Lead Family Specialist, Foster Parent Trainer (HYBRID)

Job Description

Job Description

LEAD FAMILY SPECIALIST & FOSTER PARENT TRAINER

 

Full Title :   Lead Family Specialist & Foster Parent Trainer – Foster Care

Location :   Albany, NY 

Program : Regular Foster Care - Albany

Type : Full-time;   Non-Exempt  (hourly) 

Pay Range : $23.60 - $25.69

Schedule : Monday-Friday: flexed schedule; Sometimes on Saturday for Recruitment

Notes : Hybrid (office/remote); Local Travel Required: a Clean & Valid NYS Driver’s License and reliable vehicle required.

Job Ref. # : 0254

 

About St. Catherine’s Center for Children

St. Catherine’s Center for Children is a non-profit organization located in the Greater Capital Region of New York. We offer a wide array of human services designed to meet the needs of vulnerable children, families and adults, including residential and therapeutic foster care programs for children and youth, Kinship support, homeless and community-based services for adults and families, a special education elementary school for ages 5-13, and so much more. 

St. Catherine’s is committed to cultivating a culture where all employees feel safe to bring their authentic and best selves to the workplace. We are invested in fostering an equitable, inclusive and diversified workplace; collaboratively embracing mindfulness, relevance, respect and solidarity.

• Our Mission: St. Catherine's Center for Children provides a comprehensive range of human services designed to offer hope, foster growth, and improve the lives of the children, families, and adults we serve.
• Our Vision: Our willingness to embrace change and develop new services is, and will remain, our guiding philosophy as we support the human service needs of our community.

Position Overview & Organizational Relationships

The Lead Family Specialist & Foster Parent Trainer provides support services, psycho-educational counseling and skill-building to children and their families, as well as, assist the Home Finding Supervisor in manage training needs of families in the Foster Care and Kinship Program. The Lead family Specialist & Foster Parent Trainer carry a small caseload up to three in order to meet the demands training families for delivery of our families within Foster Care and Kinship. 

The Lead Family Specialist & Foster Parent Trainer is the linkage between the treatment team and community services (educational, clinical, occupational, etc.) supporting the child and family members. In addition, the Lead Family Specialist & Foster Parent Trainer work along with the Supervisor of Home Finding, Supervisor of Foster Care, and Director of Foster Care & Kinship Care to ensure quality services are provided to children/youth in care, as well as, maintain numbers of families to retain the integrity of foster parent professional development. 
This position is split 50/50 between Lead Family Specialist and Foster Parent Trainer in order to meet the duties and responsibilities within the program. This position is directly supervised by the Supervisor of Home Finding. 

Requirements & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in a human service area with a demonstrated capacity to work with a diverse range of people.

• required.
• A Clean & Valid New York State Driver’s License (actively licensed at least one year) and reliable vehicle for transporting clients - is required*.
• The capacity to enter the lives of clients and accept their limitations, is a prerequisite.
• Experience working in a Human Services agency.
• Ability to collaborate with other team members.
• Basic computer skills are highly desirable.
• Ability to work flexible hours to accommodate client schedules, which may include evening and/or weekend hours. 
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, with the ability to build strong working relationships with regulatory bodies.
• Excellent organization, planning and time management skills.
• Proficiency in various computer applications: Microsoft Office Suite, Google Business Workspace Suite, and use secure Internet practices. 
• Self-motivated and engaged, with a strong attention to detail; Excellent writing aptitude.
• A kind, warm and caring mindset; Capable of exhibiting empathy for those in need.
• Ability to nurture and show compassion and understanding for clients/children in crisis.
• Have a professional record of integrity, proven reliability and dependability, with qualities of positivity, flexibility and adaptability to day-to-day changes with client needs and functioning.
• Capable of exercising ethical, independent judgment and discretion; handle sensitive family and individual data with strict confidentiality.

*Staff in driving positions must be able to meet the agency’s minimum requirements of our insurance policy for authorized drivers; including, but not limited to the minimum age of 21 at time of hire, and the ability to maintain insurability throughout employment.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities

