Adoption Homefinding Coordinator

You Gotta Believe (YGB) is a New York City-based, national organization specializing in finding permanent families for young adults, teens, and pre-teens in foster care. YGB focuses exclusively on preventing youth from aging out of foster care without family; thus reducing the risk of homelessness, incarceration, and poverty due to a lack of stable connections. Founded in 1995, YGB achieves this mission by collaborating with foster care organizations to recruit, match, and provide indefinite, comprehensive support to adoptive foster parents and youth.

The Adoption Homefinding Coordinator is part of our Youth and Family Engagement team. This role plays a critical role in You Gotta Believe's homefinding and permanency work, coordinating family screening, training, certification, and home study processes while supporting the broader searching and matching efforts for youth.

The ideal candidate is highly organized, detail-oriented, comfortable with complex documentation requirements, and deeply familiar with New York State foster care and adoption systems.

Responsibilities:

Family Screening, Training, and Engagement

• Coordinate NTDC screening and training processes in partnership with the NTDC team
• Facilitate families through the full training experience, serving as a consistent point of contact
• Support families in understanding requirements, timelines, and next steps toward certification
• Maintain clear, organized communication with families throughout the process

Certification and Home Studies

• Guide families through completion of foster/adoptive certification paperwork
• Complete comprehensive home studies for families pursuing adoption
• Complete family certification through OCFS Connections
• Ensure all documentation meets regulatory, agency, and OCFS standards

Searching and Matching Support

• Assist with family searching and matching activities
• Support documentation, coordination, and follow-up related to matching processes
• Collaborate with internal staff to ensure family readiness aligns with youth needs and timelines

Program Coordination and Administration

• Maintain accurate, timely, and well-organized records across multiple systems
• Track progress, deadlines, and compliance requirements for families
• Support continuous improvement of workflows related to homefinding and family engagement
• Other duties as assigned, consistent with the scope of the role

Qualifications:

• Demonstrated experience in homefinding, foster care, adoption, or permanency services
• Strong familiarity with OCFS Connections and New York State certification processes
• Experience completing or supporting home studies for adoptive or foster families
• High level of comfort with paperwork-heavy roles and regulatory documentation
• Exceptional organizational skills and attention to detail
• Strong computer skills, including database use and document management
• Ability to manage multiple cases and deadlines simultaneously

Preferred Qualifications:

• BSW, MSW or related human services background strongly preferred
• Experience working with older youth in foster care, strong preference for candidates with lived experience in foster care
• Familiarity with NTDC training models and processes

Commitment to youth voice, racial equity, and family-centered practice

WE OFFER. Benefits include medical, dental, life insurance, and 403(b) retirement plan; 3 weeks of vacation (including the week between Christmas and New Year's) and holidays.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS. The position primarily involves traveling in the inner city, standing for two hours or more for workshops and presentations, and computer-based work from a seated position.

COMPENSATION. The compensation range for this position is $55,000 - $60,000 and is commensurate with experience.

LOCATION. This position is in New York City and will have a hybrid work arrangement in our Midtown office.

WE BELIEVE IN EQUAL EMPLOYMENT. You Gotta Believe is an equal opportunity employer. Applicants and employees shall not be discriminated against because of race, religion, sex, national origin, ethnicity, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, gender (including pregnancy and gender expression) identity, color, marital status, veteran status, medical condition, or any other classification protected by federal, state, or local law or ordinance. Reasonable accommodation will be made so that qualified differently abled applicants may participate in the application process. Please advise in writing of special needs at the time of application.