2. Child Protective Services
(CPS) Social Worker
Basic Job Description and Duties:
A Child Protective Services, or CPS, Social worker’s duties would include:
• Assessment and identification or documentation of reported cases of
child abuse and neglect.
• Assisting in finding necessary services to ensure welfare of all
children involved in a case.
• May provide counseling, provide or form support groups, offer and
assist with referrals, assist or facilitate foster placement, assist with
adoptions.
• A CPS social worker would work under a state Agency for social
services, in Vermont we call this agency the Department of Children
and Families (DCF)
For More Information on
Vermont’s Department of
Children and Families Click Here.
(Child, Family, and School Social Workers)
3. What Skills Are Necessary For
Child Protective Services Social Workers?
A person within this position would need the necessary skills in order to
receive reports of suspected abuse or neglect, be able to collect all the
information necessary to investigating any suspected reports, investigate
information through interviews, makes a recommendation on the case
based on gathered information, develops action plans to ensure safety and
wellbeing of child(ren), develop potential improvement plan and provide
resources to the family, coordinates services, reviews foster homes for
approval, and is involved with legal proceedings, a large understanding of
case work policies and procedures, knowledge of child welfare, an
understanding of child development, the ability to create plans, maintain
and organize information, and the ability to communicate effectively with a
variety of personalities
(Vermont)
4. An Interview with a Department of
Children and Families Social Worker
Interview Information
For the interview portion of the
project I asked to interview Molly
McGraw, a social worker for the
Department of Children and
Families in Vermont who has also
had experience working through
other various agencies that
provide family support such as The
Howard Center.
What challenges do you face in
your position?
“Constantly. I always try to be
aware of my privilege and power
while I'm working, especially
because of the kind of work I do.
I'm often working with kids and
families around issues that are
incredibly personal and about
which there can be a lot of stigma
and shame. I try to acknowledge
the power differential out loud
sometimes and to be as
transparent as possible with
families about the work I'm
doing. ”
What Characteristics are Key for
the Position?
“I think you need to have excellent
written and verbal communication
skills. And you have to be able to
be with families and have really
tough conversations with them.
Building rapport is key.”
What does the daily routine or schedule
of your position look like?
“There is honestly no typical day in my
job. Every day is different! The majority
of my time is probably spent on the
phone with clients and service providers.
I also spend lots of time meeting with
clients and on case plans and other
documentation.”
What would be important for
someone new in your position to
know?
“There just an unbelievable amount of
information to take in: the court system,
chain of command, DCF policy, different
programs, etc. The job can get stressful in
general so you have to learn to take care of
yourself and separate yourself from work
when you're not working. Setting limits is
also really important. Turning your work
phone off, etc. Another thing is that the job
can be really heartbreaking. You have to
learn how to cope with that stuff as well,
which can be difficult”
5. Educational Requirements for
CPS Social Worker
Educational Requirements Through
the State of Vermont
Educational requirements within the State of Vermont would include a
Master’s Degree in Social Work with little to no experience; or a Bachelor’s
Degree in Social Work or Human Services with eighteen months human
services casework experience and at least six months of that specifically
working with child and youth casework (Department of Human
Resources).
Pay Scale and Job Availability
The position has a positive national availability projected to have over
100,000 jobs available over the upcoming year, as well as a number of
different positions available within the State of Vermont, in various
different locations around the State, the closest one to Colchester being
Essex Junction. On average in the State of Vermont the position starts at
$20.50 per hour (Vermont). Nationally, the average salary for the position
of Child Protective Services Social Worker is $65,000.00 annually (Child,
Family, and School Social Workers).
(Department of Human Resources).
6. Family Service Worker
Basic Job Description and Duties:
A Child Protective Services, or CPS,
Social worker’s duties would
include:
• Providing direct services as well as education
and support services to children and families.
• Assessing family’s and homes for stability and
safety.
• Assisting in linking clients to community
services and resources, forming and managing
plans, and evaluation and re-evaluation of
plans and client progress.
• Working within client homes and with other
community resources.
• Working on a team with a lead social worker
For More Information on Local Family
Support Services Click Here!
For More Information on Local Family
Support Services Click Here!(Child, Family, and School Social Workers).
7. What Skills Are Necessary for a
Family Service Worker
A person within this position would need necessary skills in order to
provide direct services to children and families, complete case work
documentations as necessary, the ability to communicate with as well as
engage and form positive relationships with children and families, an
understanding of crisis intervention and planning, linking a number of
resources and support, the planning of as well as implementation and re-
evaluation of plans developed for families.
(Vermont)
8. Educational Requirements for a
Family Services Worker
Pay Scale and Job Availability
Educational Requirements through
the State of Vermont
Nationally, many positions that fit this description are offered through state
funded agencies and organizations. Again, this position is estimated to
continue in availability creating over 100,000 job opportunities (Child, Family,
and School Social Workers). Within Vermont, and more locally to Chittenden
County, positions are available through organizations such as Head Start and
The Howard Center. On average within the State of Vermont the position starts
at $21.00 per hour (Vermont). Nationally, the average salary for the position of
Family Service Worker is $30,000 annually (Child, Family, and School Social
Workers).
Educational requirements within the State of Vermont would include at minimum
an Associate of Arts degree in Human Services/Social Services with a minimum of
two years experience working with children and families. Requirements may
become more specific based on the agency that the position is within (Department
of Human Resources).
