Child, Family, and School Social Workers
Provide social services and assistance to improve the social and psychological functioning of children and their families and to maximize the family well-being and the academic functioning of children. May assist parents, arrange adoptions, and find foster homes for abandoned or abused children. In schools, they address such problems as teenage pregnancy, misbehavior, and truancy. May also advise teachers.
392,550 people do this job in the US. $59,550 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 59%
- 34%
- 8%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 0%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 28%. Today's estimate: 35%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 21 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conduct social research.Done yearly or less by most who do it. AI observed on this task. | 13% | 4.2 work days6.7 h to 2.5 work weeks | 0%Half by Jan 2029 | |
| Maintain case history records and prepare reports.Done daily by most who do it. | 13% | 1.3 h25 min to 3.3 h | 77%Half by now | |
| Develop and review service plans in consultation with clients and perform follow-ups assessing the quantity and quality of services provided.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 10% | 1.7 h38 min to 4.2 h | 72%Half by now | |
| Counsel individuals, groups, families, or communities regarding issues including mental health, poverty, unemployment, substance abuse, physical abuse, rehabilitation, social adjustment, child care, or medical care.Done more than weekly by most who do it. | 7% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Counsel students whose behavior, school progress, or mental or physical impairment indicate a need for assistance, diagnosing students' problems and arranging for needed services.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Interview clients individually, in families, or in groups, assessing their situations, capabilities, and problems to determine what services are required to meet their needs.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 1.3 h38 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Place children in foster or adoptive homes, institutions, or medical treatment centers.Done more than yearly by most who do it. | 6% | 4.2 h1.7 h to 1.6 work days | Stays with people | |
| Consult with parents, teachers, and other school personnel to determine causes of problems, such as truancy and misbehavior, and to implement solutions.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 50 min25 min to 2.1 h | Stays with people | |
| Serve as liaisons between students, homes, schools, family services, child guidance clinics, courts, protective services, doctors, and other contacts to help children who face problems, such as disabilities, abuse, or poverty.Done daily by most who do it. | 5% | 1.1 h25 min to 2.5 h | 91%Half by now | |
| Counsel parents with child rearing problems, interviewing the child and family to determine whether further action is required.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 1.1 h25 min to 2.5 h | Stays with people | |
| Address legal issues, such as child abuse and discipline, assisting with hearings and providing testimony to inform custody arrangements.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 2.5 h50 min to 1 work day | 40%Half by Dec 2026 | |
| Collect supplementary information needed to assist client, such as employment records, medical records, or school reports.Done more than monthly by most who do it. | 4% | 50 min17 min to 2.5 h | 87%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
- Healthcare Social Workers42% now, 62% by 2028
- Marriage and Family Therapists57% now, 65% by 2028
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse Social Workers21% now, 44% by 2028
- Rehabilitation Counselors66% now, 79% by 2028
- Social and Human Service Assistants44% now, 46% by 2028
- Social and Community Service Managers24% now, 83% by 2028
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).