Therapeutic Foster Care (TFC) Case Manager & Recruitment

Family & Children's Agency (FCA)

FCA is a nonprofit human service organization that is committed to increasing the social and emotional well-being of our clients – people throughout Fairfield County. Our Agency builds better lives by offering more than 30 programs that meet needs across all ages, delivering services to more than 13,000 people each year. Our clients reside primarily in Norwalk, Wilton, Darien, Westport, Weston, New Canaan, Stamford, and Greenwich. Our Home Care and Foster Care programs assist residents throughout Fairfield County, and the Adoption program is both nationwide and international.

Our Mission is to partner with individuals, families, organizations, and communities to build better lives.

TFC Case Manager and Recruiter

The purpose of TFC Case Manager and Recruiter to assure continuity of placement and provide support and case management for youth in foster care.

The TFC Case Manager & Recruiter provides a variety of supportive interventions, individualized to meet the broad needs of children and foster parents. The TFC Case Manager & Recruiter actively works in collaboration with DCF to coordinate treatment services to maintain stability in the foster home and achieve permanency. The TFC Case Manager & Recruiter has a split responsibility between managing a case load of TFC level clients as well as community outreach and recruitment/training/licensing of qualified foster parents.

Responsibilities:

• Provide minimum monthly visits with child and foster family.
• Provide a variety of services and interventions needed to stabilize and maintain placements.
• Demonstrate appreciation of cultural diversity, heritage and knowledge of cultural issues and patterns.
• Assess needs of children and families.
• Develop and update treatment plans for each child on a quarterly basis.
• Assist with permanency plans as appropriate.
• Complete required documentation in the electronic health record in an accurate and timely manner.
• Recruit and retain families for foster care services to ensure placement of all children referred by DCF.
• Facilitate public relations efforts to recruit and match potential families and children.
• Cultivate and maintain relationships through face to face engagement with a variety of community organizations, groups and entities (e.g., faith-based organizations, civic groups, grassroots organizations, hospitals and the community at large) to aid with the recruitment of a sufficient number of qualified and licensed homes to achieve the minimum annual contract capacity.
• Participate in statewide recruitment meetings as scheduled.
• Participate in regular meetings with DCF regarding referred youth, potential foster home matches, and disruption management.
• Develop and implement a written child-specific recruitment plan, with monthly updates provided to the CPS team, for each child in the FFT FC program who does not have a placement resource.
• Provide pre and post-licensing training and support groups to prospective foster and adoptive parents on evenings and weekends as needed.
• Develop and implement the Contractor's annual recruitment and retention plan.
• Ensure recruitment and retention goals are met through collaboration and participation in community events to present therapeutic foster care to the greater Bridgeport, Norwalk & Stamford communities.
• Network meetings in person with DCF and local community agencies in the greater Bridgeport, Norwalk & Stamford communities.
• Perform additional duties as assigned to provide consistent, seamless services to children and families.
• Support licensing process for foster parents including completion of background check documentation.
• Participate in on-call coverage on a rotating basis among program staff.

Requirements:

• Maintain a caseload of 8 - 10 clients and foster families under TFC
• Pre-licensure Training classes offered at least 4x per year;
• Participation in at least 2 community events per quarter to present Foster Care to potential foster parents.
• Perform all other assignments as assigned

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Social Work, Psychology, Human Services, or related discipline;
• Ability to work well with families, children and collaterals;
• Ability to write clear and concise reports;
• Skilled in public speaking and/or marketing;
• Must have awareness of the cultural and socioeconomic characteristics of clients served;
• Knowledge of an electronic health record system
• Knowledge and expertise of the child welfare system, attachment issues, and family systems
• Bi-lingual is not required but preferred

Additional Requirements:

• Valid driver's license and access to a personal vehicle for regional and statewide travel.