Director of Residential Programs

Northern Children's Services Wins the 2026 Top Workplaces Culture Excellence Award and the 2026 Top Workplaces Professional Development Award For more information, visit

Job Summary

Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO), the Director of Residential Programs is an executive leadership role responsible for the strategic, operational, and programmatic direction of three distinct residential programs serving youth and young adults. All programs are grounded in a trauma-informed approach. Two are state licensed group foster care homes (Generations I and Crossroads), with Specialized Settings designation* and one is a prevention program that does not require a state license (Generations II). All are primarily funded through public monies (the State and City Department of Human Services), requiring rigorous regulatory compliance, qualitative and quantitative performance benchmarking, and regular reporting. Additionally, there are internal quality requirements and expectations for high quality service and good outcomes for our residents.

This is not solely a program management role. It is an executive leadership position requiring strategic thinking, operational discipline, data and financial fluency, regulatory accountability, and the ability to shape and sustain a high-performing, accountable program culture.

The Director is a member of Northern's Executive Leadership Team and is expected to contribute to organization-wide strategy, cross-department collaboration, and the ongoing development of Northern's culture, values, and goals — in addition to leading the Residential Programs with rigor, visibility, and genuine ownership of outcomes.

The Director supervises the Outcomes Specialists for Generations I and Crossroads, the Case Coordinator for Generations II, and the Residential Support Aide Supervisor, and is responsible for the full supervision structure across all three programs and all shifts (hourly Support Aides provide support for all three programs).

Northern's Residential Programs Northern's three residential programs provide high-quality care, effective supportive services, and the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and youth in each of the unique populations we serve. As with all Northern programs, these children and youth are partners in identifying needs, providing support and programming, and setting specific goals and outcomes for themselves and their families. Our programs and services are accessible to all children, youth, and families, with services tailored to meet every need — familial, vocational, behavioral, emotional, physical, cultural, linguistic, educational, sexual identity-based, or intersectional.

Generations I This program supports pregnant and parenting young women. Generations I serves adolescents ages 13–21 who are under the care of DHS, either directly or through a Community Umbrella Agency (CUA), and possibly involved in the Juvenile Justice and court systems.

Generations II

Generations II provides transitional housing for young mothers with up to two young children ages 18-21 who have aged out of the foster care system and are seeking permanent housing upon leaving Northern.


View email address on click.appcast.io

View email address on click.appcast.io serves young people ages 18–21 who are transitioning back into the foster care system. because they did not seek a court-ordered board extension, which would allow them to remain in the system until age 21. With support from this program, these young people are in the process of petitioning the courts to secure a board extension.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

Executive & Strategic Leadership

The Director functions as a senior leader of Northern Children's Services — not only as head of the Residential Programs — and is expected to:

• Serve as an active, engaged member of Northern's Executive Leadership Team, contributing to organization-wide strategy and decision-making.
• Collaborate meaningfully across all Northern programs and departments, including Behavioral Health, Child Welfare, Quality Assurance, Development/fundraising, Finance, Human Resources, and Youth Safety & Prevention.
• Represent Northern externally with funders, regulatory bodies, community partners, city and state DHS, CUAs, the Philadelphia School District, the courts, and other key stakeholders.
• Demonstrate strong stewardship of resources and sound, well-reasoned decision-making.
• Fundamentally and authentically share Northern's core values and lead the Residential Programs accordingly.
• Model the professional conduct, collaborative spirit, and accountability standards expected of all Northern staff.

Operational Discipline & Program Oversight Time invested in the programs must translate into verifiable results. Leadership presence, follow-through, and accountability for daily operations are non-negotiable.

