Adoption Specialist

Our Community Our Kids•Fort Worth, TX

About The Position

Position Function: Responsible for ensuring that children are in their forever home. This position is legally responsible for a child’s welfare while they are in the conservatorship of OCOK. The Adoption Permanency Worker monitors the child’s care while in care. They work closely with prospective adoptive families, child placing agencies and legal parties to help children feel safe in their permanent placements. The position recruits, trains, studies, licenses, and develops foster and adoptive homes for the program. Additionally, provides support to families and children dealing with separation and attachment issues in preparation of permanent placement. The position may participate in abuse and neglect investigations related to foster and adoptive families. Working Conditions: Position includes interaction with prospective adoptive parents, guardians/CASA, and conservators as well as to youth with behavioral problems, including possible physical aggression. A personal vehicle is required for travel. Out of state travel may be a requirement of this role. The position is sensitive to the service population’s cultural and socioeconomic characteristics. Exposure to Confidential Information: The Adoption Permanency Specialist will have access to confidential records including youth files, foster care and adoption records, and foster parent information. Must maintain confidentiality and follow policies related to personnel records and client records.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree, in a human services field, is required, social work preferred.
Two years experience, working within human services required.
Case management of permanency with PMC background is required.
Knowledge of good child placement practices.
Skills in preparing children for adoption.
Skills in developing and maintaining professional working relationships.
Ability to support prospective adoptive families in preparing to welcome these children into their homes as some may be dealing with separation and attachment issues.
Ability to access child’s needs and process in the placement.
Ability to maintain timely documentation and effectively manage caseload.
Knowledge of agency policies, procedures, and regulations.
Knowledge of laws and regulations to child care, abuse, and neglect.
Ability to assess current life situations of children to determine the home is a good match.
Ability to articulate an understanding of the intersection between race and poverty and the different outcomes and conditions that exist among specific groups as compared to other groups due to unequal treatment of services, if it applies.
Ability to negotiate available services.
Ability to gather, assemble, correlate, and analyze facts.
Ability to prepare clear and concise reports.
Ability to travel locally, within the region, and out of state, as needed, to best support clients and client needs.

Nice To Haves

Adoption Specialist Caseworker experience is preferred, specialty areas of focus and therefore more specific experience is preferred such as: Experience working with children and youth through the adoption process and / or Experience working with older youth in permanency preparing for adoption.

Responsibilities

Coordinates and/or participates in meetings with collaborating partners and agencies as assigned as well as prospective adoptive parents.
Participates in other administrative and planning meetings as needed to facilitate placement and adoption.
Maintain high ethical standards which are outlined in the ACH Child and Family Services Code of Ethics.
The ability to establish a respectful relationship with persons served to help them gain skills and confidence.
The capacity to maintain a helping role and to intervene appropriately to meet service goals.
The ability to set appropriate limits.
Performs other duties as assigned and required to maintain unit operations.
Attends work regularly in accordance with agency leave policy.
Receives cases from PMC Units within OCOK.
Determines each child’s needs and ensuring that appropriate referral for testing, evaluations, records, or further assessments are made.
Ensures all services are focused on achieving positive permanency by way of adoption.
Identifying potential permanency resources for the child through ongoing contact with prospective adoption families, and other individuals the child and family identify as important to them.
Collaborates with a Placement Team, including Kinship staff, for placements, as needed.
Participates in meetings and conferences at times and places convenient for the prospective adoptive family , as well as everyone involved with the case.
Visits child(ren) monthly to assess the child’s feeling of safety in their current home to plan for adoptiove, and to discuss their needs, wishes, and progress.
Attends and participates in court hearings about the child and family. This includes contacting the parties in the case before hearings, preparing court reports, and testifying in court on the child’s needs, the adoptive family’s progress, and the department’s efforts to achieve permanency through adoption.
Keeps the child’s team; adoptive family, court-appointed attorney and guardian ad litem(s) informed about the child’s circumstances and significant events.
Works with the department’s attorney to prepare for contested-court hearings and trials.
Works with adoptive families to ensure that they have what they need to care for the child or youth placed with them. Ie; keeping them informed about developments of case, returning phone calls, and in some areas of the state being available 24/7 at certain times.
Supervises adoptive placements until the adoption is final.
Documents case records by completing forms, narratives, and reports to form a written record for each client.
Coordinates and assists to locate appropriate services.
Serves as a liaison for all Agency children placed in residential and psychiatric facilities.
Ensures services adhere to applicable OCOK policy and procedures and other Contract outcomes.
Ensures an accurate system of identifying available resources to satisfy youth placements and services.
Maintains an up-to-date listing of all Agency network providers and services.
Ensures youth are placed in properly trained and licensed facilities with appropriate capacity to provide services.
Handles crisis calls as they relate to provision of services.
Reviews youth’s Serious/Critical Incident Reports.
Requests documentation to ensure psychological and/or psychiatric services are being provided as needed.
Tracks length of stay for youth placed with OCOK.
Complete Utilization Review for clients in residential facilities.
Ensures children/youth who are free for adoption move through the adoption steps in a timely manner.
Makes referrals for services and follow-ups on services.
Completes all care management/coordination documentation for the youth, and forwards reports containing descriptive, analytical and evaluative content as needed.
Reviews documentation provided for youth’s and family’s Service Planning.
Ensures child assessment tools are properly used to correctly evaluate children referred to the Agency for placements or services.
Ensures quantified and measurable data is used during the child assessment phase to make appropriate decisions regarding the type and level of placement for the child and for the purpose of identifying needed family services.
Maintains contact with provider liaisons on a regular basis for each youth placed in a residential or hospital setting to monitor individual treatment goals, progress towards those goals, discharge dates and service recommendations for successful subsequent placement.
Ensures youth placed in higher level settings are properly placed and stepped down to a less restrictive setting in accordance with treatment goals and length of stay compliance.
Promotes safety and encourages the least-restrictive and shortest length of out-of-home placement for children.
Communicates youth’s needs and concerns to residential program and/or child placing agency.
Ensures contract outcome measures are met with emphasis on the case management activities.
Ensures families referred to OCOK receive timely services from child placing agencies and other service providers in the network.
Refrains from assuming any duty that is unrelated to and/or interferes with the responsibilities of the position.
Advocates, promotes and practices cultural sensitivity and responsiveness in all day-to-day interactions.
Develops, promotes and practices teamwork in all activities.
Completes other duties as assigned.
Attend continuing education necessary to expand knowledge and maintain certifications or licenses.
Communicate regularly with supervisor and seek supervision when appropriate.
Participate in in-service training.