Family Based Care Specialist

StepStone Family & Youth Services•Winterville, NC

About The Position

StepStone Family & Youth Services provides trauma-informed, youth-centered services to children and families involved in foster care. The Family Based Care Specialist recruits, prepares, and supports foster families in providing safe, stable, and nurturing homes where children and youth can heal, grow, and thrive. The role focuses on community engagement, foster parent recruitment, family assessments, training, and relationship building, using trauma-informed, strengths-based, and family-centered practices. The specialist recruits and engages prospective foster parents, conducts home assessments, coordinates orientation and training, assists families through licensing and certification, and maintains accurate documentation in accordance with agency policies and state regulations. The role collaborates with foster families, licensing teams, case managers, program leadership, and community partners to provide guidance, resources, and ongoing support that promote quality care and placement stability. The position requires a compassionate, organized, adaptable, and solutions-focused professional with strong communication skills and a commitment to empowering foster families through education, advocacy, and ongoing support. Attendance is an essential function of the job. Other job-related duties may be assigned.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree (B.A. or B.S.W.) in a Human Services field from a four-year college or university.
One to two years of related experience and/or training.
CPR, CPI, and First Aid qualifications.
Valid Social Work License.
Working knowledge and understanding of culture and its function in human behavior and society.
Ability to deliver services that are sensitive to clients’ cultures.
Ability to build mutually respectful partnerships with people served and their families, helping them develop skills and confidence to address issues and problems.
Belief in people’s capacity to grow and change.
Ability to work in partnership with other team members.
Ability to set limits, maintain the helping role, and intervene appropriately to meet the needs of people served or other family members.

Responsibilities

Respond to the division’s Clinical Supervisor and/or Unit Administrator within 48 hours of receiving a Home Assessment Request form.
Complete and document initial foster parent interviews.
Conduct foster care home assessments and prepare narratives, including community references, a medication storage form, a sanitation form, a foster home approval form identifying strengths and weaknesses, and, when necessary, a plan of action to prepare the family.
Submit home assessment narratives and completed paperwork within five working days of completing an assessment.
Participate in the ongoing development of agency foster parent orientation training to meet licensure standards.
Conduct required foster parent orientation training for Treatment Foster Care divisions.
Submit documentation verifying foster parents’ orientation attendance to the Clinical Supervisor and/or Unit Administrator at the end of each training session.
Acquire and maintain trainer status for CPR, Standard First Aid, Nonviolent Crisis Intervention (CPI), and PRIDE.
Coordinate and notify prospective foster parent applicants of home assessment and orientation training dates and times.
Inform division representatives of prospective foster parent applicants’ status.
Conduct CPR and Standard First Aid training during new personnel staff training and agency foster parent orientation training.
Submit the previous month’s tracking report to the supervisor by the first working day of each month.
Provide ongoing marketing of the foster care program.
Maintain attendance as an essential job function.
Perform other job-related duties as assigned.