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What Is Family Social Work?
The family unit is often one of the most influential and important aspects in a person’s life. Families typically help lay a big part of the foundations of people’s lives. They are usually the source of a person’s morals, values, and interpersonal skills. Family structures also provide emotional and financial support, along with security, for most individuals.
Since children learn a number of their habits and behaviors from their parents and other family members, it is imperative for them to grow up in strong and healthy families. Family dynamics don’t only affect just the children in a family, however. They often affect every single member of a family.
Individuals who grow up in a dysfunctional family will often have family problems themselves as adults. They may repeat their family members negative behaviors, for instance, and possibly have problems forming healthy relationships with those around them. Family problems can also put an excessive amount of stress on adult members of a family.
Although every family experiences problems at one point or another, some problems are worse than others. Oftentimes, families experiencing crises will need help picking up the pieces and rebuilding their lives.
Family social workers provide services to families in crisis that need help fixing problems that interfere with family harmony. Typically, families that need the services of family social workers have severe problems that they can’t sort out on their own. These problems often hinder the normal functioning of a healthy family and may include such things as:
AddictionsMental IllnessesFinancial ProblemsUnhealthy RelationshipsMedical ProblemsStress
AddictionsMental Illnesses
Financial ProblemsUnhealthy Relationships
Medical ProblemsStress
Why Do We Need Family Social Workers?
Healthy and functional families are the cornerstones of our societies. Broken and dysfunctional families often leave negative shrouds around people that follow them for the rest of their lives. Living with such things as mental illness, extreme poverty, addiction, and abuse typically make it hard for people to carry on with normal lives.
Family social workers, however, assist families in crisis. They help them find assistance and services that they can use to overcome obstacles and repair their lives.
What Does a Family Social Worker Do?
Once a family’s problems have been identified, a family social worker will then typically help the family set goals and make a plan to overcome these problems. This often involves the participation of the family as a whole, regardless of whether or not the family’s problems stem from just one member or the whole family. The family social worker can then help connect the family to organizations and agencies that can help them with their specific needs.
Where Do Family Social Workers Find Employment?
Many family social workers will often be able to find employment with government agencies, along with different types of health facilities. For instance, as a family social worker, you may be able to find employment in medical hospitals, mental health clinics, and community health clinics. Schools might also hire family social workers as well.
What Are the Education Requirements to Become a Family Social Worker?
Social Work LicensesEducation RequirementsEducation LengthAvailable ProgramsLBSW (License Bachelor’s Social Work)Bachelor’s4 YearsOnlineorCampusLMSW (Licensed Master’s Social Worker)Master’s6 YearsOnlineorCampusLCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker)Master’s +3200 Clinical Hours7-8 YearsOnlineorCampus
If you’re hoping to pursue a family social work career, you should complete a bachelor’s degree program in social work. While completing this degree program, you should also concentrate on taking courses that concentrate on families and parenting.
Many states also require family social workers to licensed before they can legally practice. This typically involvescompleting a master’s degree programand completing roughly 3,000 hours of supervised fieldwork. These requirements may vary from state to state, however, so be sure to check with your state’s licensing agency for complete details.
What Is the Salary of Family Social Workers?
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics splits social workers into four groups. One of those categories is child, family and school social workers, which are grouped together for salary. According to the BLS, as of May 2022, the median annual salary of a family social worker is$50,820with the top 10 percent of family social workers earning roughly $81,920. The salary will depend on education and location. For example, New York pays its child social workers more than $70,000 in salary on average while states like Pennsylvania and Illinois pay far less.
2022 US Bureau of Labor Statistics job market trends and salary figures forfamily social workersare based on national data, not school-specific information. Conditions in your area may vary. Data accessed June 2023.
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