Family Finding Specialist

Lutheran Social Services of Illinois • Nachusa, IL

19h • $58,000 - $68,000

About The Position

Lutheran Social Services of Illinois (LSSI) is hiring a full-time Family Finding Specialist, Monday through Friday. The position conducts family-finding and foster-family recruitment work to support stability, permanency, and lifelong connections for youth in foster care. The specialist reaches out to families likely to meet a youth’s needs, participates in community events, researches and locates absentee parents or guardians, and identifies extended family and fictive kinship connections.

The role provides technical assistance and resource-development support to casework staff serving children with specialized or challenging behavioral needs. It uses a family-centered, trauma-informed, strength-based, and equity, diversity, and inclusion lens. The specialist engages youth, birth parents, families, social connections, foster parents, staff, agencies, and community providers; identifies potential supports and placement resources; and leads proactive general and targeted foster-family recruitment. The work also includes searches across databases and online sources, required forms and SACWIS documentation, written correspondence, and tracking data for the Foster Care Team.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in social work, another human services field, or criminal justice.
• Criminal background check and CANTS clearance.
• Understanding of implicit bias and how to work within a system that affects placement decisions for youth and families, including the ability to have crucial conversations with staff and other child and family team members.
• Excellent communication, organization, presentation, and PC/computer skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office, including Outlook, Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.
• Full access to SACWIS.
• Valid driver’s license in good standing in the state of residency.
• Valid Illinois statutory-minimum liability insurance coverage for bodily injury and property damage.

Nice To Haves

• Child Welfare Employee Licensure (CWEL).
• Experience working with children and special needs.
• Demonstrated leadership, data-analysis, and problem-solving skills.
• Access to and knowledge of completing background checks.

Responsibilities

• Provide professional technical assistance and resource-development support to casework staff serving children with specialized and problematic behavior service needs.
• Assess youth and family needs using a family-centered, trauma-informed, strength-based, and equity, diversity, and inclusion lens.
• Engage youth as age-appropriate, birth parents, family and social connections, foster parents, and staff to support youth stability and permanency.
• Identify and locate family members and supportive connections.
• Locate prospective supports and placement resources for youth and families.
• Identify and engage relatives, fictive kin, and other family supports to promote lifelong connections and permanency.
• Use events, networking, social media, and other strategies to meet and communicate with potential foster parents.
• Search multiple databases, systems, social media, and other websites; complete required forms and SACWIS documentation; send written correspondence; and log and track data for the Foster Care Team.
• Lead proactive general and targeted foster-family recruitment efforts for youth in the foster care system.
• Coordinate services and attend meetings with other agencies, systems, and community providers to meet client needs.
• Demonstrate professional, positive, honest, fair, and respectful conduct when working with clients, families, LSSI workforce members, and collaborative organizations or individuals.

Benefits

• On-demand flexible payday access to earned wages through the Dayforce Wallet app.
• Competitive salary based on relevant education, experience, and licensure.
• Opportunity for advancement.
• Comprehensive benefits package for full-time employees, including healthcare insurance, up to 26 days of paid time off per calendar year, 11 paid holidays, sick time, a 403(b) plan, and an Employee Assistance Program.
• Flexible hours.
• Paid training.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time