Few career paths offer the same potential for truly rewarding work that social work does. Social work is a fast-growing field and it is also one that is always hiring. While the day to day work of a social worker can sometimes be trying, physically and emotionally, for those who are drawn to the work it is worth every moment.

Studying for a masters in social work online allows students to complete their studies at a slower pace than normal and for a lower cost. This makes it possible to study for the degree while still working at another job or looking after children at home.

Make A Real Difference

As a social worker, you will have the opportunity to make a real difference to people’s lives. The role of social workers in society is to assist the most vulnerable and help them to live the most fulfilling lives possible. Assisting people in need in attaining the most that they are capable of is one of the most rewarding experiences in the world.

Broad social change is built upon the smaller acts of individuals. The sum of all these small actions is to change the general perceptions and prejudices which inhibit social progress. Many social workers feel that what they do allows them to make a difference, not just to individuals but to society as a whole.

New Challenges

Another of the more appealing aspects of a career in social work is that the role of social workers is constantly changing and evolving, regularly offering new challenges as well as potential applications for medical technology.

Approaches taken by the industry also change with the times, as our attitudes towards different illnesses and conditions, as well as the treatment protocols, change. As our understanding deepens, we adjust the way we apply this knowledge to the real world accordingly.

A Growing Industry

The overall field of social working has grown at a steady rate of roughly 19% a year, every year in recent memory. Vacancies for social working jobs are appearing all the time and, consequently, graduates can generally pick and choose what field they want to work in with the reasonable certainty that they will be able to secure employment.

As the United States faces an aging population and the unique set of healthcare challenges that this presents, there are now more retirement communities and similar organizations springing up than ever before. Each of these communities brings with them a number of social working jobs.

Give A Voice to Those Who Need It

As a social worker, you will be allowing those who are most vulnerable and who struggle most to make themselves heard to voice their concerns. You will act as a conduit between patients and the social work system itself. If this kind of work sounds appealing to you, then you should consider looking at MSW online programs.

Social work is among the most rewarding work out there. Not only is the work rewarding, there is also a good amount of job security and the ability to easily move around within the field.

A Utah couple have been charged with murder after the mother’s 13-day-old baby boy died after suffering severe abuse and neglect. The West Jordan Police Department confirmed Maria Elena Sullivan, 26, and Dylan James Kitzmiller, 21, were arrested Friday night and charged with one count of first-degree murder and three counts of child abuse. The negligent mother knowingly left her child under supervision of her violent boyfriend who reportedly ‘had thrown the baby around, slapped him in the face, bit his hands, swaddled him face down and once covered the baby’s mouth with his hand as he cried.’ READ MORE HERE

Twelve more men have been charged as part of a huge investigation into historical child sexual exploitation in Rotherham. The men, aged between 33 and 38 and mostly from Rotherham, face accusations of rape and indecent assault and bring the number charged under the probe into sex gangs in the Yorkshire town to 21. The National Crime Agency (NCA) said the most recent charges related to eight girls under the age of 16, over a five year period from 1998 to 2003. Senior investigating officer, Paul Williamson, said: ‘We have now charged 21 men with over 94 child sexual abuse offences and expect this number to increase as more victims come forward. READ MORE HERE

A Swedish man is being charged with raping 27 British and North American children after he allegedly forced them to perform sex acts – including bestiality – on camera. The man, in his 40s from Uppland county, allegedly told his victims – young girls from Scotland, the US and Canada – he would murder their families if they did not comply. Swedish prosecutors have charged him with rape despite the lack of physical interaction, due to the way the suspect used blackmail. READ MORE HERE

1.7 billion boys and girls across the globe suffer mental or physical abuse each year

From fist fights at school to murder and sexual abuse, each year nearly three in four children worldwide experience some form of violence, which has long term health and economic costs, a report said on Tuesday. The study by India-based advocacy group Know Violence in Childhood found that an estimated 1.7 billion boys and girls across the globe suffer mental or physical abuse each year, with children in Africa bearing the heaviest burden. “Childhood violence damages individuals, families and communities in both rich countries and poor,” the group’s co-chair Shiva Kumar told a media briefing, warning of the long-term harmful social, health and economic consequences. READ MORE HERE

