Children's Services/ICW - Family Voluntary Services (FVS) Caseworker

Puyallup Tribe of Indians•Tacoma, WA

About The Position

To develop, implement and evaluate case plans to enrolled Puyallup Tribal children who are found to be children in need of care through the Puyallup Tribal Court. Facilitates family reunification or other permanent placement planning as deemed necessary by the Tribal Court. Initiates life-changing decisions based solely on the best interest of the children.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree (B. A.) from four-year college or university in Social Services Field required
Two years related experience in case management and/or training working with Native American children and their families preferred; or equivalent combination of additional education and less experience.
Internship hours completed in a social work setting may count as experience.
Ability to read, analyze, and interpret general business periodicals, professional journals, technical procedures, or governmental regulations.
Ability to write reports, business correspondence, and procedure manuals.
Ability to effectively present information and respond to questions from groups of managers, clients, customers, and the general public.
Ability to add, subtract, multiply, and divide in all units of measure, using whole numbers, common fractions, and decimals.
Ability to compute rate, ratio, and percent and to draw and interpret bar graphs.
Must possess independent decision-making skills, have or be willing to learn de-escalation and crisis intervention techniques.
Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
Ability to interpret an extensive variety of technical instructions in mathematical or diagram form and deal with several abstract and concrete variables.
Current First Aid and CPR certification and HIV/AIDS training certificate.
Must pass Washington State Department of Social and Health Services criminal history and CPS background inquiry every two years unless otherwise indicated.
Must have and maintain a valid and unrestricted Washington State driver’s license and proof of insurance. The driver’s license must not contain any restrictions that would otherwise prevent the employee from driving a GSA vehicle.
Willing to attend training for professional development.
Knowledge of legal requirements of Puyallup Tribal Court- Children’s Code, and U.S. Federal Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978.
Knowledge of Native American family dynamics. Sensitive to and familiar with the social/cultural needs of Tribal children and their families.
Must pass tuberculosis test.
Knowledge of DCFS systems and procedures.
Willing to travel with little or no notice.

Responsibilities

Initiates, facilitates and assists in obtaining referrals to outside agencies and professional providers in establishing services necessary to achieve case planning goals.
Performs case consultation and collaboration with CPS Investigator, professional therapists, medical personnel, school officials, legal professionals, and other community agencies for optimal outcomes of case plans.
Develops appropriate case plans, attends staffing and team meetings to determine needs of clients toward completing their case plans.
The FVS Caseworker works with families to mitigate identified risk on a voluntary basis prior to the removal of the child(ren) from the home via court structure.
Supports and encourages the children, parents, and extended family members to participate in achieving documented case plan.
The FVS Caseworker is tasked with protection of children from child abuse/neglect with ongoing continuous risk assessments while keeping children in their own homes.
The FVS Caseworker engages the family and builds on the willingness of the family to engage in services provided by the Puyallup Tribe or allied agencies.
The FVS Caseworker may also provide support to children who are of appropriate age to access the Extended Foster Care Program. The FVS Caseworker will help by educating the youth on resources and services available, assist the youth/young adult with schooling, vocational programs or higher education & engage them in the program, and help them launch them into adulthood successfully.
The FVS Caseworker will initiate court structures to remove children if risk cannot be mitigated to keep the child safe, or if additional factors arise.
Prepares detailed, comprehensive and accurate reports to court, develops case summaries, and attends predetermined and emergency court proceedings. Stays informed of all court proceedings Maintains complete case records of case progress including court documents, school and health records, and correspondence. Also responsible for administration of financial support records, service agreements, service episode information, tribal affiliation and enrollment.
Actively participates in departmental staff meetings.
Prepares case summaries to staff with team case reviews, casework supervisor and the Local Indian Child Welfare Advisory Committee when needed and applicable.
Conducts home visits/inspections with clients to ensure the needs of the family are being met and they are benefitting from services provided by the FVS.
Initiates and maintains appropriate documentation for financial, medical and educational services for children and families.
Manages crisis situations as they arise.
Maintains and ensures extreme level of confidentiality regarding client issues.
Ability to prioritize workload based on client emergency situations.
Responsibility for transporting clients to and from appointments.
Ability to adapt and be flexible to constant changes in Tribal and State Children’s Services systems.
Determine suitable and safe living conditions for children and their families.
Performs other duties as assigned.