Social Services Team Lead - Wellbeing and Permanency

Frontline Social Service Supervisor

The Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services has a position available for a Frontline Social Service Supervisor position within the Wellbeing and Permanency Unit. The Mississippi Department of Child Protection Services (MDCPS) is committed to protecting and nurturing Mississippi's at-risk children and families. MDCPS offers a variety of positions statewide, including social work positions providing case management services and working with potential foster families, supervisor positions providing clinical and administrative support, and agency support positions such as policy development, human resources, information technology, program management, training, and budgeting/finance. Working with MDCPS will give you the chance to make a life-changing difference for Mississippi's most vulnerable children and families.

Conducts ongoing safety and risk assessments that identify and address safety concerns throughout the life of the case. Identifying safety concerns and implementing safety plans. Gather demographic information on the child and family to conduct ongoing diligent search efforts to locate the child/family when unable to make contact and as needed to achieve timely permanency. Ensure that frequency and quality of visits with children and families are adequate to ensure safety, permanency, and well-being. Identifies the physical, educational, and mental/behavioral health needs of children, parents, and foster parents and ensures identified needs were effectively addressed through collaboration with internal and external supports. Establishes permanency goals for the child(ren) through coordination with the local youth court. Ensures foster care placements and/or living situations are stable and in the best interests of the child(ren) and are consistent with achieving established permanency. Makes concerted efforts to achieve permanency for children in a timely manner and consistent with regulations contained in the Adoptions and Safe Families Act. Ensures that siblings in foster care are placed together unless a separation is necessary to meet the needs of one of the siblings. Maintains child's connections to his or her neighborhood, community, faith, extended family, tribe, school, and friends when safe to do so. Documents case management activities within time frames established by policy. Prepare professional court reports and provide professional recommendations in court proceedings. Celebrates positive outcomes with child(ren) and family. Utilizes privately owned vehicle for work-related travel and duties (including transportation of children). Routinely serves on after-hours on-call duty for foster care and in-home service needs. Embraces ongoing learning and professional development opportunities. The incumbents receive training related to job content, and MUST PASS a comprehensive test prior to continued employment and/or advancement.

Professional commitment to and caring about clients and the larger profession of child welfare. Personal resilience and strong self-efficacy beliefs about the ability to work with clients to produce positive client outcomes. Efficient organizational and time management skills. Good oral and written communication skills. Positive work morale. Ability to be flexible in thinking and problem solving. Realistic expectations about the difficulty and challenges of the work. Ability to handle an often-unpredictable work environment. Typically requires a Bachelor's Degree and 2-4 years of experience. Appointing authority may require a Master's Degree and/or a social worker's license. Must possess a valid Driver's License and Insurance.