Kinship Family Specialist (Bilingual)

Our Community Our Kids•Fort Worth, TX

About The Position

The Kinship Family Specialist (KFS) provides casework for family or fictive-kin placements, including monthly contact, resources and support, community-resource connections, and assessment of eligibility for financial assistance when available. The role supports caregivers and children, helps families navigate kinship foster licensing and permanency, and coordinates services with internal teams and public and private agencies. Bilingual English and Spanish proficiency is highly preferred. The position includes exposure to parents, guardians, conservators, and youth with behavioral problems, including possible physical aggression. Local and regional travel is required, and the employee must have a personal vehicle and a valid driver's license. The role is sensitive to the cultural and socioeconomic characteristics of the service population. The KFS has access to confidential youth, foster care, adoption, and foster-parent records and must maintain confidentiality and follow applicable personnel- and client-record policies.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in a human services field.
Two years of experience working within human services.
Knowledge of good child-placement practices, agency policies and procedures, applicable regulations, and laws concerning child care, abuse, and neglect.
Skills in preparing children for permanency and developing and maintaining professional working relationships.
Ability to support families dealing with separation and attachment issues and to assess children's needs and progress in placement.
Ability to maintain timely documentation and effectively manage a caseload.
Ability to assess children's current life situations for the presence of abuse or neglect.
Ability to understand and articulate how race and poverty intersect with unequal treatment and differing outcomes and conditions among groups.
Ability to negotiate available services, gather and analyze information, and prepare clear and concise reports.
Ability to travel locally and within the region; a personal vehicle and valid driver's license are required.
Ability to maintain confidentiality and comply with policies for personnel and client records.

Nice To Haves

Bilingual proficiency in English and Spanish is highly preferred to support Spanish-speaking children, families, and community partners.

Responsibilities

Conduct monthly face-to-face contacts to provide support, assessment, education, and connections to resources.
Attend family team meetings, family group conferences, court hearings, and case-planning conferences as needed or required.
Assess caregiver capability for kinship foster licensing, refer families to child-placing agencies, guide caregivers through licensing, and provide resources and support.
Assist with determining daycare eligibility for qualified caregivers.
Support families in meeting children's needs and help caregivers provide a safe, nurturing environment.
Plan for and facilitate permanency.
Maintain working relationships with public and private agencies involved in services and support.
Provide information about the child to the case-management team and internal departments as required.
Conduct home visits at specified intervals or as required and provide crisis intervention when needed.
Coordinate community resources for children served.
Coordinate with intake and other staff to provide pre-kinship services and support placement with a relative or fictive kin.
Complete documentation and forward descriptive, analytical, and evaluative reports.
Coordinate with resource-family services and licensing staff to support regulatory compliance and review licensing standards with kinship caregivers.
Coordinate service delivery with case-management staff and external public and private agencies.
Maintain ethical standards, attend work regularly, collaborate with colleagues and providers, establish respectful relationships with people served, and maintain an appropriate helping role.
Attend continuing education, in-service training, agency training, and relevant community seminars and conferences; communicate regularly with a supervisor and seek supervision when appropriate.
Perform other duties as assigned and required to maintain unit operations, while refraining from duties unrelated to or interfering with the position.