• Ensures that all operational basics are consistently maintained across all shifts and all programs: room readiness, facility condition, physical plant monitoring, shift coverage, rounds, inventories, and logs.
• Ensures full shift coverage at all times, with documented strategies for managing call-outs and turnover. Shift reports must be completed on every shift without exception.
• Conducts and documents regular rounds across all residential programs, verifying that required monitoring, safety checks, and compliance tasks are completed.
• Ensures that the physical environment — including all shared spaces, kitchens, resident rooms, and common areas — is maintained to health, safety, and program standards at all times.
• Ensures that all necessary policies, processes, and procedures are in place, consistently implemented, and regularly reviewed.
• Maintains a visible, accountable presence across all programs; does not rely solely on self-reporting by direct reports as evidence of compliance or completion.
• Understands the need to operate programs as business units undergirded by solid budgeting, spending, compliance, and measurable results.

Resident Safety & Compliance — Non-Negotiables Because the Residential Programs serve vulnerable youth, leadership accountability is directly tied to resident safety. The following are non-negotiable expectations:

• Medication administration and documentation must be accurate, complete, and timely. Client signatures for medication refusals must be obtained and documented on every shift without exception.
• Safe sleep protocols must be enforced consistently on every shift across all programs, with documented verification.
• Shift coverage must be maintained at all times; unattended shifts and any falsification or omission of documentation must be addressed immediately through supervision and corrective action.
• All required safety checks and monitoring activities must be documented and reviewable.
• No personal email accounts may be used for confidential or HIPAA-related work communications.

Regulatory Compliance & Incident Reporting

Regulatory compliance is a core leadership responsibility, not a delegable administrative task. Missed deadlines and unfiled reports carry consequences for the organization and the people it serves.

• Ensures full compliance with all applicable city and state regulations, licensing requirements, and Specialized Settings certification standards at all times.
• Ensures all internal Incident Reports are completed accurately and submitted within required timeframes.
• Ensures all external and state-mandated reports — including HCSIS (Health Care Services Information System) — are submitted on time and in full, without exception.
• Takes personal accountability for knowing reporting deadlines and ensuring they are met. If access or system barriers arise, immediately escalates in writing to IT and the CEO so that no deadline is missed.
• Proactively monitors compliance calendars and does not wait for audit findings to identify gaps.
• Provides effective oversight for all city and state program audits, including the timely and thorough implementation of any Plans of Correction (POC).

Documentation, Systems & Data

Northern is a data-informed organization. The Director must embrace, model, and promote that value — using data not as a reporting burden, but as a genuine tool for program improvement and resident outcomes.

• Ensures full, reliable, and consistent use of Apricot and all other required program management and outcomes tools; maintains staff accountability for required entries and documentation deadlines.
• Ensures that all resident documentation is complete, current, and compliant: weekly progress notes, IEPs, Ansel Casey Life/Parenting Skills assessments, child development records, trafficking documentation, and all other required records.
• Reviews benchmark data regularly and submits benchmark reports on schedule. Uses compliance, quality, and outcomes data to identify gaps, drive mid-course corrections, and demonstrate program effectiveness.
• Actively asks: "Are we making a measurable difference for the residents we serve?" and uses data to answer that question.
• Maintains clean documentation systems and ensures accurate, timely internal and external reporting.
• Ensures all program communications are conducted through appropriate, confidential channels consistent with HIPAA requirements.

Performance Accountability & Supervisory Discipline

The Director must model strong, fair, and consistent accountability — applied equitably across all staff and shifts.

• Holds all staff to clearly defined, documented performance standards applied consistently without exceptions based on relationships, tenure, or convenience.
• Provides weekly structured supervision to all direct reports, with documented follow-up and clear expectations.
• Completes all required annual performance evaluations on time, for all supervised staff.
• Addresses performance concerns directly and promptly, using coaching, retraining, documentation, and corrective action when appropriate. Does not allow performance issues to remain unresolved.
• Responds to identified issues without defensiveness or minimization — including feedback from QA, compliance, audit findings, or the CEO.
• Ensures that supervisory decisions and corrective actions are documented, verifiable, and followed through to resolution.
• Makes difficult but necessary decisions in the best interest of resident safety, program stability, and organizational health.
• Responsible for implementing and documenting disciplinary actions resulting from internal investigations and/or job performance, ensuring that terminations, corrective actions, or performance improvement plans (PIPs) are executed with full documentation and HR alignment.

