Resource Family/Foster Care Licensing Community Care Worker
About The Position
As a Community Care Worker, you will ensure resource family home applicants meet required standards to be approved as a licensed resource family capable of providing foster, adoptive and/or permanency guardianship services to children in care of the Department. With the Department’s focus on prioritizing placement of children with kinship families, you will be expected to explain the resource approval process to placement families and actively support these families through the steps to become an approved resource. This work requires frequent overtime, emergency kinship coverage, and other overtime according to operational need. Additionally, this position regularly travels within the geographic area served by the District Office.
Requirements
- A Bachelor’s Degree in a 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.
- Strong oral and written communications skills.
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
- 3+ weeks of vacation leave annually
- 12 days of sick leave per year
- Health Insurance Coverage (State pays 85%-95% 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 (Maine Public Employees Retirement System - MainePERS)
- Gym Membership Reimbursement (up to $40 per month)
- Health and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts
- Public Service Student Loan Forgiveness eligibility
- Living Resources Program (employee assistance program)
- Six weeks of fully paid parental leave
- Voluntary Deferred Compensation (MaineSaves 457(b) account)
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Mid Level
