Resource Family/Foster Care Licensing

State of Maine • Machias, ME

2d • $22 - $30 • Onsite

About The Position

The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) is seeking a Community Care Worker to ensure resource family home applicants meet required standards for licensing. This role involves approving families for foster, adoptive, and/or permanency guardianship services for children in the Department's care. With a focus on prioritizing kinship placements, you will explain the resource approval process to placement families and support them through the steps to become approved. Your duties will include conducting home studies, foster home investigations, and kinship assessments. You will also assist in securing placements for youth entering care, provide information on the strengths of approved resource families, and offer ongoing support and training to these families. This work requires frequent overtime, emergency kinship coverage, and travel within the geographic area served by the District Office.

Requirements

• A Bachelor's Degree in Social Services or a Behavioral Science area -OR- a four year combination of education, training, and/or professional experience providing services to and working directly with children and/or families.
• Experience must demonstrate proficiency in public contact work, information gathering, analysis, documentation, and collaboration.
• Knowledge of motivational interviewing and information gathering methods and techniques.
• Proven ability to gather and analyze information, reach valid conclusions, and make sound recommendations (please provide specific examples representative of your experience).
• Ability to develop and conduct recruitment and training workshops and meetings.
• Experience in professional report writing

Responsibilities

• Conducting home studies, foster home investigations to determine possible violations, or kinship assessments for relatives and fictive kin placements
• Assisting in securing placements for youth entering care through OCFS utilizing available resources and best placement practices.
• Playing a key role in providing information to teams about strengths which an approved resource family can contribute toward meeting the needs of a specific child.
• Providing ongoing support to resource family applicants and approved resource families
• Recruiting and providing training and support to resource families.

Benefits

• 13 paid holidays
• 12 days of sick leave
• 3+ weeks of vacation leave annually
• Health Insurance Coverage (State pays 85%-100% of employee-only premiums)
• Health Insurance Premium Credit (decreases employee-only premiums by 5%)
• Dental Insurance (State pays 100% of employee-only dental premiums)
• Retirement Plan (State contributes 14.11% of employee's pay towards MainePERS)
• Six weeks of fully paid parental leave for all employees welcoming a child
• Additional unpaid leave may be available under the Family and Medical Leave Act.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level