvenile Court
  • Adoptive Homes
  • Child Protective
  • Crisis Situations
  • Adoption Process
  • Permanent Placement
  • Family Reunification
  • Parent Support

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse community and social services jobs