So far I have told you about three out of the four jobs I hope to pursue as I get older. I have told you about becoming an architect, tattoo artist, and a pediatric surgeon. Now I want to tell you about the fourth career I hope to pursue. I want to become a foster care caseworker. Let me tell you about this job and why I want to become one.
When you are a foster care case worker you work with the state and courts to help abandoned, abused, and neglected children into better safer homes. Most of the time the child will be placed into a momentary foster home. They are placed here to be taken care of, helped, and prepared to move to a permanent home or return home to their parents. When you're a case worker you try to find homes for the children that are suited for them. You're responsible for making sure the child will be safe there and helped. You're required to do home studies, evaluations, and make sure the parents/parent is suited to take care of a foster child. Case workers schedule visits sometimes surprise ones to make sure the child is getting the right kind of care. They help foster care parents with taking care of expenses for the child. They also help schedule other needs for the child like medical or psychiatric care. They help with all the needs of the foster child to ensure that they get better and remain in a good place. If the child does get to return home to her/his family they may schedule visits for the parents at the current foster home. If a court decides the child cannot return home the case worker will work with adoption case workers to try to find the child a permanent home where the child will be happy and safe.
Before you can become one though there are education requirements you have to meet. First you have to complete foster care case worker training. To do this you have to complete a program through a college or university. This program is called your bachelors degree program in social work. In this program you will take courses like sociology,
economics psychology, ethics, child welfare police, and abnormal psychology. After this you have to complete an internship that is supervised, during this internship you will learn how to do the job and do it good. After this you will have graduated. If you wish to further your education in being a case worker you can enter into a master's degree program in social work. This teaches you to do things like perform field assessments, obtain managerial roles, and manage caseloads.
When it comes to your license and certification requirements there aren't really any standard licensing or certification requirements for case workers. The requirements differ from state to state and the level of experience you have. The requirements for licensing and certification also depend on the type of caseworker you want to be and the agency or organization where you want to work at. The main requirements you really have to worry about is your education requirements. Along with education your other main worry is your experience, and the number of supervised internship hours you have. As long as you work hard at the job and continue your education on what you're supposed to be doing you will do good.
The projected job growth for foster care case workers is expected to increase by fifteen percent for child, family, and school social workers over the 2012-2022 time period. I don't doubt that there needs to be more case workers of all types in the world. There are so many kids out there that are mistreated, abused, and neglected. Many children are separated from their siblings, others are bounced around from one foster home to another, never feeling like anything will ever be permanent. Some will still be abused in what's supposed to be a safe home or foster care facility. And sometimes even when they're supposed to be quickly placed back into the care of their loved ones, or quickly found a better place, they will be stuck in foster homes or institutions for many, many years. Statistics show that in 2014 over 650,000 children were placed in U.S foster care and spent some time there. Statistics also show that most foster care children stay in the states care for up to two years. And seven percent of these children have remained in the states care, or facilities for up to five or more years. Most people may think that most kids in foster care are very young but the average age for kids in foster care is between seven and nine. Even though some of the children in foster care live in family settings, fourteen percent of these children that are of minorities live in institutions or group homes. In 2014 over twenty two thousand young people aged out of foster care. Statistics also show that these young people aged out of foster care without ever being linked to a permanent home. If these statistics are right, we need more good caseworkers, foster parents, and foster homes to help children in need.
The BLS shows that in May 2013 the average child, family and school social workers were paid a median salary $42,120 a year. For me all of the jobs that I have talked about, pediatric surgeon, architect, tattoo artist, and this job.. I want because they all seem to be jobs I would love. They either have to do with art, or helping people. These jobs are what I want to build my life with. Sure it's nice to have money and make a lot of it. But I want to make money and live a great life doing what I love. Why do a certain job if you're not gonna enjoy it? Whatever I do, or wherever I go, I hope I'm doing something I love.
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