Providing Hope and Healing to Children in Need: A Rewarding Career in Social Work
A Day in the Role of a Palmer Home Case Manager
Do you want to make a positive impact in others’ lives? Do you enjoy serving others and working with children? If so, serving as a case manager at Palmer Home may be a wonderful career path for you.
Case managers are critical to the mission of Palmer Home. If you’ve ever wondered what a case manager does, or if you’re curious whether the role might be a good fit for your skills and interests, we invite you to learn more about this rewarding career below. If you’re still interested, please check out our open positions.
Palmer Home provides superior care for children while introducing the love of God through our service to each individual child. Palmer Home ensures restorative environments where children feel safe, connected and supported. Each child here has a safe place to call home with trustworthy, supportive adults to guide them as they grow and develop into who God created them to be. We provide holistic care to each child based on their unique physical, emotional, spiritual, social and educational needs.
Case managers are the glue that make all of this possible. When a child is first referred to Palmer Home, a case manager meets with the child and their family to determine the care setting that will be the best fit based on their unique personality and needs. They then help prepare the child for the transition to Palmer Home, and become their advocate for the remainder of their time with us. (In many cases, they remain close years after they leave our care).
What do social workers who work for foster care providers do?
A case manager works closely with the adults in a child’s life – their caregivers, mentors, foster families, biological family members, teachers, counselors and others – to make sure everyone is on the same page and providing the child the best possible care. In regards to biological family members, case managers provide ongoing communication and partner with them to create a plan for reunification.
Palmer Home employs case managers for all of our care settings: Campus Care, Family Care, Foster Care and Transitional Care. While there’s some variation in duties based on the specific care setting – for example, a Foster Care case manager may help recruit and train foster families – their ultimate goal is the same: make sure the child is receiving excellent care.
Other day-to-day responsibilities of a case manager may include:
- Visiting the homes of caregiver and mentor families to monitor quality and safety for the children
- Acting as resource for family in connection with the schools and counselors, and helping with medical appointments, scheduling, and records as needed
- Assisting in scheduling and supervision of visits with biological family
- Connecting children, families, and caregivers to appropriate community resources
Case Managers at Palmer Home have a degree in Social Work, previous experience in a case work capacity and an active Social Work license (LSW, LMSW or LCSW). They work alongside local social services, agencies and programs with which Palmer Home must frequently interact to provide additional services to our children. Also, as you can imagine, they are adaptable and have exceptional skills in communications, counseling, human relations and teamwork.
READ MORE: Social Work Licensing Requirements in Mississippi
What is it like to be a case manager at Palmer Home for Children?
Want to learn more about what being a Case Manager is like? Below is a brief interview with Cicely H., one of our Campus Care Case Managers. Cicely graduated college with a degree in Social Work and interned at the Hernando Health Dept. She then spent 7 years in the school system before joining Palmer Home in 2022 as a Case Manager for children in our Campus Care program. In this role, she works closely with campus houseparents to ensure all the children in their homes are receiving excellent care.
Palmer Home: What does your day/week look like?
CH: My work week is different every week. One week I see children and another week I see houseparents. I try and do at least one to two visits a month with the children and parents. I also deal with Medicaid, biological families, and of course the paperwork for all the children.
Palmer Home: How do you serve children and families as a case manager?
CH: I make sure that all the children’s needs are met. I also make sure the houseparents don’t need anything. I make sure to give updates to the children’s biological families and work with them on reunification plans.
Palmer Home: What are other parts of your job that we may not know about?
CH: Our job is not just 8am-4pm. Sometimes we get calls late at night or early morning.
Palmer Home: What is your favorite part of being a case manager?
CH: The children are my favorite part. I like being able to provide the children a safe environment. I love being able to help them overcome any situation that they have experienced.
Palmer Home: What would you say to someone who might be interested in being a case manager?
CH: Don’t go in this job thinking it will be easy. You need to have a servant’s heart and patience.
How do I become a case manager at Palmer Home?
If you are interested in learning more about the rewarding role of case manager, we invite you to explore our open positions on our website here. We are so grateful for our case managers like Cicely at Palmer Home: our mission to provide superior care to each child wouldn’t be possible without them.
