Child Advocacy

Types of Degrees Child Advocacy Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many child advocacy & policy graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Bachelor’s Degree	184
Master’s Degree	64
Graduate Certificate	43
Undergraduate Certificate	22
Basic Certificate	19

What Child Advocacy Majors Need to Know

O*NET surveyed people in occupations related to child advocacy and asked them what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. The responses were rated on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being most important.

Knowledge Areas for Child Advocacy Majors

Child Advocacy majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Therapy and Counseling - Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• Administration and Management - Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

Skills for Child Advocacy Majors

child advocacy majors are found most commonly in careers in which the following skills are important:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Speaking - Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Social Perceptiveness - Being aware of others’ reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.

Abilities for Child Advocacy Majors

As a child advocacy major, you will find yourself needing the following abilities:

• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Written Comprehension - The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.
• Written Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

What Can You Do With a Child Advocacy Major?

Below is a list of occupations associated with child advocacy:

Job Title	Job Growth Rate	Median Salary
Child, Family, and School Social Workers	14.2%	$46,270
Social and Community Service Managers	18.0%	$65,320

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in Child Advocacy?

This major is dominated by women with about 91% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of child advocacy majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	4
Black or African American	40
Hispanic or Latino	33
White	91
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	16

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to Child Advocacy

Some careers associated with child advocacy require an advanced degree while some may not even require a bachelor’s. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

Find out what the typical degree level is for child advocacy careers below.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
High School Diploma - or the equivalent (for example, GED)	3.9%
Some College Courses	1.2%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	7.0%
Bachelor’s Degree	59.2%
Master’s Degree	25.0%
Post-Master’s Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Master’s degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees at the doctoral level.	4.4%

Online Child Advocacy Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	6	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	0	0
Associate’s Degree	1	0
Bachelor’s Degree	12	4
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	6	1
Post-Master’s	2	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Majors Related to Child Advocacy

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to child advocacy.

Major	Number of Grads
Social Work	58,453
Other Social Work	590
Forensic Social Work	6

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020
• Image Credit: By Army Medicine under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.