Financial Stewardship & Budget Management

• Develops and monitors the program budget to assure a break-even operating margin.
• Ensures all program spending is properly authorized, documented, and aligned with organizational financial controls.
• Maintains complete, accurate expense documentation including receipts and approval records.
• Partners with Finance to monitor margins, understand revenue performance, and respond proactively to resource concerns.
• Effectively and responsibly allocates resources in support of program quality and staff performance.

Professional Culture & Organizational Trust

The Director is responsible for shaping a culture of professionalism, psychological safety, transparent communication, and shared accountability within the Residential Programs — and for contributing to that culture organization-wide.

• Models respectful, solution-oriented, and factual communication in all written and verbal interactions.
• Raises disagreements and concerns directly and through appropriate channels — not through colleagues, staff, or informal networks.
• Encourages staff to bring concerns through proper supervisory channels; discourages triangulation, divisiveness, or informal negativity.
• Engages constructively and collaboratively with corrective feedback from senior leadership, QA, compliance, and audit processes.
• Fosters a workplace environment free from intimidation, favoritism, or aggressive conduct.
• Addresses unproductive interpersonal dynamics directly and promptly.
• Takes responsibility for monitoring and responding to staff climate, including formal grievances, informal complaints, and staff feedback. Proactively identifies and addresses patterns of concern related to morale, conduct, or culture — and engages constructively with any formal climate assessments or surveys rather than dismissing or minimizing their findings.
• Maintains constructive, professional working relationships with all internal departments — including Quality Assurance, Buildings & Grounds, Finance, and Human Resources — and engages cross-departmentally in a collaborative, solution-focused manner. Conflict with partner departments must be raised through appropriate supervisory channels, not escalated adversarially.
• Active Management of Staff Dynamics: Proactively manages staff-on-staff conflict, identifies and promptly intervenes in interpersonal conflicts and communication patterns among staff members. Responsible for conducting a preliminary review of staff-on-staff departmental workplace complaints and ensuring a neutral, fact-based resolution process before escalation to formal HR mediation.

Planning & Program Development

• Ensures adequate, qualified staffing across all programs and all shifts, with documented strategies for minimizing turnover and unanticipated vacancies.
• Plans for effective, evidence-based, trauma-informed daily programming and services for Gen I residents, and consistent, prescribed programming for Gen II and Crossroads residents.
• Ensures curricula and interventions are evidence-based and yield measurable positive outcomes.
• Establishes and monitors quarterly and bi-annual outcomes data across all Residential Programs.
• Maintains collaborative relationships with all external partners, including DHS, CUAs, the Philadelphia School District, Probation, the courts, the Achieving Independence Center, and providers in parenting, life, and job skills, mentoring, early intervention, medical and dental services, and others.
• Works closely with residential and other department staff to ensure regulatory compliance, performance improvement, and the creation and implementation of any Plans of Correction associated with city or state audits.
• Ensures that all residents receive comprehensive behavioral health assessments upon entry into the programs and that those in need of behavioral health services are connected to appropriate services as quickly as possible. Monitors for emerging behavioral health needs during a resident’s stay and facilitates timely referrals and linkages. Coordinates closely with Northern’s Behavioral Health Department and external providers to ensure seamless, integrated care.
• Ensures that all residential staff meet minimum training requirements: 30 hours upon hire and 40 hours annually thereafter. Training content must be relevant, of high quality, and must include all requirements for Northern’s maintenance of Specialized Settings Certification. The Director is responsible for tracking compliance with these requirements and ensuring training records are current and accurate.

