Family Finding Specialist (63552)

Family Support Services•Largo, FL

About The Position

This position will be responsible for supporting Case Managers (CM) by working collaboratively with staff to locate, engage and recommend safe placement for children in Out of Home Care (OHC) with relatives and non-relatives (kinship). This position will use available search methods to locate relative, non-relative and other supports. This position will assist in facilitation of permanency related meetings such as Permanency Roundtables, Rapid Permanency Reviews and MDT staffings as needed. The candidate must have a strong value and belief system that children do best when placed with kin and fictive kin (relative/non-relative), which minimizes trauma for the child (ren) and enhances child well-being. This position is part of our direct service personnel.

Requirements

Education: Requires a bachelors degree from an accredited college or university.
Experience: Two years of responsible experience working with relative and non-relative caregivers and/or working with High Risk children and families, preferably within the dependency or economic self-sufficiency programs.
Demonstrated competence and skills in positive family and youth engagement and communication
Ability to think critically, and creatively to identify links between discovered information.
Ability to use computers, Microsoft Office Suite, and internet with ease and exhibited proficiency.
Ability to conduct effective phone interviews/ home assessments with prospective caregivers and providers to include foster parents, biological and adoptive parents.
Ability to speak and conduct meetings with volunteers, caseworkers, and community groups.
Ability to maintain an effective working relationship with others.
Ability to write well and perform accurate assessments.
Ability to demonstrate diligence, persistence, and positive attitude to succeed on behalf of children.
Ability to schedule meetings in a timely manner and inform numerous individuals in a required time frame.
Ability to keep calendars and schedule meetings accordingly.
Ability to demonstrate use of time management and organization skills.
Ability to write summaries to meetings that accurately reflect the details of the meeting.
Ability to create spreadsheets in Excel.
Ability to solve practical problems and deal with a variety of concrete variables with minimum direction.
Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written or oral form.
Ability and desire to perform aggressive and exhaustive family finding efforts focusing on accuracy and complete information.
Ability to read and interpret Florida statute and policies for compliance.
Employee must be able to coordinate work hours around availability of the families requiring non-traditional work hours.
Employee must be able to complete paperwork, computer tasks, and drive to locations within Pasco/ Pinellas and beyond, depending on caseload dynamics.
Clear a Level II background screening (Live Scan) in which your fingerprints will be used to conduct the screening. Please see the link with further details: https://info.flclearinghouse.com
Clear a reference check.
Clear a local background check from the County in which you reside.
Clear a substance abuse screen.
Provide a copy of all degrees prior to your first day of employment.
Clear a Motor Vehicles Records check and must be insurable under the company’s automobile policy.
Provide copy of automobile insurance.
Provide proof of and maintain a minimum personal auto liability insurance level $100,000/$300,000 if deemed to be a driving risk.
Clear an E-Verify check to substantiate that the candidate meets the department of homeland security authorization requirements to work in the united states (visit www.dhs.gov/e-verify for more information.
Valid drivers license.
Child Welfare certified or certification eligible.

Responsibilities

Research current and incoming children placed in licensed homes by, but not limited to, conducting case reviews, internet searches and interviews with relatives, non-relatives, and children to identify potential connections. Complete follow-up of all individuals that have expressed interest in the child, and/or have had a positive relationship with the child.
Conduct Home Studies and background screens on all potential placements and follow up with Case Manager on results
Participate in a variety of staffings to include permanency roundtables, rapid permanency reviews, and other MDTs.
Pass along or gather known information to assigned Case Manager and supervisor and conduct follow-up activities as needed. Maintain accurate and complete documentation for each assigned case.
Conduct supportive efforts, to include home visit engagement, to promote placement stabilization.
Document all family finding efforts for each case and track success.
Attend agency events, trainings, conferences as needed after hours or on the weekends.
Performs other duties as assigned.