Social workers,,good field to go into?

Question

What are some duties ??

Answer 1

social workers are employed by child services, they go into peoples homes and question, document, observe and judge. They make decisions about whether to remove children.
They are employed in correctional services to meet with offenders and assist them to cope with institutionalised life and to make plans for re-entering society. (eg: getting them into anger management programs or helping them find a field of study, etc.)
They are employed as counsellors with missions to help people sort out their welfare related lifestyle problems.
They are employed in hospitals to help people deal with the myriad of issues faced when family members are suddenly hospitalised.(eg: organising income support, assisted accomodation for family of long term patients, the hire of medical aids, etc.)
They are employed in schools to assist with the management of children with special needs.( eg: testing children and referal to other specialists, interviewing family, liasing with teachers, family and other specialists.)

A social worker has what is called a case-load. Each case is a person and they are responsible for the social welfare of that person. The challenges and responsibilities can be very great. Imagine not removing a child that later was murdered? Or being confronted by an angry murderer in a jail?
Social workers are most often state employed and therefore are always complaining of having too high a case-load to be able to effectively manage it.
Many members of the public look unkindly on social workers seeing them as interferring busy bodies.
A lot of people are referred to a social worker against their will so they are not welcoming of the assistance.

Answer 2

Social workers are needed in many areas, not just children's services. I have worked in may aspects of the social work genre. I started out in mental health and worked with the mentally ill, I then worked in substance abuse, then became the director of an Alzheimer's unit at a nursing home and now work for a foster care agency. In order to be a social worker you need to be ethical, unbiased, trustworthy and love what you do. Social work is a selfless, thankless, low paying job. All I know is I enjoy being a social worker because at the end of the day I know I did a good job and helped another in need.

Answer 3

This is a okay field to go into. Not a lot of money unless you are working for the County such as in Child Protective Services. You will do some report writing, Case Management, phone calls, visits with clients. I hope some of this helps.

Answer 4

As far as I know, you should be a very good listener.
You may have to study a lot in psychology. And then you should choose the specific category such as children, teenagers, etc.
I have a friend working as a counselor for students in a university. Her duties are organizing events and services the center provides and meeting students with their problems.

Answer 5

yes, the only career that can boast about job security. If you are connected enough to land a hospital social work job they have a tendency to make lots of cash. Overall, it is one of the securist jobs left in this country, how many social worker layoffs have you ever heard of, none.

Duties, writing, listening, observing and the ability to sift through BS to find the truth.

Answer 6

Around here they only make about $15K a year to start... and since you work for the state, payraises are few and far between...and most of your neighbors won't want any thing to do with you once they find out your occupation (similar social problems that IRS agents have)...but if that's all ok with you, go for it.

Answer 7

Not if you are a sensitive and caring person. Very hard to see people in need and be unable to help them yourself. States red tape takes to long.