What Can You do with a Social Work Degree With Emphasis on Service to Hispanic Families and Children?

A social work degree with emphasis on service to Hispanic families is an excellent choice for bilingual individuals who want to serve specific communities. Below introduces four jobs in high demand for bilingual social workers who want to help families and children.

Bilingual Social Worker

Bilingual social workers are responsible for intake coordination and patient advocacy services. This means that they manage social services matters with physicians and other professionals on behalf of their clients. Bilingual social workers are responsible for providing patients with education and counseling services. They conduct family decision meetings in order to collectively agree upon courses of action, engage in crisis intervention, provide short-term counseling and increase the positive coping skills of their clients. Bilingual social workers may specialize in clients with long-term alcohol and substance abuse problems, or they may focus on family support services. They help their clients understand, determine eligibility and apply for benefits such as Medicare, food stamps and subsidized housing.

Case Manager

Community health centers and support organizations need bilingual case managers to meet the needs of their diverse clients. These social work professionals manage an assigned caseload of clients who meet the criteria for care management services. Their clients usually have chronic behavioral, mental health and medical conditions that interfere with basic functioning. Bilingual case managers design and implement care plans that improve the patient's quality of life, health outcomes and minimal functioning and self-care competency. Those who work with Hispanic families will consult and cooperate with community systems to facilitate referrals to community programs and access to local resources. They offer advocacy, crisis management and intervention support as appropriate.

Community Services Worker

Community services workers are often employed by non-profit organizations to provide intensive case management services. They are responsible for the assessment of clients with complex medical and psycho-social needs. They monitor services and interventions in order ensure proper quality care. Community services workers provide training for new staff by allowing them to shadow them as they handle challenging clients and execute program projects. They conduct comprehensive client assessments that include psycho-social and physical and mental health. They write comprehensive assessments based on client disclosures, evaluation information and reports from other professionals, such as doctors and state social workers. They may conduct home, hospital and nursing facility visits. They establish and maintain care management relationships with clients and their support network.

Child Protective Manager

Child protective managers are the supervisors of family service units that conduct highly sensitive and challenging investigations into alleged reports of child abuse or neglect. They administer programs that assess the needs of families, identify risks to children and mandate corrective actions. They are responsible for training new hires on compliance and standard case practices. They monitor the field activities of child protective specialists and ensure that operations conform to all applicable state mandates and federal guidelines. Child protective managers evaluate the results of operations by reviewing collective and individual performance data. They intervene in difficult cases by coordinating with other program managers to make sensitive case decisions, such as whether to investigate alleged perpetrators or remove a child from a home.

A Social Work Degree with emphasis on service to Hispanic families will enable students to help specific populations within their communities. The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) offers a list of accredited degrees here.