Foster Care Specialist

Office Location: Saint Peter & Joseph Home – Social Services 59520

City and State: San Antonio, TX

Location Type: Social Services

Position Type: Professional

Summary

The Foster Care Specialist supports St. PJ’s ORR foster parents in maintaining and delivering high quality of services to children who have a wide range of social, emotional, and behavioral needs. The Foster Care Specialist will conduct home studies on foster families who complete pre-service training and submit all requirements related to verification and certify foster parents. A designated Licensed Child Placing Agency Administrator (LCPAA) will review the home study and will approve or disapprove family for verification. The Foster Care Specialist will market, orientate, and train foster parents who complete all State, Federal, and St. PJ’s requirements.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

  • Complete comprehensive foster home studies, to include all foster family interviews, home assessments, and background checks in accordance with TDFPS and ORR guidelines and timeframes.
  • Facilitate foster parent trainings.
  • Evaluates foster parents, as appropriate.
  • Verify viable foster parents.
  • Update Program Director regularly on all children and family cases.
  • Ensure all emergencies in foster homes are reported to Program Director, and/or Licensed Child Placing Agency
  • Administrator (LCPAA), and Texas Department of Protective Services (TDFPS), if required.
  • Ensure all Foster Care related records are current and in compliance, at all times.
  • Attend court hearings, as needed.
  • Provide thorough supervision and support for foster parents.
  • Ensures required trainings are current and in compliance at all times.
  • Provides support and guidance related to crisis’ within the home, as needed
  • Conducts required monthly, quarterly, yearly home visits to foster homes.
  • Completes all required reports related to St. PJ’s, TDFPS and ORR.
  • Advocates for children in placement.
  • Develop and facilitate implementation of required forms, documents, plans, etc. to ensure quality care and compliance with (TDFPS) Minimum Standards, St. PJ policies and ORR.
  • Refer to community agencies as necessary and appropriate.
  • Demonstrate proficiency in knowledge of psychotropic medication, SAMA, CPR/First Aid and child abuse reporting procedures.
  • Demonstrate proficiency in children’s psychological disorders, particularly those common in the abused/neglected child.
  • Demonstrate knowledge and sensitivity of cultural norms, values and heritage.
  • Actively participate in all quality assurance activities as well as team meetings, to ensure quality care and accurate and informed services by all team members.
  • Actively participate in professional development such as attending at least 15 to 30 hours (depending on years of experience in Foster Care and professional license) of continuing education as required by appropriate licensing board.
  • Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

In accordance with St. PJ’s Policies and Procedures, TDFPS Minimum Standards, and Office of Refugee Resettlement – Division of Unaccompanied Children’s Services National Care Standards, the Foster Care Specialist must meet the following minimum qualifications:

  • Submit to a state and federal background check, Child abuse and neglect registry check, and Tuberculosis screening.
  • Be physically, mentally, and emotionally capable of performing assigned tasks and have the skills necessary to perform essential duties and responsibilities.
  • Bilingual in English and Spanish is required.
  • Provide proof of a Texas Driver’s License.

Education and/or Experience
The Foster Care Specialist shall have a minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work or related field. In addition, the Foster Care Specialist must have two years of experience in child welfare (i.e. experience providing services to abused/neglected children and their families and/or experience in residential child care, separation, attachment and permanency issues and/or providing services to abused/neglected children and their families, and/or experience in residential childcare, separation, attachment and permanency issues) one of the years must be in child placing.

Physical Demands

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to see, hear, sit, stand, walk, talk, bend, stoop, lift and stretch. The employee is also required to use fine motor skills to type and write.

Work Environment

Given the nature of working with children who have been abused, neglected, and/or exploited, the work environment can be somewhat stressful and emotionally challenging. The noise level in the work environment is usually moderate.

Disclaimer:

This is not necessarily an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, skills, duties, requirements, efforts or working conditions associated with the job. While this is intended to be an accurate reflection of the current job, management reserves the right to revise the job description or to require that other or different tasks be performed when circumstances change (e.g., emergencies, changes in personnel, workload, etc.)