National Social Workers Month: Helping Individuals, Families and Communities

"What's commonly misunderstood is that social workers are in involved in all walks of life and all aspects of helping people, from direct services to overseeing programs, to establishing public policy," Wong said. "The range is quite broad."

At their core, social workers help individuals and families who are struggling to cope with life's challenges. For young children, social workers can offer resources and assistance to families, including healthcare providers, daycare programs, counseling and mental health services. They can become involved in a child's life before he or she is born, starting with prenatal care for moms-to-be.

In the context of protecting children, a social worker may make recommendations to remove children from abusive homes, find foster care placement or work toward reunifying families. In Los Angeles County, the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), which is involved in suspected cases of neglect and abuse, is one of the largest employers of social workers, with about 3,600 licensed social workers on staff.

But social workers can work in a variety of settings. These include hospitals, where they may be involved in referring patients to support groups; schools, where they may provide resources for children with learning disabilities; community centers, where they may direct clients to counseling services, and private practices.

They may also be involved in the design of services. For example, First 5 LA has several social workers on staff who work on policy, research, evaluation, planning and in our grants management department. 

"There's a range of different services available to the community, but it's a complex environment," Wong said. "For example, the social worker can be a center coordinator who knows about all resources. We may not be the deliverer of those resources, but we can certainly link them with a client.

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