Licensing Specialist- Part Time- Benton Harbor Area

Foster Care Licensing Specialist

Licensing Specialists identify, recruit, and assess relatives and foster parents to provide care for children in foster care. This includes screening and evaluating caregivers for licensure, including initial and ongoing certification, and ensure foster homes are in compliance with licensing rules. Specialists provide training and support to ensure families are providing a safe and nurturing home and are equipped to meet the child(ren) needs.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Recruit, screen, evaluate, train, license, and maintain foster care homes to meet the needs of youth we serve.
• Ensure compliance with MDHHS, BCAL, COA and agency policies and procedures.
• Ensure all required documentation is confidential, accurate, comprehensive, and timely.
• Promote and ensure relative engagement, placements, and licensure.
• Assist child welfare staff to identify placements or replacement with specific matching criteria (sibling ties, relatives, geographic location, racial identity, and best interests).
• Participate in the on call after hours rotation.
• Communicate and collaborate with the foster child's team to ensure child's needs are met.
• Cross departmental teaming to ensure the effective exchange of essential information and permanency planning.
• Engage and maintain consistent contact with caregivers to ensure open communication and ongoing compliance expectations and foster home rules.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in social work or related field.
• DCWL Certification preferred or must obtain certification.
• Child welfare experience in foster care and/or adoption preferred.
• Valid driver's license, dependable automobile with adequate insurance available.
• Ability to maintain flexible schedule, including evenings and weekends.
• Possesses good judgement and organizational skills, attentive to detail and able to meet deadlines.
• Commitment to Agency's mission, philosophy, and values.

Core Competencies:

• Working Under Pressure: Ability to maintain composure when exposed to stress.
• Planning and Organizing: Ability to set priorities and allocate resources properly to effectively achieve work responsibilities and objectives.
• Detail Orientation: Pay attention to detail, accuracy, and completeness.
• Customer Service: A desire to serve others by focusing efforts on listening and responding effectively to questions, providing services, and evaluating customer satisfaction.
• Motivation: Ability to inspire and encourage others to reach a goal; maintaining a high level of productivity and self-direction.
• Integrity: Ability to adhere to organization policies and procedures, acting in a fair and just manner while maintaining confidentiality.
• Reliability: Ability to be dependable, trustworthy, and committed to doing the best job possible and completing work in a timely and consistent manner.
• Communication: Ability to effectively receive and express ideas, both written and verbal; using clear and concise vocabulary and active listening skills. Ability to communicate with small and large groups and ability to communicate with all.
• Adaptability: Ability to fit into a changing work environment, priorities or organization needs by staying open-minded and being able to change based on new information.
• Problem Solving: Ability to recognize courses of action to handle problems, gathering and organizing information, identifying cause and effect relationships, and applying contingency plans to solve those problems.
• Decision Making: Ability to select and commit to an effective course of action by understanding issues, comparing solutions, and drawing conclusions to resolve problems. Technical Skills: Ability to use technical knowledge and training to execute work; delivery high quality results.
• Accountability: Acceptance of responsibility and one's own actions.
• Teamwork: Effectively interacts with people by being able to share and receive information that supports team goals.

Physical Requirements:

5+ hours/day

• Work in stationary position
• use hands/fingers to handle or feel
• Reach with hands and arms
• Communicate with various parties
• Visual acuity
• Read and Understand written word
• Operate computer and general office machines
• Office Environment: No exposure to extreme hear, cold, noise, chemicals, or hazardous equipment

2-5 hours/day

• Move about work area
• Drive/Travel

Less than 2 hours/day

• Ascend/Descend (stairs/ladder/ect.)
• Bend, stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl
• move containers up to 20 pounds
• Medical Environment: Exposure to body fluids, radiation, medical equipment, solvents or chemicals
• Noise: Exposure to constant or intermittent extreme sounds

DABSJ strives to be a fully inclusive organization as we support a diverse group of children and families. We are building a diverse team that represents our customers and our community and recognize that each of us brings a unique perspective to the organization. We welcome differing thoughts, faiths, beliefs, groups, and lived experiences. The diversity and differences of each team member, foster parent, adoptive parent, child, and family make us #DABSJstrongertogether for children and families.

DABSJ is an equal opportunity, at-will employer, and will not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment. DABSJ does not discriminate on the basis of race, including but not limited to hair texture and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks and twists; culture, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, height, weight, marital status, veteran status, socio-economic status, disability, or other legally protected characteristics as required by law.