Social Worker (FHL and Visitation)

Forsyth County•Winston-Salem, NC

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Forsyth County Department of Social Services is seeking to hire a full-time Social Worker to serve the primary purpose of: Visitation to ensuring the safety and wellbeing of children (birth - 21 years old) in Forsyth County who have been reported and/or adjudicated by Juvenile Court to be abused, neglected, dependent, or delinquent juveniles by facilitating the visitation process. This is achieved by supervising and coaching visitation interactions between parents and their children, and FHL to facilitate licensed foster families and placement of foster children in their homes, as well as evaluating, training & licensing new foster care families. The Visitation position will ensure child(ren) are visiting in a safe environment by providing observation, encouragement, mediation, coaching, and interventions as needed. Visitation interactions and activities must be documented to address appropriateness, needs, and outcomes of the parent-child interactions. Participation in Child and Family Team meetings and Permanency Planning Review meetings is expected. Collaboration and communication with social workers, GAL’s, and other case involved parties is required. Transporting children and families to and from their supervised visitation could be required. The visitation social worker could be asked to testify in court. The FHL position will provide assistance to social workers with locating appropriate placements for foster children, and effectively communicating with foster families, DSS social workers, and community partners. Thorough and timely documentation of case information required. Is responsible for sharing after hours on-call duties with other staff is required. Will prepare foster family for placement and separation and provide ongoing counseling to alleviate family crises and/or improve parenting of children with behavioral and/or emotional problems. An employee in this position will work with social workers to locate placements and complete paperwork for children requiring placement. This worker will develop a recruitment plan and develop community relationships to support recruitment efforts. Requires organization and documentation skills to perform job duties and responsibilities. The primary hours of work are from 8:00am until 5:00pm but flexibility in scheduling is needed to meet the needs of the families served and the mandated time frames , as well as participating in monthly recruitment events that typically occur after 5pm and on weekends.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree from an accredited school of social work or; Master's degree in Counseling or; Four-year degree in a Human Service field or related curriculum including at least 15 semester hours in courses related to Social Work or Counseling and six months of Social Work or Counseling experience or; Four-year degree and one year of experience in Counseling or in a related Human Service field which provides experience in techniques of counseling, casework, group work, or community organization.
A higher education level may be considered as a substitution for all or part of the experience requirement.
Valid driver's license required.
Must be subject to a criminal history record check conducted by the SBI.
Must comply with NC G.S. 153A-94.2(b) “requires an applicant for employment to work with children in any capacity, must require the applicant, if offered the position, to be subject to a criminal history record check conducted by the SBI.”
Fingerprint-based state and national criminal record check must be conducted in accordance with G.S. 143B-1209.26.

Nice To Haves

Bilingual (English/Spanish) speaking candidates are a plus.

Responsibilities

Supervising and coaching visitation interactions between parents and their children.
Facilitating licensed foster families and placement of foster children in their homes.
Evaluating, training & licensing new foster care families.
Ensuring child(ren) are visiting in a safe environment by providing observation, encouragement, mediation, coaching, and interventions as needed.
Documenting visitation interactions and activities to address appropriateness, needs, and outcomes of the parent-child interactions.
Participating in Child and Family Team meetings and Permanency Planning Review meetings.
Collaborating and communicating with social workers, GAL’s, and other case involved parties.
Transporting children and families to and from their supervised visitation.
Testifying in court.
Providing assistance to social workers with locating appropriate placements for foster children.
Effectively communicating with foster families, DSS social workers, and community partners.
Sharing after hours on-call duties with other staff.
Preparing foster families for placement and separation.
Providing ongoing counseling to alleviate family crises and/or improve parenting of children with behavioral and/or emotional problems.
Locating placements and completing paperwork for children requiring placement.
Developing a recruitment plan and developing community relationships to support recruitment efforts.
Assessing and evaluating all findings of foster and adoptive applicants obtained through home visits, interviews, TIPS-MAPP training, observations and discussions with the team.
Determining if applicants meet all licensing requirements as set forth by the State of NC and Forsyth County DSS.
Providing ongoing assessments of each foster home placement to determine the progress of the placement.
Providing support and training to kinship families with children placed in their homes.
Completing home studies, licensing prospective foster parents and completing re-licensing packets bi-annually.
Identifying and obtaining foster home placements for children who enter foster care.
Completing home study assessments on assigned applicants after completion of TIPS-MAPP training and making determination to license or deny.
Completing re-licensing package on foster parents bi-annually.
Identifying and obtaining therapeutic placements for teens or children with therapeutic needs if deemed necessary.
Completing Referral Tracking Form after placement is identified and coordinating placement arrangements with social worker, child and placement providers.
Making appropriate referrals to other professionals and community service providers as deemed necessary.
Discussing and sharing all pertinent information about the child with the foster family.
Conducting 3-day transitional visits with the placement provider.
Conducting quarterly visits with foster parents and children.
Assisting with the development of a public awareness campaign that will educate the community about foster care/adoption.
Recruiting foster/adopt homes with special emphasis on bilingual, sibling group, and teen placements.
Setting up informational booths at various community events and church fairs to distribute literature and information about fostering/adopting.
Conducting bi-monthly interest meetings to the general public about fostering/adoption.
Developing and submitting public service announcements to the media events related to fostering/adoption, includes conducting radio and television interviews.