Foster Care Family Support Manager

Growing Hope•Columbia, SC

2d•Remote

About The Position

The Family Support Manager leads Growing Hope’s foster family support program and supervises Family Support Specialists (FSS) who provide direct support to the foster families we license and support. This is a relationship-centered leadership role responsible for building a stable, consistent, and equity-driven support system that helps children remain safe and stable in family homes, strengthens foster parents’ confidence and capacity, and ensures staff have the tools, coaching, and structure needed to do high-quality work. This position is intentionally designed to collaborate and co-design with the Director of Family Engagement and Support, as we build a comprehensive family support model. The Manager will instill Growing Hope values, shape program expectations and engagement standards, update and assess workflows, training priorities, and stabilization strategies while anchoring the day-to-day support operations, especially when families call with urgent needs or when risk events emerge. The Family Support Manager is also a first-line leader for foster parent concerns and emerging risk, supporting timely escalation, consistent decision-making, and follow-through while partnering closely with Licensing and Placement to prevent unnecessary disruptions and strengthen outcomes. Why This Role Matters Placement stability is one of the most powerful protective factors we can influence for children and youth in foster care. Children thrive with consistency, predictability, and trusted adult attachment, and every move can increase risk and compound trauma, delays in permanency, and disruptions in school and relationships. Foster parents are doing courageous work, often while navigating behaviors rooted in trauma, complicated systems, competing guidance, and the everyday pressure of trying to help a child feel safe in a new home. When support is fragmented, inconsistent, or reactive, families can feel alone, and the system becomes more crisis-driven than stability-focused. Child welfare guidance consistently emphasizes that caregivers need agency support to navigate systems, access services, and maintain their own wellbeing. This role exists to mitigate the trauma of unmet needs of children in foster care by ensuring every child or youth placed with a Growing Hope family is in a safe, well-trained, well-supported, and committed foster home, with our team of professionals and resources by their side. With a comprehensive family support model, we can: Keep children stable in homes, schools, and community connections whenever safely possible Strengthen foster parent retention through timely support, coaching, peer connection, and respite-informed planning Build a proactive stabilization model (not just crisis response) grounded in preparation, practical tools, and consistent follow-up Center equity and dignity, reducing bias in how risk, compliance, and ?t are interpreted and ensuring families get tailored support Prevent adoption disruption and dissolution by supporting families beyond permanency via routine check-ins and resource connection offerings to meet the needs of Growing Hope families in the months and years after permanency is achieved.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in social work, human services, psychology, counseling, , or a closely related ?eld
Minimum of 5 years of experience in child welfare, family support, behavioral health, foster care, or a related human services setting, with at least 2 of these supporting families from a systems level.
Minimum of 3 year of experience supervising, coaching, or leading a team (formal or informal leadership considered).
Demonstrated expertise in family support evidence-based models, strategies, trainings and tools.
Comfortable with public speaking and group facilitation.
Demonstrated experience handling urgent situations with sound judgment, calm communication, and follow-through.
Commitment to professional self-care and the ability to function effectively under stress.
Dedication to our mission, vision, values, and core principles.
Ability to foster respectful partnerships

Responsibilities

Co-develop, with the Director, a clear Family Support & Stability program model that includes:
Service tiers (routine support, stabilization support, intensive response)
Response standards and follow-up expectations
Escalation pathways and decision-making protocols
Core documentation and communication norms
Build and maintain infrastructure on how we support: checklists, templates, scripts, family resource guides, onboarding tools, and stabilization planning materials.
Lead continuous improvement cycles: use family feedback, disruption/risk event debriefs, and outcome tracking to adjust practice and reduce recurring stressors.
Develop role clarity and healthy cross-team boundaries so foster parents experience one coordinated system, not multiple disconnected programs.
Ensure families receive proactive contact and support, especially during high-risk windows (e.g., new placements, school transitions, behavior escalations, caregiver stress).
Create consistent stabilization practices that help families problem-solve early, before a disruption is on the table.
Build a practical support menu for families that includes:
Coaching and planning for routines, behavior support, and de-escalation
Help navigating services (school coordination, therapy access, community supports)
Resource connection (material supports, transportation/problem-solving, referrals)
Peer connection pathways (mentor families / support groups / buddy system)
Partner with Licensing/Placement to ensure families are equipped and supported for the placements they accept, including transparent preparation and realistic
Lead and/or coordinate an ongoing training and workshop strategy for:
Family Support staff (FSS): coaching skills, crisis response, documentation quality, equity-centered practice, boundaries, and collaboration.
Foster parents: trauma-responsive caregiving, behavior support, school advocacy, relationship-building, normalcy, and navigating child welfare systems.
Track training and support need of foster parents and partner with licensing team to co-develop trainings and resources to meet identified needs.
Design training that is accessible and realistic for foster parents (timing, format, childcare barriers, and practical tools).
Use feedback tools (surveys, attendance trends, family listening loops) to continuously improve training relevance and participation.
Supervise Family Support Specialists through regular 1:1s, team huddles, case consults, and real-time coaching.
Provide reflective, trauma-informed supervision that supports strong judgment, calm presence, and consistent decision-making under pressure.
Onboard and train new FSS; implement shadowing, coaching plans, and competency development.
Monitor caseload distribution and coverage to prevent burnout, reduce gaps, and ensure families receive consistent support.
Build a team culture where asking for help is a strength, and where staff are supported to intervene early, not hold it until crisis.
Serve as the first escalation point for foster parent calls and urgent concerns, ensuring families receive timely support and clear next steps.
Coordinate response and follow-up for risk events (safety concerns, allegations, behavioral escalations, caregiver conflict, runaway risk, hospitalization, etc.).
Create and maintain consistent protocols for:
Immediate triage and safety planning
Internal communication/handoffs
Documentation expectations
Debrief and corrective action follow-through
Lead debriefs after events to identify root causes and strengthen prevention, not blame. Placement stability work emphasizes that disruptions are often driven by systemic gaps in support, not simply youth behavior.
Partner with Intake, Licensing, and Placement to ensure foster families experience a coordinated, consistent system.
Participate in staffing and planning for complex placements, ensuring support is built in from day one (not added after crisis).
Collaborate on shared expectations for communication, escalation, and caregiver support so families are not receiving conflicting guidance.
Elevate patterns and system barriers to the Director and leadership team, offering solutions and process improvements.
Ensure timely and accurate documentation of supports provided, incident follow-up, and required contacts.
Create simple tracking/reporting rhythms to support quality
Implement corrective coaching and training when documentation or practice standards drift.
Support audits, internal reviews, and monitoring preparation as needed.
Model a practice stance rooted in dignity, cultural humility, and partnership, supporting foster parents without shaming them for needing help.
Ensure supports are fair and responsive across family backgrounds, addressing bias and barriers that can show up in ?t, risk, and compliance decisions.
Promote stability-focused approaches that preserve children’s connections (school, siblings, culture, community) whenever safely possible.
Perform all other duties as assigned to support the mission and success of the agency.