CPS Conservatorship Worker

About the role

The Texas Department of Family and Protective Services (DFPS) works to build on strengths of families and communities to keep children and vulnerable adults safe, so they thrive. We do this through investigations, services, and referrals.

Responsibilities

• Receives cases from investigators after children are removed from their homes, placed in CPS conservatorship, and placed in care outside their homes.
• Determines each child’s needs and ensures that appropriate referrals for testing, evaluations, records, or further assessments are made. Ensures all services are focused on achieving positive permanency.
• Working with children, families, and communities to plan for a child's permanency.
• Identifying potential permanency resources for the child through ongoing contact with parents, family members, and other individuals the child and family identify as important to them.
• Sending home studies of a child's family members or family friends (kinship providers) who might care for the child.
• Making assessments with parents to evaluate risk and safety issues, identifying behavior changes necessary to achieve child safety, referring parents to appropriate services to address the identified needs to move towards positive permanency. Discussing with parents their progress towards making changes to behaviors that pose dangers to their child(ren).
• Making visits to children monthly to assess the child’s feeling of safety in their current home, to plan for permanency, and to discuss their needs, wishes, and progress while in care.
• Attending and participating in court hearings about the child and family. This includes contacting the parties in the case before hearings, preparing court reports, and testifying in court on the child’s needs, the family’s progress, and the department’s efforts to achieve permanency for the child.
• Keeping the child’s, parents, caregivers, court-appointed attorney and guardian ad litem(s) informed about the child’s circumstances and significant events.
• Working with the department's attorney to prepare for contested-court hearings and trials.
• Working with kinship caregivers and foster parents to ensure that they have what they need to care for the child or youth placed with them i.e., keeping them informed about developments in the case, returning phone calls, and in some areas of the state being available 24 hours a week at certain times.
• Transferring children home during reunification services and providing support to the family until the legal case is closed.
• Supervising adoptive placements until the adoption is final or until the case is transferred to an adoption caseworker.

Qualifications

• Knowledge of child development
• Knowledge of family dynamics
• Skills in effective verbal and written communication
• Skills in establishing and maintaining effective working relationships
• Skills in problem-solving techniques
• Ability to operate a personal computer
• Ability to travel and attend child and family visits as well as other work related appointments and meetings after 5pm
• Ability to be on call on a rotating basis and work irregular hours
• Ability to work in an emotion-filled environment and which may require conducting home visits in isolated or high crime areas and may involve exposure to substandard and unsanitary living conditions

Benefits

• 100% paid health insurance for you, and 50% paid for eligible family members—saving you hundreds every month in out-of-pocket medical costs
• Retail plans with lifetime monthly payments after five years of state service, plus options to save even more with 401(k) and 457 plans
• Paid vacation, holidays, and sick leave so you can recharge and take care of life outside work (that’s time off you’re actually paid for)
• Optional dental, vision, and life insurance—at rates much lower than most private plans
• Flexible spending accounts for added tax savings on health and dependent care
• Employee discounts on things like gym memberships, electronics, and entertainment

Pay

$3,816.65 - $5,372.41

Schedule

Day