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Who is the social service workforce?

A volunteer child protection worker speaks with a client in Bangladesh

 

The social service workforce is often the first line of response for children, families, individuals and communities facing adversity. The workforce includes a wide range of professionals, paraprofessionals and volunteers, who are in both paid and unpaid, governmental and nongovernmental roles. Together they work to ensure the well-being of children, youth, adults, older persons, families and communities.  

The social service workforce provides preventative, responsive and promotive services that alleviate poverty, challenge and reduce discrimination, promote social justice and human rights, and prevent and respond to violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect and family separation. 

The social service workforce is composed of a broad range of practitioners, researchers, managers and educators, that include, but are not limited to social workers, social educators, social pedagogues, child and youth care workers, community development workers, community liaison officers, community workers, community volunteers, welfare officers, social/cultural animators, and care workers/care managers.  

Formal definition of the social service workforce

The Alliance's formal definition of the workforce is as follows:

The social service workforce is an inclusive concept referring to a broad range of governmental and nongovernmental professionals and paraprofessionals who work with children, youth, adults, older persons, families and communities to ensure healthy development and well-being. The social service workforce focuses on preventative, responsive and promotive services that are informed by the humanities and social sciences, Indigenous knowledges, discipline-specific and interdisciplinary knowledge and skills, and ethical principles. Social service workers engage people, structures and organizations to: facilitate access to needed services, alleviate poverty, challenge and reduce discrimination, promote social justice and human rights, and prevent and respond to violence, abuse, exploitation, neglect and family separation.

The social service workforce constitutes a broad array of practitioners, researchers, managers and educators, including – but not limited to: social workers, social educators, social pedagogues, child care workers, youth workers, child and youth care workers, community development workers/community liaison officers, community workers, welfare officers, social/cultural animators and case managers. While social work and social pedagogy have the advantage of history, and are quite dominant in the sector, other categories of professionals and paraprofessionals have evolved over time and make invaluable contributions to ensuring human well-being and development.   

Resources 

The Alliance has developed a briefing paper with additional information on the roles, titles and diversity of the social service workforce. 

The Alliance has also developed a collection of worker profiles  to shine a spotlight on the various tasks and training of different types of workers and volunteers, as well as explore what motivates them to enter and remain committed to the workforce.