Social worker shortfall predicted

PDF:Need for Social Workers

Adam Kilgore doesn’t mind sharing a desk with his boss or working nearly 100 cases at a time.

He also doesn’t mind the low pay or the pressure on the job, he said.

You just accept those things when you’re a social worker.

“It’s a calling,” said the 34-year-old University of Tennessee at Chattanooga social-work major. “The financial rewards aren’t there, but there are so many other rewards.”

Mr. Kilgore, who will graduate from UTC in May and now interns at St. Barnabas Senior Living Services, is a member of a shrinking fraternity of social-work hopefuls, and state organizations, local educators and service agencies are concerned about dwindling interest in the field.

Competition, poor pay and the high cost of education has driven students away from social-work programs at a time when many social workers are retiring, causing a shortfall among state and local agencies, according to the National Association of Social Workers.

“There is a desperate need for more social workers,” said Mr. Kilgore.

Social workers are employed in a variety of public and private areas, including child and family welfare, mental health, correctional services, schools and hospitals. They often work as counselors, therapists and case managers, helping people find the psychological, medical and social programs they may need. They also work as researchers to help direct or change public policy.

BEHIND THE DEMAND

Expanding community agencies, the growing senior citizen population and returning military veterans are driving some of the demand for social-work graduates, said Karen Franklin, executive director of the Tennessee Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

By 2014, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development projects, almost 2,500 social-work jobs will be open, with 1,470 new jobs created and 1,050 jobs left open by an exiting work force. Nationally, the U.S. Department of Labor reports that the employment of social workers is expected to increase 18 to 26 percent by 2014, a rate faster than the other occupations.

Yet the number of students entering Tennessee’s 14 undergraduate and two graduate social-work programs will not meet the future needs, Ms. Franklin said.

It’s not known how many social-work students are entering and graduating from school programs each year, but she said her organization plans to release a report next month on the need.

Enrollment in the social work department at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga has decreased 27.7 percent since its peak in the 1990s, according to school officials. In the social-work program at Southern Adventist University, there has been an increase in the past few years that administrators attribute to the school’s focus on serving others, said Rene Drumm, chairwomen of the social work and family studies department at Southern.

While the high cost of education and low pay continue to deter interest in social work, Valerie Radu, head of the social work department at UTC, said students also are discouraged from the field because of competition with related majors. In Tennessee, individuals with a bachelor’s degree in social work are competing for social-work jobs with related degrees such as psychology or sociology because there is no recognition at the state level for social workers’ unique training, said Dr. Radu.

“SOCIAL WORK” PROTECTION

In 2006, the title of “social work” was given legal protection by the state Legislature, so jobs with that title must be filled by someone with a social-work degree, Dr. Radu said. But some nonprofits and private agencies have continued to hire people with related degrees for a lower cost, she said. Some agencies change the title of the position from social work to social services or case manager to avoid hiring a social worker, she said.

“(Title protection) hasn’t had the teeth it should have,” she said. “These people need skills, not just someone being kind.”

Adrienne McCroskey, who has worked as a social worker in the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services for six years, said she does not see enough people with social-work degrees in the field, a reality that she said affects the quality of services in the state.

“There are more people without degrees than there are with them,” she said.

Both UTC and Southern receive grants from the Tennessee Center of Child Welfare that fund scholarships for social-work majors who commit to working two years as a state social worker.

A bill that could license bachelor degrees in social work passed last week in the Tennessee Senate and now is being reviewed by the House. The bill would require social-work undergraduates to pass a national test and participate in continued education throughout their career, Ms. Franklin said.

She said 35 states already license bachelor degrees in social work, requiring jobs with social-work titles to be filled by licensed social workers.

Dr. Radu said that if the licensing bill is approved, the pay for social workers may go up.

“Pay will begin to go up once people get licensed,” she said. “It doesn’t happen overnight, but it is one of the outcomes of being licensed. We make serious, life-challenging decisions, and people should have to meet a criteria for that.”