Case Practice Reviewer - School of Social Work

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign•Urbana, IL

4d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Case Practice Reviewer will participate in, lead, and potentially develop qualitative case reviews for the Children and Family Research Center (CFRC) within the School of Social Work at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. These reviews involve an intensive examination of Child Welfare cases using a standardized tool and protocol. The process includes file reviews and extensive interviews to understand the outcomes for children and families, identify strengths and areas for improvement, and communicate these findings to direct service staff and administrators for practice and system enhancement. The duties and responsibilities are general and apply to all qualitative case reviews, which are subject to change based on operational needs.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Social Work or related field.
At least three (3) years of work experience in child welfare field.
Understanding and working knowledge of Illinois' child welfare system and the ability to apply them to both micro-level and systemic foster care issues (e.g., DCFS Rules and Procedures, performance standards, court processes).
A thorough knowledge of the new practice model and an ability to relate it to feedback provided.
Understanding of program monitoring and quality improvement processes.
Strong communication skills to present high-level and complicated data and information to small, medium, and large audiences, consisting of all types of staff, from caseworker to the DCFS Director.
Ability to communicate clearly, effectively, and professionally in person and virtual platforms.
Knowledge facilitating large groups of child welfare professionals (direct staff and quality improvement staff) to evaluate and understand detailed data sets, identify areas in need of improvement, develop improvement activities and implementation steps, and ongoing monitoring of the activities in order to adjust as needed.
Ability to facilitate smaller case-specific group meetings, including development of a clear agenda and desired outcomes.
Ability to conduct in-person interviews with all levels of client stakeholders, including interviews with children, adolescents, young adults, and child welfare staff.
Able to work well in a team environment as well as independently.
Working knowledge of research concepts, data analysis and reporting.
Computer literate, particularly in Microsoft Office products (Excel specifically).
Proficient in interviewing, with excellent writing skills and ability to present findings to small and large groups.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree in Social Work or related field.
At least three (3) years of work experience in child welfare as a caseworker, supervisor, or CQI staff, including experience completing qualitative case reviews.
CWEL licensure.
Fluency in a second language.
Knowledge of SPSS or SAS.

Responsibilities

Read each case electronically and hard file documents as needed.
Enter information into a database using an inclusive narrative format.
Conduct phone or virtual interviews with parents, youth, staff, and other stakeholders.
Attend and participate in each case staffing/team and provide reports during the staffing through discussion of qualitative case findings, identify strengths and needs of each case reviewed, answer questions, and report on trends identified.
Identify potential team members for a family and assist the caseworker with convening a Child and Family Team Meeting as needed for a specific qualitative review process.
Organize and conduct comprehensive interviews with family members, caseworkers, supervisors, foster parents, and other stakeholders identified from reviewing the electronic case file.
Complete a standardized case review tool, utilizing all gathered information to determine appropriate responses and case ratings.
Data enter case ratings into an established database at the conclusion of each review.
Author professional reports that synthesize large amounts of qualitative information from various sources into short, concise, accurate narratives using a standardized format.
Participate in other related duties as assigned, which may include writing ad hoc reports and presenting findings upon request.