Foster Care Licensing Specialist

Overview StepStone Family & Youth Services provides trauma‑informed, youth‑centered services to children and families involved in foster care. The Foster Care Licensing Specialist plays a vital role in recruiting, supporting, and preparing foster families to provide safe, stable, and nurturing homes for youth in care. We are seeking a compassionate, relationship‑focused specialist who is passionate about supporting children and families through trauma‑informed, strengths‑based, and family‑centered practices. The role requires community engagement, foster parent recruitment, licensing coordination, and relationship building to increase awareness of the need for foster families. Responsibilities Coordinate and engage in recruitment and awareness activities to recruit prospective foster/adoptive parents and build community awareness relations. Develop and implement proactive, strategic recruitment plans designed to attract and certify qualified candidates, while maintaining a pipeline of both active and passive candidates for future training and certification. Respond to foster parent inquiries within 24 hours via phone. Develop strategies to support general, targeted, and child‑specific recruitment and marketing. Understand and follow all agency and state licensing requirements and ensure foster parents’ compliance with regulations. Assist with and complete the certification process with foster parents, including the completion of required documentation. Complete parent interviews, background clearances, and home inspections to evaluate suitability, safety, and well‑being of youth placed in the homes. Maintain foster parent files in compliance with agency and state regulations. Assist in the placement process and the successful matching of youth and foster parents based on the needs of referred youth and the level of training, strengths, and expertise of the foster family. Maintain professional boundaries, conduct, confidentiality and other governmental laws and regulations, agency policy and licensure ethics. Attend all company‑required meetings, in addition to community meetings to provide ongoing collaboration with referral sources and community providers. Provide support to all members of the treatment team, including case managers, therapists, foster parents, and youth to ensure needs are met and placement stability is achieved. Ensure safety and well‑being of all youth in care by observing for signs of abuse and/or neglect. Travel to affiliate locations; frequent travel associated with recruitment events required. Participate in the developmental implementation of Corrective Action Plans for foster parents in conjunction with the program supervisor. Provide services that respect each family and youth’s cultural background, heritage and identity. Conduct monthly Foster Parent record reviews; 25% each month. Conduct monthly Foster Parent Meetings and monthly Foster Parent trainings. See children in home once monthly, at a minimum, as needed. Create and maintain child files and complete monthly reports for each child, as needed. Qualifications A bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university in social work, psychology, childhood education, education counseling, behavioral science, or public administration. Minimum of one year of work experience in a child placing agency, the Department of Family and Children Services, or a non‑profit agency. One to two years of experience in resource development/foster parent recruitment and retention preferred. One year of marketing, fundraising, and event coordination preferred. One to five years’ experience in full‑cycle recruiting in a fast‑paced, professional environment preferred. Complete Tier 1 and Tier 2 state assessor training and maintain assessor certification. Strong recruiting mentality and a general understanding of a recruiting life cycle from sourcing/lead generation to filling positions. Demonstrate knowledge of vast recruiting strategies, including social media platforms. Strong attention to detail, highly organized, highly energetic, and a positive, encouraging attitude. Effective at cold calling, pursuing leads, and transforming candidates into licensed caregivers. Ability to remain client focused and use independent judgment in problem solving; strong interpersonal skills. Strong project management, new business development, and client retention skills a must. Documented track record of achieving targeted objectives required. Possess critical thinking skills, supported by intellectual curiosity and sound business judgment. Outstanding telephone presence, superior written communication skills, team player, and natural leader. Salary USD $43,888.00 per year #J-18808-Ljbffr