You Can Be Anything › All careers › Social Services & Community
Foster Care Specialist
Recruits and supports foster families, ensures safe placements, and advocates for children in the system.
Did you know?
Each year in the US, tens of thousands of teenagers 'age out' of foster care at 18 to 21 without having been adopted or returned home.
How subjects help
- Psychology: Help a child settle into a new home after upheaval, loss or frightening times.
- Sociology: Understand the backgrounds children come from so each placement fits their needs.
- Law: Follow the court rules for placing children and speak up for their rights.
- Communication: Train and support foster parents and answer their worries quickly.
A famous name
Charles Loring Brace: Founded the Children's Aid Society in 1853 and is seen as a father of modern foster care.
Try it yourself: Map the helpers near you
- Draw a simple map of your neighbourhood from memory.
- Mark every place that helps people: a clinic, library, park, food bank, bus stop, place of worship.
- Ask a family member what they would add, and who in your area might find it hard to get help.
- What is missing? Write one idea that would help.
Social workers and community planners start by finding what a community already has and who is being left out.
Also try: Practise listening the SHUSH way.
Known for it in
USA, UK, Australia, Canada, Sweden