Asking what a social worker does is like asking what a doctor does (except social work is even more varied than medicine). An important thing is social work is a profession not a job. Your academic preparation will prepare you for a career in social work. With starting college I would make sure to sign up for your colleges “intro to social work” course in your first semester. This will be the best way to learn about social work. Also you might consider joining your colleges social work club. This will be another way to get a feel for social work early and see if it is a good fit for you. DA

There is a similar open Q, see:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AngyPJVIwxsux2ZWITDDRezty6IX?qid=20070811161349AARaKjR&show=7#profile-info-4kIda5Qoaa

Also search for questions: “social work”

This is the answer I gave AANMM

You should be able to get a regular 4-year bachelor degree in social work at the average college cost of about $20,000 per year or more.

No degrees are easy unless you love what you’re doing. I am not a social worker.

Social workers need to love helping people. Any and every social service agency employs social workers. You can also go into private practice counseling. You can work for hospitals, rehab institutes, charitable organizations, schools, children and family service organizations, some law and government agencies.

Social workers work very hard and have to be very patient in order to see progress or results in the people they serve. You really have to care about people, because that is where your rewards will be. A lot of time you have to give “tough love” and the people you care about will let you down many times, but you have to keep plugging on. It’s hard work. It’s beautiful if you’ve got what it takes.

It depends on what type of Social Work you want to get into. You could be doing everything from working with kids to the elderly. You may help someone get on assistance, into safe housing, or get medical treatment. If you want to work with teens, you may help with teen parenting, teens who are truant or runaways. You could work with abused kids. It really all depends. If you want to make a lot of money, this is not the field for you. This is a Helping Profession and tarteted for people who are caring and compassionate. You must also be ready to deal with sad situations. Imagine having to remove a child from a mother who is on drugs and they child doesnt understand, they will cry and scream “I want my mommy”…..You will have to be able to deal with that. You may walk into a home that is filthy, where the children havent had a bath in weeks, Its not a pretty job! If I can be of further assistance, feel free to contact me!

Congrats on asking before jumping into a career. You can always visit your local college and talk with someone in the Social Work program, usually they are ran by social workers themselves!!