9. Reflection
Before doing this assignment, what did you know about the types of jobs that existed in the field of social work?
Before doing this assignment I really just saw social work as one sort of fluid position (a social worker). I imagined the position to
be much like the Child Protective Services Social Worker position that I had researched. I didn’t realize how much the work within
social work could vary, I see such differences between these two positions and their missions alone that I am kind of interested
to know what other facets a position in social work may have available.
What surprised you about the information you found? What did you learn that reinforced what you already knew?
I was surprised at the amount of paperwork that is required within both of the social work positions. I gained specific information
through my interview with Molly McGraw where she stated and outlined purposes for some of the different files and the required
paperwork and communication files that need to get done daily. I had envisioned that most of the time would be spent with
clients when it seems that the majority of the time is finding/creating referrals and doing necessary paperwork and filing.
Has doing this project changed your mind about the direction you may take in the field of human services generally or social
work more specifically? If so, how? If not, how did this project help solidify your thinking about the direction you may take in
the field?
It has in a way. This assignment taught me what differences I can see within different positions that are available. I now know to
not only look into the work load, but what type of work and what clients I will be focused on. I am not sure after doing this
assignment if I could work daily with investigating child abuse and neglect reports. It just seems like there would be so many
disheartening cases and information. I would have to really work (at least in the beginning) at creating appropriate boundaries to
avoid burning out from working with some seriously sad cases. I do, however, think that I could work more effectively in a
position where I would be providing support and advocacy to clients and families such as a Family Services Worker. It seems like
I would work best in a position where I would focus on the positive and not necessarily on investigating the negative.
10. Reflection
What connections do you see between the information you learned through the completion of this assignment and the readings and
discussions of social work history, the code of ethics and the standards for cultural competence?
I gained most of my connections to our learning through the interview, which focused more on the reality and of the job and less on
the description and wage statistics. I found a connection between the discussion in our course about working with people of different
cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds as well as a connection between a person’s environment and how it affects them. In reality,
the main focus on both of these positions require that the social worker place a lot of emphasis on the client’s micro environment
(home, personal relationships, friendships, school and education, family relationships and dynamics). Assessments will be done within
these areas to determine a best plan for the client. That really encompasses a lot of what we have talked about in class and how
people respond to their environments.
In your opinion, what is social work? What does it mean to be a social worker? What characteristics, traits, or values are important for
an individual working in this field? What evidence do you have to support your thinking here?
In my opinion social work is the provision of support or advocacy to people (regardless of age, race, gender, or cultural background)
to assist that person in becoming their best self or to get them on a positive track with the resources that have been provided to
them. To be a social worker it means that you will face difficult challenges with your client and assist them with finding supports
necessary while using your outside perspective as well as your knowledge about what is out there for you client. A person in this field
would have to be compassionate, respectful, understanding, organized, have a strong work ethic, and be able to create boundaries to
ensure professionalism.
Evaluate the resources you used as you completed this assignment. What did you find most useful? Why? What was least
useful? Why? What would make this resource better?
I honestly found the interview to be the most useful. It provided me with a snap shot of the job through another person’s eyes, to
know what challenges they faced, and to see their own work and philosophies come through in their answers. I also found the
research on the job descriptions as well as what traits would best suite a position helpful. I had the trickiest time with the pay scales
for each position. It was difficult to find a complete national pay scale and pay scales change so drastically from State to State.
11. Reflection
Describe your process in this assignment (in literal, concrete terms). How did you get started? What steps did you
take to complete this assignment?
To get started I looked into job descriptions for each position (both nationally and locally), I then looked into pay
scales on a national level- but as it was so varying I decided to stick with a more local pay scale within positions
available through local agencies. I looked into interview questions and job advertisements to see what traits would
best suite the position along with job descriptions. Finally, I chose to do the interview portion with a social worker
who has done work with the State of Vermont as well as with a local family support agency which was able to give
me a great perspective on both positions that I had done research on.
What challenges did you encounter through the completion of this project? What went well? What would you
have done differently were you to do this again? What additional resources or supports might be helpful in the
future?
My biggest challenge was finding a good time to do the interview, scheduling can be pretty tricky. The research
went very well, I had few hang ups and was able to clearly find information that would work and was able to
navigate easily through different resources. If I were to do this project again I think I would be interested in doing
the shadowing portion. Due to scheduling difficulties with my current position it just seemed like that may be a very
tricky feat to accomplish. However, I do think it would have been a great learning experience to visualize first hand
the environment of the position as well as get a small glimpse of the actual work load and routines and or
requirements.
12. References
Child, Family, and School Social Workers. (2014, January 1). . Retrieved June 22, 2014, from
www.onetonline.org
Vermont. (2014, January 1). . Retrieved June 22, 2014, from
http://humanresources.vermont.gov/classification_hiring/classification/job_specifications?code=5
02500
Department of Human Resources State of Vermont
http://humanresources.vermont.gov/salary/compensation/pay_charts
Agency of Human Services. (2014, January 1). . Retrieved June 22, 2014, from
http://humanservices.vermont.gov/http://www.onetonline.org/help/bright/21-1021.00
FAQ's about social work in the Family Services Division. (2014, January 1). . Retrieved June 22,
2014, from http://dcf.vermont.gov/careers/social_work/faqs
