There are many ways to help children in need. Some individuals decide to open their home and heart to foster children by becoming foster parents. Others decide to make it their life’s work to support kids in the foster care system.
The question of how to work in foster care can be answered multiple ways, as there are different types of jobs available. Three of these options are as follows:
- Social work case manager who specializes in foster care
- Social worker who specializes in working with foster children
- Adoption counselor, also known as an adoption coordinator
A social work case manager or case work aide assists and supports the work of social workers. Like social workers, case managers can specialize in working with specific populations, such as children in the foster care system. Case managers largely act as coordinators.
That is, a case manager may assess and evaluate the needs of foster children and foster families. They can then identify the services their clients may need (such as counseling) and create a care plan. Then, case managers coordinate the delivery of services from other professionals, including social workers, to fulfill the care plan.
Some common job duties of a foster care case manager can include the following:
- Review the files of new clients and find foster placements for these children, including emergency foster placements
- Attend hearings, meet with the biological parents, if any, and coordinate services delivered to the biological parents, such as drug testing or treatment
- Develop care plans for foster children and refer them to social workers and other professionals for needed services
- Meet with foster children regularly to track their progress, meet with biological parents periodically for the same purpose and facilitate supervised visits between biological parents and their children
- Explore long-term guardianship options or adoption for foster children for whose biological parents are unable to make sufficient progress to resume guardianship
- Work in a Residential Treatment Center where children may be places due to behavioral or mental health concerns
Social workers are licensed professionals who, like case managers, may choose to work with a specific population such as foster children. The job of a case manager and social worker can overlap at times, as both of these professionals may help their clients secure needed community resources. However, unlike the case manager, the social worker can also deliver some services, such as mental health counseling.
A social worker who specializes in working with foster children and their biological and foster families may do any of the following tasks:
- Assess the situations, needs and strengths of foster children, foster families and biological families, and develop care plans
- Deliver counseling to foster children and teach them coping skills to help them overcome their challenges, including mental health issues
- Check in regularly with foster children and their foster families to ensure they are receiving all of the support they need
- Teach parenting skills to biological parents with the goal of reuniting children with their biological parents whenever possible
- Assess and report on the children’s safety and well-being during their foster care placement or with their biological parents
A third option for addressing the question of how to work in the foster care system is to pursue a career as an adoption counselor or coordinator. As you might expect, an adoption counselor focuses specifically on the adoption aspect of the foster care system.
An adoption counselor works with children who are preparing to be adopted, parents who want to adopt (including foster parents who want to adopt their foster children), adoption agencies and biological expecting parents who are seeking adoption for their unborn children. Pursuing a career as an adoption counselor can be a great choice for people who are hesitant to become a case manager or social worker because they are worried about the emotional stress involved with those careers. As an adoption counselor, you’ll be helping to prepare children and parents to become loving families.
On any given day, an adoption counselor might do any of the following tasks:
- Work with foster care children by evaluating their emotional well-being, helping them learn about the adoption process, protecting the rights of the children and determining whether the potential adoptive families are the right fit for the children
- Assess adoption applicants to determine if they are fit to become adoptive parents
- Work with potential adoptive parents to guide them through the adoption process and prepare them to shoulder the responsibilities of parenthood
- Help expectant parents learn about the process of giving their child up for adoption and assist with finding a suitable adoptive family