social worker for the poor and homeless?

Question

I am in high school and I am going to be a senior next year. I have been thinking about majoring in social work and yes I know and understand that they are not the best paid profession, but I really have a strong passion for helping others. It gives me a good feeling. Anyway, I was recently inspired by a story of a girl who went from a middle-class home to homeless and wondering when she would have a place to call her own again. One with a place to sleep instead of in the shelter. I was wondering what you do when you focus on child welfare?

Answer 1

Well it really depends on the situation. She could have a new home next week or still be waiting for a new home two years from now. You are going to have hundreds or thousands of kids just like her to deal with, you are not going to be finding a new home for one child, you are going to have a ton of kids with needs. When I was a child we went to the police, filled out a child abuse report and went right back home and got beat again. No one, church, teacher, social worker, family, police helped kids. Not just us, any kids. Our whole art class except for one girl was kids that were beaten and abused by our parents, nobody helped any of us. Some places just don't have jobs, and unless the parents want to cook or sell drugs, they are not going to get a job. They had a job fair here and one company had two jobs and 600 people applied for those two jobs. Some people were saying they were out of work 6 months, some a year. It doesn't matter if you have a college education or not, 64% of college graduates don't have jobs and live at home with their parents. You might be able to find a church group that can donate a bed to her, but unless her parents can get back on their feet, she isn't going to have much of a home. You really need to look around your own school, and open your eyes to the suffering around you. I worked in a lot of schools and you see kids starving, kids who wear winter jackets all year because their clothes are dirty. Kids who never comb their hair, or even wash it. You can be inspired, and desire to help, but that doesn't mean you actually can do it. My husband reported some kids from school who were living in a shed like you keep your lawn mower in. They didn't have electricity in the shed during the winter. Their mothers boyfriend was molesting them. It took my husband three months of reporting these kids, and finally they were taken away from their mother, (because she was pirating electricity for her trailer). The kids spent the summer with their grandmother, but when school started again, they were back with the mother, living in the shed with no electricity, being molested by the mothers new boyfriend. The boys ended up in jail. There are many people working for children't services that shouldn't have custody of their own kids. Life is tough, I hope you can help, but you can't help alone.

Answer 2

You may want to research local government agencies that are involved, such as social services or adoption. Or perhaps broaden your focus and consider teaching.

Answer 3

My sister has a masters in social work and she makes $70,000 annually which is decent but her real joy comes from helping people get on their feet. I say go for it.