SEATTLE – The Seattle Archdiocese has paid $1.3 million to settle a sex-abuse lawsuit involving a former member of a religious order who taught in its schools. A man sued the archdiocese in 2015, alleging the church knew Edward Courtney abused students at two archdiocesan schools in Seattle but later recommended him for a teaching job at a public school outside Tacoma. The man alleged Courtney abused him in 1981 and 1982 at the public school. READ MORE HERE

SEATTLE – The mayor of the US Pacific Northwest city of Seattle quit Tuesday after after his younger cousin became the fifth man to accuse the politician of sexual abuse. Ed Murray, 62, who had already confirmed he would not be seeking a second term, will step down effective of 5:00 pm Wednesday. Joseph Dyer, a 54-year-old dialysis technician, said Murray forced him into sex for about a year while the two shared a bedroom in the New York home of Dyer’s mother when the alleged victim was 13. READ MORE HERE

A man has been charged with producing child pornography and sexually assaulting a three-year-old girl while babysitting her. New South Wales police said the 64-year-old man had allegedly assaulted the toddler in Parramatta at Sydney’s west. It is unknown when the alleged assault took place. READ MORE HERE

CALIFORNIA – A 57-year-old man who worked as an airline pilot has been convicted of traveling to the Philippines to have sex with minors. Michael Carey Clemans was found guilty on Tuesday by a federal jury in Sacramento of attempted travel and travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, conspiracy to travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct and buying of children. He pleaded guilty to three additional counts on his first day of the trial including conspiracy to produce child pornography, attempted production and production of child pornography, and receipt of child pornography. READ MORE HERE

Police allege the man believed he was speaking to a 14-year-old girl

A 31-year-old man who engaged in sexually-explicit conversations online with who he thought was a 14-year-old girl, was arrested in Parramatta on Thursday. He was charged with online child exploitation offences as part of an ongoing investigation by detectives from the State Crime Command’s Sex Crimes Squad. He was expected to appear before a magistrate in court on Friday. Strike Force Trawler officers initially made contact with the man, from the Hunter Region, in July. READ MORE HERE

UPDATE: The U.S. Marshals say one of the four suspects, Vergis Land, has been taken into custody. He was arrested at a home in the 500 block of Aragona Boulevard in Virginia Beach on Wednesday afternoon.

HAMPTON ROADS, VIRGINIA — The U.S. Marshals are searching for four convicted sex offenders who are all longtime Hampton Roads residents. All four fugitive sex offenders are wanted on outstanding warrants for failure to register as a sex offender with the Virginia State Police. Three out of the four are also wanted by the Virginia Beach Police Department on probation violation charges. READ MORE HERE

ALBION, New York – Police say a 10-year-old New York girl was beaten repeatedly, served food doused in hot sauce and dragged behind a vehicle. Four adults have been arrested after the girl escaped from a home in the Oswego County town of Albion on Wednesday and asked a neighbor for help. The sheriff’s office said the abuse began in April; the girl was beaten with fists, feet and an “implement” and spent days working outside without water or bathroom access. Authorities say that once she was forced to run with a heavy backpack, then tied to a car and dragged. READ MORE HERE

Australia’s worst pedophile priest Gerald Francis Ridsdale will likely die in prison with another three years added to his sentence. The 83-year-old will spend a total of almost 33 years in jail in total for his unprecedented child sex crimes over three decades. The former Catholic priest was on Thursday sentenced to 11 years jail for abusing another dozen children during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. READ MORE HERE

A Logan County superintendent accused of not reporting child sexual abuse was placed on unpaid leave last week. Heather O’Donnell, the superintendent at Midwest Regional Educational Service Center, has been charged with two counts of child endangering in connection with child rape charges lodged against her husband, Indian Lake Superintendent Patrick O’Donnell. READ MORE HERE