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Perinatal social worker skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted experts

Teresa Reynolds,

Dr. Dianna Cooper

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical perinatal social worker skills. We ranked the top skills for perinatal social workers based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 19.9% of perinatal social worker resumes contained social work as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a perinatal social worker needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 perinatal social worker skills for your resume and career

2. OB

OB, short for an obstetrician, is a doctor who specializes in childbirth and healthcare for women in all stages of pregnancy, including preconception, pregnancy, labor and post-pregnancy, and the treatment of diseases of the female reproductive system. The obstetrician ensures that the mother and child receive the best prenatal care to ensure that labor and delivery go smoothly without complications and that the procedure is performed quickly and safely.

Here's how perinatal social workers use ob:

Interviewed OB patients and gathered medical history.
Provided extended full time coverage on Oncology, OB, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, and Pediatric units.

3. Health Education

Health education refers to education concerning healthcare.

Here's how perinatal social workers use health education:

Prepared health education and psycho-social care plans.

4. Community Agencies

Community agencies stand for the organizations operated to provide human service in the community.

Here's how perinatal social workers use community agencies:

Served as community liaison/marketer between patients/families/caregivers and community agencies.
Coordinate with resident's physicians and Community agencies to set up needed services/equipment for residents while in facility and following discharge.

5. 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 perinatal social workers use mental health:

Coordinate Follow-up appointments for Substance Abuse and Mental Health providers.
Interpret policy for Medicare and Medi-cal to interface and educate mental health staff.

6. Birth Control

Here's how perinatal social workers use birth control:

Perform pregnancy verification, birth control and STD consult.

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7. Discharge Planning

Here's how perinatal social workers use discharge planning:

Conducted psychosocial assessments and discharge planning for medical/surgical patients in an inpatient setting.
Discharge Planning Care Coordination Bio/Psycho/Social/Spiritual Assessments Multi-Unit Assignments

8. Pregnant Women

Here's how perinatal social workers use pregnant women:

Managed health care of pregnant women Assisted doctor with exams Made referrals accordingly for abnormal results Conducted pre-natal education

9. Substance Abuse

Here's how perinatal social workers use substance abuse:

Assessed for depression, anxiety, CPS involvement, substance abuse/use, domestic violence and other social issues.
Assessed children zero to six whose mothers were involved in perinatal substance abuse program.

10. 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 perinatal social workers use child abuse:

Evaluated patients that were suspected victims of child abuse/neglect and elder abuse/neglect and determine necessary action to ensure their safety.
Trained and effectively utilized techniques in interviewing sexually/physically abused children, medical/legal aspects of child abuse, and family intervention/treatments.

11. Community Services

Community ѕеrvісе is аn unраіd activity in which аn individual оr grоuр еngаgеѕ tо bеnеfіt thе lосаl, nаtіоnаl оr glоbаl соmmunіtу. It іѕ also uѕеd as аn аltеrnаtіvе to imprisonment аnd іѕ intended tо connect offenders to the victim or society ѕо thаt they can undеrѕtаnd how their асtіоnѕ аffесt оthеrѕ.

Here's how perinatal social workers use community services:

Advocated for patients to acquire community services and addressed service access barriers for low income/immigrant women.
Provided clinical training and ongoing consultation to agency staff and community services providers pertaining to these specialized areas of treatment.

12. Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is a pattern of violent, intimidating, or abusive behavior in any relationship committed by someone within the victim's circle - partner, ex-partner, parents, family, and friends, to gain or maintain power and control over the victim. This can be emotional, sexual, social, financial, economic, psychological, spiritual, and/or physical abuse.

Here's how perinatal social workers use domestic violence:

Conduct Immigration Hardship Evaluations for individuals and families undergoing provisional waiver process, asylum cases, and domestic violence immigration cases.
Provided continuing education experiences for social workers and other mental health professional regarding domestic violence offenders for the state of Louisiana.

13. Child Protective

Here's how perinatal social workers use child protective:

Completed ongoing service plans; Monitored and supported service plan requirements; Completed Child Protective Services Family Assessments and Investigations.
Provided strategic case management services for families with reported and or suspected child neglect/abuse as determined by Child Protective Services.

14. 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 perinatal social workers use community resources:

Served as a liaison between expectant or new parents and available community resources, agencies and services.
Conduct initial assessments for program appropriateness and provide case management, treatment collaboration, referrals, and linkages to community resources.

15. Support Services

Support services are services that support the organization internally and are usually non-revenue generating. Examples include, IT, admin, HR, etc.

Here's how perinatal social workers use support services:

Provided prenatal education and support services to women throughout pregnancy.
Assisted in linking patients to community resources such as Medicaid/Social Security Disability, outpatient counseling, and various support services.

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What skills help Perinatal Social Workers find jobs?

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

What skills stand out on perinatal social worker resumes?

Teresa Reynolds

Director of Field Education & Social Work Program Coordinator, Longwood University

Graduates who have had a variety of field experiences and not simply worked with one particular population definitely stand our as having more experience/skills. In addition, students who have a variety of leadership positions in extra-curricular activities or have demonstrated service through volunteering tend to "stand out" among his/her peers.

What soft skills should all perinatal social 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 perinatal social 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 perinatal social 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 perinatal social workers need?

Samantha Fletcher Ph.D.

Executive Director, National Association of Social Workers, New York State

The core skills of social work do not change over time. These skills include empathy, active listening, critical thinking, assessment, intervention, evaluation, advocacy, policy analysis, and adaptability. Social workers also need to evaluate the organizations they work in to assess for oppressive practices and policies. One of the profession's core values is social justice, which directs social workers to "pursue social change, particularly with and on behalf of vulnerable and oppressed individuals and groups of people. Social workers' social change efforts are focused primarily on issues of poverty, unemployment, discrimination, and other forms of social injustice" (National Association of Social Workers, 2017). As a profession, social workers aim to dismantle racist, sexist, heterosexist, xenophobic, ableist, classist, and religiously biased systems and structures.

Do you want to know more?

List of perinatal social worker skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a perinatal social worker resume and required skills for a perinatal social worker to have include:

Social Work
OB
Health Education
Community Agencies
Mental Health

Birth Control
Discharge Planning
Pregnant Women
Substance Abuse
Child Abuse

Community Services
Domestic Violence
Child Protective
Community Resources
Support Services

Updated January 8, 2025

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

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