Family Support Specialist (Bilingual Spanish)

Chicago Children's Advocacy Center•Chicago, IL

21d

About The Position

The Family Support Specialist provides comprehensive case management and support services to caregivers of child victims of sexual abuse and their families, with the goal of helping families to engage and remain in mental health services. The Family support specialist receives referrals directly from family advocates, Family Hope Center therapists, or the Director of PATHH and Family Support Services. Appropriate referral needs include, but are not limited to: medical advocacy, mental health linkage for parent or other member of the household, basic needs (e.g., food, clothing, or shelter), education advocacy, psychiatric services, or application for benefits (e.g., social security, DHS, All Kids, WIC). The Family Support Specialist aims to enhance problem solving and coping capacity of the client while linking and improving the systems that may support the family.

Requirements

Minimal educational requirement of Master’s Degree in Social Work, Counseling or Human Service Related field.
Two years’ experience in the field of sexual abuse treatment, child welfare, and/or case management is required.
Strong clinical, written, communication and organizational skills.
Must be bilingual (English-Spanish).
Must be capable of working independently in a fast-paced collaborative environment.

Nice To Haves

Licensure preferred.
Familiarity with Chicago’s mental health community, and social service agencies.

Responsibilities

Support Director of PATHH and Family Support Services in maintenance of Centralized Wait List through providing ongoing follow up to families waiting for mental health services.
Provide support to Family Hope Center Drop-In Service program
Assesses client’s needs, completes Wheel of Life with the client, and develops service plan to meet the needs of clients and families with input from referral source. Service plans include identified goals and steps needed to achieve goals.
Updates service plans and completes Wheel of Life with all active clients on a quarterly basis.
Facilitates a minimum of two to four therapy or psychoeducational groups (child, parent, combined child and parent, or family) per year (e.g., Hope and Healing, ChicagoCAC Parenting Group).
Actively participates in weekly reflective, clinical and administrative supervision with the Director of PATHH and Family Support Services.
Participates in Family Hope Center file reviews.
Actively participates in Family Hope Center department meetings and case consultations.
Provides supportive case management based upon the child and family’s needs and those of the service plan, with goal to meet identified resource needs for family.
Provides appropriate linkage and referrals on behalf of family.
Facilitates communication and coordination of services with other internal and external providers with goal to meet service need goals.
Attends appointments with families when support for self-efficacy and self-esteem is needed (e.g., housing, psychiatry, school, employment).
Accompanies families to court proceedings to provide support, translation and education
Conducts Risk Assessments of children and families who are presenting with risk per ChicagoCAC policy. Provides ongoing assessments as necessary.
Collaborates with clinicians in gathering collateral information (DCFS, CPD, Advocate, FI, Psychiatry, school, etc.) to provide appropriate services and support for family.
Gathers data as it relates to type of service referrals, linkage success, client participation and satisfaction.
Plans, facilitates, and participates in Family Hope Center community events and actively fosters supportive community environment within Family Hope Center for clients and families.
Communicates issues, concerns and successes in a timely manner in order to make modifications to case management services.
Participates in all team and agency wide meetings.
Maintains a flexible work schedule as required by needs of cases.
Participates in local networking and training opportunities.
Performs other duties as assigned.

Benefits

BCBS HMO and PPO healthcare coverage options with an opportunity to add family members to plans.
Free life insurance at 2x your salary up to a maximum of $200,000.
Additional pay of 10% of your salary up to $7,500 per year (available after 6 months of employment) to use towards a menu of benefits such as: additional health benefits, dental, vision, long-term disability short-term disability, 403b plan, a Roth option, legal coverage, dependent care, flexible spending, and taxable spending.
Taxable spending may be used for health club membership, fitness activities, tuition reimbursement, student loan repayment, among other options.
Paid Time Off (“PTO”): PTO starts accruing the first day of employment and accrues at a rate of 35 days in a 12-month period.
PTO days are used for all days off, including holidays and sick time so you have maximum flexibility in the use of your PTO.
Timing of vacations may be dependent on client needs, as that’s our first priority.
PTO goes up to 40 days after 5 years.
Additional PTO for FMLA-related reasons up to 20 days.
A remote work policy that provides flexibility in work hours so long as operational needs are met.
Regular expert training on evidence-based therapy modalities, which includes being able to earn Continuing Education Units.
A casual dress code.
Enjoy afternoon milk and cookies every Friday!