Trauma-Informed Leadership

Northern Children's Services is committed to fostering a therapeutic environment rooted in safety, nonviolence, and resilience. The Director must model and sustain these principles at every level of program leadership.

• Maintains and promotes a culture of trauma-informed care across all programs and staff interactions.
• Applies emotional intelligence in supervision, conflict resolution, and program decisions.
• Uses person-first, strengths-based language with staff, residents, and partners.
• Understands and communicates the impact of trauma on human development, behavior, and organizational culture.
• Creates an environment where staff feel supported and where residents experience genuine safety and care.

CORE COMPETENCIES

• Strategic and operational leadership with strong follow-through
• Analytical thinker with data literacy and outcomes orientation
• Strong administrative and financial acumen
• Clear, direct, and professional communicator
• High emotional intelligence and courageous accountability
• Collaborative, cross-functional, and organizationally minded
• Knowledge of the Philadelphia child welfare, behavioral health, housing, and related systems
• Ability to read, interpret, and implement complex regulatory requirements
• Excellent working knowledge of program management technology and reporting tools
• Ability to make sound, independent decisions under pressure

QUALIFICATIONS

Education

• Master's Degree required, preferably in Social Work, Public Administration, or a related social service field.

Experience

• Minimum of five (5) years of progressive experience in social service or residential program management.
• Minimum of three (3) years of direct supervisory experience, with demonstrated ability to manage multi-level teams across multiple programs or sites.
• Demonstrated experience in regulatory compliance, incident reporting, and state/city audit management.
• Experience and strong proficiency with data systems, program reporting tools, and outcomes tracking (experience with Apricot or similar platforms preferred).
• Direct experience in child welfare, residential services, and working with similar populations is required.
• Good working knowledge of the Philadelphia DHS system (DHS, CUAs, provider network), as well as behavioral health, drug and alcohol, legal/advocacy, family court, juvenile and adult probation, and educational systems.

PHYSICAL CAPABILITIES & WORK ENVIRONMENT

• Ability to walk up and down stairs and move throughout residential facilities.
• Ability to lift up to 20 lbs.
• Current valid driver's license and willingness to drive as needed.
• Flexible schedule required, including evening and weekend hours, to ensure continuity of supervision across all shifts.

Trauma-Informed Principles


Northern Children’s Services is committed to fostering a therapeutic environment rooted in safety, nonviolence, and resilience. Our policies are guided by trauma-informed principles, ensuring that we create a supportive and healing atmosphere for clients and staff. A trauma-informed approach recognizes that past experiences, including trauma, can significantly impact a person’s behavior, emotions, and interactions.


Therefore, we strive to:

• Use emotional intelligence : Respond with empathy and awareness, even in difficult situations.

• Communicate effectively : Listen actively, ask clarifying questions, and avoid judgmental language.

• Understand trauma’s impact : Be aware that clients or colleagues may react based on past experiences, not just the present moment.

• Apply person-first, strengths-based language : Focus on people’s strengths and abilities rather than defining them by their challenges (e.g., saying "a person experiencing homelessness" instead of "a homeless person").

By adhering to these principles, we ensure that our workplace is not only effective but also compassionate and inclusive for everyone.


Americans with Disabilities: As with all positions at Northern Children’s Services, Inc. we recognize the importance of accommodations individuals with disabilities. In that, we are committed to every extent possible accommodating disabled individual. We recognize the American With Disabilities Act of 1991 and understand the need to reasonably accommodate employees. All accommodation will be evaluated on a case- by case basis, evaluating the essential functions of the positions. DISCRIMINATION IS PROHIBITED IN EMPLOYMENT, PROMOTION, ASSIGNMENT OR DISMISSAL, ON THE BASIS OF RACE, RELIGION, COLOR, AGE, SEX, NATIONAL ORIGIN, and HANDICAP, OR RECEIPT OF SERVICES FOR MENTAL DISABILITY.

Equal Opportunity Employer


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