The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the perspectives of social workers in the child welfare field and to ascertain what motivates them to remain in their jobs for longer than three years, instead of pursuing less demanding and more lucrative career paths. Data was collected from the three biggest welfare organizations in Cape Town, namely, BADISA, Child Welfare and ACVV. Sixteen employees and two managers were interviewed, using in-depth face-to-face interview.The findings show that the participants were motivated by various reasons