Permanency Specialist -Crystal City/Eagle Pass- Hybrid

SJRC Texas•Eagle Pass, TX

2d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Permanency Specialist promotes the well-being of children in the Permanency Program and manages a caseload of permanency cases involving children removed from their homes, placed in CPS conservatorship, and placed in care outside their homes. The position is classified as hybrid, but requires travel up to 95% of the work week. The candidate must reside in Dimmit, Zavala, Maverick, or Uvalde County within Region 8. The specialist assesses placement needs, safety, family strengths and needs, and placement resources; plans and facilitates permanency; and supports care providers, kinship caregivers, and adoptive resource families in providing safe, nurturing environments. The role coordinates with public and private agencies, agency staff, courts, and other program partners. It includes adoption planning, support for Permanency Round Tables, recruitment of adoptive resources, preparation for independent living, crisis intervention, and 24-hour rotating on-call support. The specialist also maintains complete case records and prepares required reports and statistical data. The role requires regular travel to visits, appointments, meetings, and other work-related activities, including after 5 p.m. The specialist may work irregular hours, make home visits in isolated or high-crime areas, and encounter substandard or unsanitary living conditions. Physical demands include walking, bending, kneeling, reaching, working long days, driving long distances, and lifting up to 60 pounds. The work may take place in home-like settings with moderate to high background noise and involves children with moderate to severe emotional and psychological needs.

Requirements

Associate’s degree from an accredited college or university in Child Welfare or a related field plus two years of relevant work experience; or 60 accredited college credit hours plus two years of relevant work experience; or 90 accredited college credit hours plus one year of relevant work experience. Experience may be substituted for education.
Valid Texas driver’s license and safe driving record; ability to provide personal transportation and proof of current automobile insurance.
Must meet agency insurance underwriting standards when driving agency vehicles and/or transporting clients.
Knowledge of child development and family dynamics.
Effective verbal and written communication skills.
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and use problem-solving techniques.
Ability to operate a personal computer.
Ability to travel and attend child and family visits, appointments, and meetings, including after 5 p.m.
Ability to be on call on a rotating basis and work irregular hours when necessary.
Ability to work in an emotionally demanding environment, including home visits in isolated or high-crime areas and possible exposure to substandard or unsanitary living conditions.
Ability to understand and support role changes in foster and kinship care and counsel regarding separation and loss for children, families, and caregivers.
Commitment to a child’s right to belong to a family, preserving connections to the family of origin whenever possible, and reunifying children with their biological families.
Knowledge, skills, and experience in assessing placement and safety needs, family strengths and needs, placement resources, permanency planning, and supporting caregivers in providing safe, nurturing care.
Skills related to separation and loss, family systems, conflict resolution and mediation, loyalty issues affecting children and caregivers, reunification, and adoption.
Ability to safely operate a motor vehicle and drive personal or agency vehicles while transporting children or conducting agency business.
Ability to meet the physical demands of the role, including stooping, kneeling, bending, reaching, walking briskly, working long days, driving long distances, and lifting up to 60 pounds.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in Child Welfare or a related field.
Master’s degree from an accredited college or university in Child Welfare or a related field.

Responsibilities

Manage a caseload of permanency placements referred by investigators and/or Family Based Safety Services Caseworkers after children enter CPS conservatorship and out-of-home care.
Assess placement needs, safety, family strengths and needs, and placement resources for children and their caregivers.
Plan and facilitate permanency, helping care providers, kinship caregivers, and adoptive resources provide safe, nurturing environments.
Maintain working relationships with public and private agencies involved in permanency and adoption services and coordinate program requirements with them.
Conduct and coordinate assessments and ensure child and family case records are accurate, complete, and properly documented.
Conduct case-planning conferences at required intervals.
Prepare children and families for permanency through training, mentoring, family assessment, consultations, and home visits.
Coordinate with staff on cases with adoption as the primary goal or where a Permanency Round Table has occurred; facilitate related requirements through agencies and the court system.
Coordinate with Care Management and Foster Care and Adoption staff on placements in identified adoptive homes.
Work with the Adoption Accelerator on Permanency Round Table requirements and preparation for special-needs adoption, as required.
Coordinate with the resource exchange contractor to identify potential adoptive resources when no resource has been identified and send relevant information to the appropriate person.
Work with the Independent Living Coordinator to prepare children for independent living and support youth placed in independent living environments.
Develop targeted recruitment plans for children without adoptive resources.
Provide 24-hour on-call support to children and families served and provide crisis intervention when required.
Address the needs of children in kinship care and help caregivers provide stable, loving homes for relative children.
With Care Management staff, ensure children are placed appropriately and within required timelines.
Coordinate adoption planning and dissolutions.
Support the Post Adoption Case Manager in ensuring follow-on support services are provided after permanency is achieved.
Compile monthly statistical data and reports and submit them to appropriate agencies.
Complete documentation and prepare reports with descriptive, analytical, and evaluative content.
Coordinate service delivery with agency staff and external public and private agencies.
Provide required training on processes, skills, and practices for preparing children and families for adoption.
Operate a personal or agency vehicle for transporting children or conducting agency business, as required.
Practice cultural sensitivity and responsiveness and demonstrate respect for cultural diversity in work-related interactions.
Attend work regularly in accordance with agency leave policy and perform other related duties as assigned.