According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, about 174,700 children aged 0–17 received child protection services in 2019–2020. This equates to 31 out of 1,000 children. Based on the investigation, 54% of these cases were due to emotional abuse, 22% experienced neglect, 14% physical abuse, and 9% sexual abuse.

In terms of at-risk youth (defined as young people between the ages of 15 and 24), a 2018 study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that suicide is the leading cause of death for this age segment. The Department of Health has also noted that 1 in 3 young people drink alcohol at harmful levels.

Mission In their 2020 study, Australia found that one in six young people have been homeless.

These disturbing statistics not only reveal the painful truth of how many children are experiencing abuse, neglect, and wellness issues, but also stress the high demand for child welfare social workers. If you are interested in advocating for children and youth, here is an overview of the responsibilities of a child social worker, the qualities you should have, the skills you’ll need, and your employment opportunities in this field.

What are the responsibilities of a child social worker?

A child welfare or child protection social worker performs various services to provide support for children, at-risk youth, and their families in dealing with their difficult circumstances. Their mission is to ensure the child’s safety and well-being in cases of abuse, neglect, or maltreatment.

To accomplish this, the child welfare social worker is tasked with these responsibilities that are geared towards the improvement of the psychological, social, and academic functioning of children:

• Identify and monitor the welfare of at-risk children.
• Counselling services for children and families are available.
• Arrange for children to be adopted or placed in foster care, and assist foster families throughout the process.
• Serve as a link between at-risk families and educational institutions.
• Assess parents or guardians if they are fit to take care of their children.
• Coordinate resources to assist families who are in dire need.
• Case files must be documented and managed.
• Collect evidence to support investigations involving child abuse or endangerment.
• Work as a legal advocate for children in the juvenile justice system or family courts.
• Connect families with special services to support their children’s complex care needs.

What are the qualifications and skills of a child welfare social worker?

Being a child social worker has its own set of complex challenges, given how sensitive the issues are with regard to child welfare and its conflicting effects on families. As a child social worker, you should have the following characteristics and skills to help ensure the child’s safety while providing compassionate support to the family:

• Empathy to understand the child’s needs and the family’s circumstances
• Knowledge and understanding of various child developmental disorders. ability
• To make decisions for the child’s best interests assessment ability
• To help the family make better decisions for the child’s care.
• Flexible, resilient, and full of energy.
• Good communication skills, especially towards children, ability
• To maintain personal and professional boundaries.
• Critical organisational and management abilities
• Thinking and problem-solving skills ability
• To collaborate with all parties concerned to achieve positive results.
• Respect for people with diverse cultural backgrounds
• Having realistic expectations about the challenges and the outcomes
• Having a positive frame of mind with a good sense of humour
• The ability to learn from your own experiences as well as those of others

Online self-paced learning courses and programmes in Australia

If you’re interested in learning more about child welfare social work, you can build a solid foundation of knowledge and skill development through certified online courses. At Courses4Me, we offer 100% online community mental health courses that will help prepare you for careers in social work.

With our Advanced Certificate in Working With Youth and Children At Risk, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of different childhood disorders and learning disabilities that can affect their social, intellectual, and psychological development. This will give you rich insights that will guide you in dealing with children, youth, and family welfare issues. You can also enrol in our community mental health certificate course to broaden your perspective with regard to adult mental health issues.

Completing these online courses will enable you to explore fulfilling employment opportunities in social work, particularly in child and youth welfare, health professions that require working with children, or as counsellors for at-risk youth.

If you would like to make a positive contribution by helping children and the youth in your community, take the next best step by enrolling in our online courses. For enquiries, contact us on 1300 100 008 or fill in our contact form for more details about the courses.