• Regularly take the lead in updating the agency’s Family Specialist Training Manual. As assigned by the foster care director, provide training sessions linked to the manual and its incorporation into day-to-day operations.
• Provide follow-up 1:1 support linked to case documentation for newly hired family specialists with the State CONNECTIONS system and with St. Catherine’s AWARDS electronic record system. Ensure that family specialists can navigate the systems and document case information efficiently.
• Oversee development of admission note and initial Service Plan in conjunction with the Program Supervisor and others involved with the child’s placement and treatment.
• Schedule and attend quarterly Service Plan Reviews, revising the Service Plan to meet the child’s current treatment needs.
• Provide consultation and supervision to foster parents to assure that effective treatment procedures are followed through home visits and weekly phone consultation. 
  • In Specialized Foster Care Program , a minimum of one home visit per month is required. 
  • In Family Focused Therapeutic Foster Care , a minimum of two home visits per month are required.
• Evaluate treatment, parenting and care of the child and maintain records on each placement.
• Incorporate ongoing training with the program supervisor to professional parents into cluster meetings.
• Collect and review documentation records kept by foster parents.
• Maintain contact with child’s birth family and arrange the child’s visits with their family.
• Coordinate services and advocate for the child with community agencies, schools, and mental health agencies.
• Document caseworker contacts and treatment progress in progress notes and FASPS in the New York State “Connections” computer system.
• Using strength-based approaches, engage with the child's family to develop a partnership.
• Assess for family needs and make appropriate referrals for the child’s birth family or legal guardian.
• Facilitate the relationship between foster parents and birth parents.
• Convene and facilitate parent groups for both birth and professional parents.
• Provide 24-hour on-call availability for foster parents on a rotating basis.
• Work closely with clinical consultants, psychiatrist and other professionals providing services to the child.
• Prepare written Discharge Summaries when client children are discharged from the Therapeutic Family Programs.
• Able to react to change productively and to handle other tasks as assigned.
• With the nursing department and the foster parent, coordinate the child's medical care. This may include assisting the foster parents and transportation to/from medical appointments.
• Supervised visits using the “Coached Family Visits Model”.
• Attend psychiatric medication reviews, providing updates to the psychiatric professionals on the child's functioning.
• Additional position-related duties and responsibilities as assigned by the Program Supervisor or Director.

Organization of Professional Foster Parent Recruitment Campaign:

• Coordinate all aspects of the recruitment for Therapeutic Foster Care and Kinship Program of professional foster parents with the assistance of the Supervisor of Home Finding and Director.
• Ability to present Therapeutic Foster Care and Kinship Programs and to describe the job of professional foster parents for both programs to groups.
• Ability to specifically reach out and recruit families as part of the Home Finding Recruitment and Retention plan.
• Be familiar with and understand regulations for OMH, DSS, and OCFS.
• Ensures all homes are in alignment with current and new OFCS administrative directives.
• Screening of Prospective Professional Foster Care Parents.
• Assist with certification process of new foster/kinship family homes in the Specialized and Therapeutic Programs.
• Coordinate with Family Specialist’s in both programs to identify Kinship Relative/Non Relative’s to increase number of homes.
• Conducting initial face-to-face interview and orientation with parent applicants in both programs.
• Follow up contacts with parent applicants.
• Under the supervision of the Supervisor of Home Finding, approve homes and appropriately investigate Professional Parents, including home inspections and the completion of all application materials, including but not limited to the writing of a home study.

Training of Professional Foster Care Parents:

• Assist and train in NTDC preparation and training for Professional Foster Parents.
• Assist and train in Deciding Together, Care for Our Own, and KinGap training for Professional Foster/Kinship Parents. 
• Implement preplacement training program for Professional Foster Parents
• Plan foster parent meetings and training, along with Lead Home Finder.
• Track training hours of all Foster/Kinship Boarding homes to ensure training requirements are being met.
• Ensure CPR training is up-to-date to current and new foster families.
• Evaluate and support treatment, foster parenting, and care of the child; maintain accurate, up-to-date records for each placement.
• Facilitate the relationship between foster parents and birth parents so that there is a healthy dynamic.
• Convene and facilitate parent groups for both birth and professional parents, as called upon.
• Provide 24-hour on-call availability for foster parents on a rotating basis, per the director’s on-call schedule for the department.
• Complete other position-related duties and responsibilities as assigned by the supervisor and director.

Core Competencies & Essential Attributes

• Ability to drive a properly insured motor vehicle for home visits to client, foster and birth family homes, and other on-site contacts, as well as transporting clients to referring agencies, collaborative agencies, appointments, various activities, etc.
• Ability to complete written documentation as required by St. Catherine’s policy and as required by regulating agencies that have oversight responsibility for St. Catherine’s programs.
• Ability to assess and develop written treatment plans, utilizing the Sanctuary model and other models of care adopted by the agency.
• Ability and capacity to provide on-call coverage for emergency and crisis situations.
• Physical capacity to complete activities with children.
• Ability to supervise, counsel, and provide emotional support to foster parents.
• Ability to identify children’s mental health needs and relay those areas of need to others on the treatment team. 
• Ability to work flexible hours, outside of regularly scheduled work hours.
• Ability to relate to and communicate with a wide range of people. This includes but is not limited to a broad range of people who are culturally and socio-economically diverse, as well as people with various developmental and functional levels. 
• Ability to manage one’s own emotional reactivity in order to make appropriate professional judgments under stressful circumstances; separate personal matters from client issues.
• Ability to understand, represent, and uphold the mission, values, and philosophy of St. Catherine’s Center for Children, while strictly adhering to agency policies, operational protocols, state laws, and accrediting body regulations.
• Excellent communication skills (written/verbal); Outstanding interpersonal skills with the ability to build strong working relationships with other agency staff, outside service providers and professionals, and other regulatory bodies.
• Value a nurturing family as the ideal environment for a person; have confidence in the principle that people have the capacity to grow and change at their own pace and motivation.
• Ability and conceptualizations necessary to embrace and work effectively within a therapeutic-based program.
• Work effectively in a shared decision-making model as a team member; which includes the ability to listen attentively to others’ opinions and perspectives, and to resolve disagreements respectfully. 
• The ability to establish and maintain a respectful relationship with persons-served, helping them gain skills and confidence, empowering them to solve their own problems.