Community and Social Service · Holland code SCI
Child, Family, and School Social Workers
Provide social services and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children and their families and to maximize the family well-being and the academic functioning of children. May assist parents, arrange adoptions, and find foster homes for abandoned or abused children. In schools, they address such problems as teenage pregnancy, misbehavior, and truancy. May also advise teachers.
Also called: Case Manager, Family Protection Specialist, Family Service Worker, School Social Worker, Adoption Social Worker, Case Worker, Child Protective Services Social Worker (CPS Social Worker), Family Resource Coordinator.
O*NET 21-1021.00
At a glance
- US median annual pay
- $59,550
- Middle half earn $48,270 to $76,070. BLS OEWS, May 2025.
- Most common education
- Bachelor's Degree
- 69% of workers surveyed by O*NET report this level.
- Preparation needed
- Job Zone 4 of 5
- Considerable preparation. Zone 1 is little or none; zone 5 is graduate-level.
What the work involves
The tasks workers in this occupation rate as most important, from the O*NET survey.
- Place children in foster or adoptive homes, institutions, or medical treatment centers.
- Maintain case history records and prepare reports.
- Recommend temporary foster care and advise foster or adoptive parents.
- Interview clients individually, in families, or in groups, assessing their situations, capabilities, and problems to determine what services are required to meet their needs.
- Serve as liaisons between students, homes, schools, family services, child guidance clinics, courts, protective services, doctors, and other contacts to help children who face problems, such as disabilities, abuse, or poverty.
- Counsel students whose behavior, school progress, or mental or physical impairment indicate a need for assistance, diagnosing students' problems and arranging for needed services.
- Develop and review service plans in consultation with clients and perform follow-ups assessing the quantity and quality of services provided.
- Address legal issues, such as child abuse and discipline, assisting with hearings and providing testimony to inform custody arrangements.
Skills and knowledge it leans on
Skills
- Active Listening4.9 / 5
- Speaking4.5 / 5
- Critical Thinking4.1 / 5
- Reading Comprehension4.0 / 5
- Monitoring3.9 / 5
- Writing3.8 / 5
Knowledge areas
- Customer and Personal Service4.3 / 5
- Psychology4.1 / 5
- Therapy and Counseling4.1 / 5
- English Language3.8 / 5
- Administrative3.6 / 5
- Sociology and Anthropology3.4 / 5
Importance ratings on O*NET’s 1 to 5 scale. Higher means the occupation depends on it more.
Who tends to enjoy it
How strongly this occupation draws on each of the six Holland interest types, which is the same profile the career interests test compares you against.
- Realistic12
- Investigative39
- Artistic32
- Social98
- Enterprising32
- Conventional43
The same work abroad
Other countries classify jobs differently, so these are the closest matches through the international ISCO-08 standard, not exact equivalents.
European occupation titles (ESCO)
- education welfare officer · DE Schulsozialarbeiter/Schulsozialarbeiterin · FR assistant social en milieu scolaire/assistante sociale en milieu scolaire
- family social worker · DE Sozialarbeiter im Bereich Familienhilfe/Sozialarbeiterin im Bereich Familienhilfe · FR travailleur social spécialiste en aide familiale/travailleuse sociale spécialiste en aide familiale
- military welfare worker · DE Sozialarbeiter beim Militär/Sozialarbeiterin beim Militär · FR assistant de service social de la défense/ assistante de service social de la défense
- child care social worker · DE Sozialarbeiter im Bereich Kinder- und Jugendhilfe/Sozialarbeiterin im Bereich Kinder- und Jugendhilfe · FR agent d’intervention sociale et familiale/agente d’intervention sociale et familiale
- clinical social worker · DE Klinischer Sozialarbeiter/Klinische Sozialarbeiterin · FR aide médico-psychologique
- consultant social worker · DE Berater im Bereich Sozialarbeit/Beraterin im Bereich Sozialarbeit · FR consultant en action sociale/consultante en action sociale
Closest UK occupation groups (SOC 2020)
- Social workers (2461)139,800 employed
- Probation officers (2462)11,900 employed
- Youth work professionals (2464)10,200 employed
Employment is the UK Annual Population Survey for April 2025 to March 2026, all workers in the group, which can be broader than this one occupation.
Japan
Japan classifies jobs in its own way. The closest category that names the same work is “その他の社会福祉専門職業従事者”, which may be narrower or broader than this occupation.
- Median monthly pay
- ¥277,800
- Middle half earn ¥236,200 to ¥332,400 a month.
- Workers in the category
- 229,150
- Regular employees in firms of ten or more.
Scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses, so it is not comparable to the annual figures above. Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure 2025, via e-Stat, under the Japanese Government Standard Terms of Use. The category match was made by hand.
Pay across Europe, for the whole group
Median annual earnings of all employees in “Professionals”. This is the broad ISCO group this occupation falls in, not the occupation itself, so treat it as context for the wage level, not as a salary for this job.
| Country | Median pay |
|---|---|
| Belgium | €61,714 |
| Germany | €59,529 |
| Ireland | €56,877 |
| Austria | €55,374 |
| Netherlands | €53,595 |
| Sweden | €43,567 |
| France | €41,515 |
| Spain | €35,735 |
| Italy | €33,649 |
| Portugal | €26,072 |
| Poland | €14,380 |
Eurostat Structure of Earnings Survey, businesses with ten or more employees outside public administration, in euro and not adjusted for the cost of living. Reference years differ between sources: the US, Japan and Europe figures on this page come from different survey years, so compare them as rough levels, not to the euro or yen.
Exposure to AI
This occupation sits in the higher third of the 774 occupations scored, with an exposure score of +0.78. The scores are standardized across those occupations, so 0 is the average and a score of 1 is about one standard deviation above it.
Our note on reading it: the dataset links AI applications to the abilities that occupations require, so the score reflects overlap between the two. It is a comparison between occupations, not a forecast about jobs. It does not say whether exposure means tasks are replaced or workers get more done with the tools, and it says little about one employer or one role.
Source: Felten, E., Raj, M., & Seamans, R. (2021). Occupational, industry, and geographic exposure to artificial intelligence: A novel dataset and its potential uses. Strategic Management Journal, 42(12), 2195-2217. Matched to this page by 6-digit SOC code (21-1021).
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