Social Worker III – Child Welfare

County of Anson • Wadesboro, NC

2d • Onsite

About The Position

This is advanced, professional-level casework providing protective, investigative, counseling, and case management services for children who are at risk for neglect and/or abuse. Employees are assigned to local departments of Social Services and provide social work services including treatment and immediate response to crisis situations for at-risk children in the most complex cases in the departments. Work involves an investigation of alleged neglect and abuse, substantiation of the alleged neglect or abuse as prescribed by federal and state guidelines, providing expert testimony in court hearings, and following up with case management and preventive services for clients. Employees analyze situations and determine appropriate courses of action immediately or in short time spans and often under very stressful conditions. Employees may provide group, family, or individual treatment to clients of any age and any developmental, mental, medical, substance abuse, financial, or family problem. Employees may have combined investigative and treatment roles or may have separate functions depending on the size and organizational structure of the departments of Social Services. This position works a rotating on-call schedule, which may require night and weekend work.

Requirements

• Competency in computer skills required.
• Must have a valid driver’s license.

Responsibilities

• Receiving reports of suspected child abuse, neglect, or dependency and evaluating these reports to determine if the reported information meets the statutory guidelines for child maltreatment.
• Conducting CPS assessments to gather sufficient information to determine if child maltreatment occurred, if there is a risk of future maltreatment and the level of that risk, if the child is safe within the home and, if not, what interventions can be implemented to ensure the child’s protection and maintain the family unit intact if reasonably possible, continuing services needed to reduce the risk of maltreatment occurring in the future, and out of home placement if necessary to protect the child from harm.
• Providing CPS in-home services where the worker and families determine the strategies to be used to change the conditions and behaviors that resulted in child abuse and neglect; to work with the family, their support system, and other service providers to reduce or eliminate the risk of maltreatment.
• Seeking removal of custody through the juvenile court when the child cannot be maintained safely in the home of the parent or caretaker or voluntarily placed safely with relatives or other kin while services are continued.
• Placing children in foster homes or group care-settings, which includes direct treatment and counseling for the children themselves, their biological families and their foster families; and preparation of cases for court and testimony in juvenile court and criminal court.
• Developing and implementing permanent plans for children such as reunification with parents, adoptive placement or other kinship placements.
• Performing other related duties and activities as deemed appropriate by the supervisor.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level