Family Safety Practitioner II - Foster Care

Foster Care And Adoption Family Safety Practitioner II

This position includes a signing bonus of $2,500 (full-time) for new county hires. If your goal is to build a career that makes a difference, consider joining the dedicated practitioners in the Division of Children, Youth, and Families (CYF) of the Department of Family Services (DFS). We are seeking a dynamic Foster Care and Adoption (FC&A) Family Safety Practitioner II to join our dedicated, multi-disciplinary team. In this role, you would provide clinical casework services to support the permanency of children in foster care as well as their parents and caregivers. We hire only the most caring and motivated individuals to serve families and children in our community.

As an integral member of the FC&A Program, performs a vital role to achieve permanent living arrangements for children in foster care and adoption. Work hours are Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., however, evening and/or weekend work is required. Duties of this position include:

• Conducts face-to-face contacts and attends home visits to ensure children in foster care and adoption are safe and that their physical, emotional, and educational needs are being met
• Conducts comprehensive assessments to include but not limited to the following areas: safety, permanency, and wellbeing; educational, social, and independent living skills; substance abuse, and developmental concerns; family relationships such as parent-child conflict and domestic violence; assessing the family (i.e., parenting capacity, family relationships, social supports, physical health challenges and disabilities, and basic needs such as shelter, food, and clothing)
• Collaborates with the parents, prior custodians, foster parents, and children when appropriate, to develop a family-centered, solution focused service plan ensure safety, permanency, and wellbeing of the children in foster care
• Coordinates and collaborates with foster families and others to deliver services (i.e., home-based family and individual counseling, health insurance and medical care, parenting support, and domestic violence interventions) to children and parents/family members
• Responds and intervenes in emergency crisis around placement of children in foster home, congregate care facilities, and trial home placements with parent or relative caregivers
• Conducts court-related services to include writing and submitting service plans to court, consulting with county attorney, writing affidavits, filing petitions, and testifying in court
• Documents assessments, critical incident reports, detailed case contacts, progress notes, and service plans in a timely manner in accordance with local and state policy
• Participates in required trainings and meetings and serves as a representative on workgroups and contributes to development of written product
• Coordinates and attends intra-agency and inter-agency meetings
• May be required to be on-call rotation that includes evening, overnight, weekend, and holiday hours which may require immediate response into the field
• Performs other duties as assigned to ensure child safety and improve outcomes in families

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Knowledge of child protection laws, rules, and regulations
• Knowledge of foster care and adoption laws, rules, and regulations
• Ability to interview, assess needs, counsel, and refer clients to other resource as needed
• Knowledge of childhood trauma and attachment
• Knowledge of the principles and practices of social work
• Knowledge of current social service problems and methods/approaches to address issues
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing
• Ability to use automated technology to establish and maintain case records
• Ability to maintain professional ethics and confidentiality of client information
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with a variety of individuals
• Ability to schedule and manage workload sufficiently to meet deadlines.

Note: All Fairfax County Government employees are expected to adhere to the Standards of Conduct. In maintaining a drug free workplace, employees are prohibited from manufacturing, distributing, possessing, using or being under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs while at work or on county premises.

Minimum Qualifications: Minimum of a bachelor's degree in a human services field OR minimum of a bachelor's degree in any field with a minimum of two years of appropriate and related experience in a human services area (Section 22VAC40-670-20 of the Administrative Code of Virginia). In order to be evaluated for positions in the Family Services Occupational Group, individuals who do not meet the degree requirement at the time of application for employment must be in their last semester of a degree program that will meet the requirements listed above. Contingent upon the area of assignment, some positions within this class may require specific certification(s) or experience prior to employment and/or the ability to acquire necessary certification(s) within a specified time period following employment. The certifications and preferred qualifications are identified in the position description and employment advertisement . Valid driver's license. Positions within this class are required to complete the state mandated training in the functional area within a specified time period. The appointee to the position must satisfactorily complete a criminal background check, driving record check, and a Child Protective Services check. This position is considered essential personnel and will be required to report to work during times designated countywide as approved for unscheduled leave regardless of the emergency situation (i.e., weather, transportation, other disaster). Requires being part of an on-call rotation that includes evening, overnight, weekend, and holiday hours which may require immediate response into the field.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in social work (MSW) or a related human services degree.
• Three years of experience in social work, psychology, sociology, counseling, or related experience.
• Experience in child welfare field.
• Experience with professional case management.
• Experience working with the court system, testifying, and filing affidavits.
• Experience working with a diverse multicultural population.
• Present or previous work experience as a social services specialist with Fairfax County.

Physical Requirements: Work requires performing tasks with risks of secondary traumatic stress (STS). Ability to navigate through and make decisions in stressful and crisis situations Sufficiently mobile to make home visits, attend meetings, court appearances and community events outside the office. Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing. Ability to use automated technology. Ability to lift, carry, and diaper infants. All duties may be performed with or without reasonable accommodations.

Selection Procedure: Panel interview; may include practical exercise. Fairfax County is home to a highly diverse population, with a significant number of residents speaking languages other than English at home (including Spanish, Asian/Pacific Islander, Indo-European, and many others .) We encourage candidates who are bilingual in English and another language to apply for this opportunity.

Fairfax County Government prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetics, political affiliation, or military status in the recruitment, selection, and hiring of its workforce. Reasonable accommodations are available to persons with disabilities during application and/or interview processe s per the Americans with Disabilities Act. TTY View phone number on click.appcast.io. View email address on click.appcast.io EEO/AA/TTY.