Foster Care Worker

Foster care workers—sometimes called foster care specialists—provide direct support to foster families and children in care, including placement coordination, training and licensing of foster homes, crisis support, and ongoing monitoring of placement quality. The population you're serving includes both foster children and the adults who care for them.

Foster family recruitment and retention is an ongoing challenge in most jurisdictions—there are rarely enough qualified foster families for the children who need care. Workers who can build genuine relationships with foster families and support them through the difficult aspects of fostering tend to help retain those families in the system.

People who tend to do well have strong relational skills and genuine appreciation for the contribution foster families make. Foster parenting is difficult, and families need both practical support and recognition. If you can provide consistent, responsive support to families facing complex situations—and find meaning in the permanency outcomes for children who've been placed—foster care work tends to be meaningful and impactful.