PERMANENCY SPECIALIST - UVALDE/DEL RIO - HYBRID

Job Title

The candidate must reside within the following county(s) within Region 8: Val Verde, Uvalde or the surrounding counties.

Primary Function/Responsibility

Promotes the well-being of children in the Permanency Program, participates in staff meetings and training and coordinates with staff from other agencies involved in the Permanency Program. Manages a caseload of Permanency cases. Performs the following duties directly.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Travel is required for this position, up to 95% of the work week.
• Manages a caseload of Permanency placements from investigators and/or Family Based Safety Services Caseworkers after children are removed from their homes, placed in CPS conservatorship, and placed in care outside their homes.
• Assess the need for placement, safety, family strengths and needs, and placement resources for the child and care provider/kinship/adoption caregivers.
• Plans for and facilitates permanency and assists care providers and kinship caregivers in providing a safe, nurturing environment for children in their care.
• Maintains a close working relationship with public and private agencies involved in providing Permanency and Adoption services/support.
• Conducts and coordinates assessments.
• Ensures the accuracy, content, and completeness of child/family case records.
• Coordinates Permanency Program and requirements with public and private agencies.
• Conducts case planning conferences at required intervals.
• Facilitates family/youth preparation for permanency through training, family to family mentoring, family assessment, consultations, home visits, etc.
• Following best practice standards, coordinates with staff on cases where the primary case plan goal is adoption or when a Permanency Round Table (PRT) has occurred.
• Facilitates requirements for PRT through public/private agencies and the court system.
• Coordinates with Care Management and Foster Care and Adoption staff on placement of children in identified adoptive placements.
• Works in concert with the Adoption Accelerator to facilitate requirements for PRT through public/private agencies and the court system and prepares the child for special needs adoption as required.
• Coordinates with the resource exchange contractor for potential adoptive resources for children when no identified resource is available and sends all information to the appropriate person. Works in concert with the Independent Living Coordinator to prepare children for independent living and to support those placed in an independent living environment.
• Assess the need for placement, safety, family strengths and needs.
• Plans for and facilitates permanency and assists adoptive resources in providing a safe, nurturing environment for youth in their care.
• Maintains a close working relationship with public and private agencies involved in providing adoption services/support.
• Develops targeted recruitment plans for children with no adoptive resources.
• Provides 24-hour, on-call support to the children/families served. Provides crisis intervention, when required.
• Meets the individual needs of children in kinship care and assists caregivers to provide a stable and loving home for relative children.
• With the assistance of Care Management staff, ensures children are placed in appropriate placements in the timelines required.
• Coordinates adoption planning and dissolutions.
• Supports the Post Adoption Case Manager in ensuring follow-on support services are accomplished after permanency is achieved.
• Compiles monthly statistical data and reports and forwards it to appropriate agencies.
• Completes documentation and forwards reports containing descriptive, analytical, and evaluative content.
• Coordinates with Agency staff, and staff from external public and private agencies, on the delivery of services to children and families.
• Must demonstrate the following:
• Ability to understand and assist with the role changes that occur in foster and kinship care.
• Ability to counsel regarding issues of separation and loss for the child, family, and caregivers.
• A commitment to a child's right to belong to a family.
• A commitment to preserving, whenever possible, a child's connection to the family of origin.
• A commitment to reunifying a child with his/her biological family.
• Demonstrate knowledge, skills, and experience to assess the need for placement, assess safety, assess family strengths and needs, assess placement resources for the child and care providers/kinship caregivers, plan for and facilitate permanency, and assist care providers, kinship, caregivers, and adoptive resource families in providing a safe, nurturing environment for children in their care.
• Demonstrate skills in separation and loss issues for the child in care, family systems, conflict resolution and mediation, understanding loyalty issues a child and kinship caregiver and youth and adoptive resource families may face, and general issues related to reunification of children with their family, as well as those related to adoption.
• Provide training as required to include process, skills, and practice on preparing children and family for adoption.
• The employee is required to be able to safely operate a motor vehicle and possess a valid license, therefore. If using an agency vehicle, the employee must meet agency insurance underwriting standards.
• Will be required to drive personal or agency vehicles while transporting children or conducting agency business. Must possess a valid driver's license. Must meet agency underwriting standards while driving agency vehicles and/or transporting clients.
• Refrains from assuming any duty that is unrelated to and/or interferes with the responsibilities of the position.
• Advocates, promotes, and practices cultural sensitivity and responsiveness in all day-to-day interactions.
• Promotes and demonstrates appropriate respect for cultural diversity among coworkers, clients, and all work-related contacts.
• Attends work regularly in accordance with agency leave policy.
• Perform other related duties as assigned.

Knowledgeable

• Knowledge of child development.
• Knowledge of family dynamics.
• Skill in effective verbal and written communication.
• Skill in establishing and maintaining effective working relationships.
• Skill in problem solving techniques.
• Ability to operate a personal computer.
• Ability to travel and attend child and family visits as well as other work-related appointments and meetings after 5PM.
• Ability to be on call on a rotating basis and work irregular hours when necessary.
• Ability to work in an emotion-filled environment which may require conducting home visits in isolated or high crime areas and may involve exposure to substandard and unsanitary living conditions.

Qualifications

Required:

• Associate's degree from an accredited college or university in Child Welfare or related field plus two (2) years of relevant work experience OR 60 accredited college credit hours plus two (2) years relevant work experience OR 90 accredited college credit hours plus one (1) year of relevant work experience.

Preferred:

• Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university in Child Welfare or related field OR Master's degree from an accredited college or university in Child Welfare or related field.

Certifications/Licenses/Registrations:

• Valid Texas Driver's License, safe driving record, ability to provide own transportation and proof of current automobile insurance.
• Training/Licensure/Certifications as required by SJRC Texas/Belong.

Physical/Mental Requirements and Information

• Body mobility to stoop, kneel, bend, reach, walk and walk briskly to interact with and monitor children.
• Stamina to work long days and drive long distances.
• Moderate to heavy lifting up to 60 pounds.
• Must have the ability to communicate both verbally and in writing.
• Environment requires dexterity to remain calm and adapt to fast paced and emotional environments consisting of children with moderate to severe emotional and psychological needs.
• Home-like settings with varying moderate to high degrees of background noise.
• Campuses are smoke-free, except on permitted campuses in designated areas.
• Injury when lifting or moving if employee fails to use proper body mechanics, or if proper techniques are not used.

Description of Organizational Relationships/Reporting Relationships