DCS CASE MANAGER 3 - 06262026-78837

Skills

• Professional case management work
• Lead work of routine difficulty
• Mentoring less-experienced case management staff
• Multi-disciplinary team participation
• Determining abuse/neglect, risk levels, and recommendations
• Maintaining case file documentation
• Preparing for and participating in court proceedings
• Conducting interviews and gathering information
• Administering client drug screens
• Conducting assessments and home visits
• Transporting children to appointments
• Communicating with children and families
• Engaging in Child and Family Team Meetings
• Collaborating with law enforcement and multi-disciplinary teams
• Training foster and adoptive parents
• Making referrals to service providers

Responsibilities

• Serves as a mentor for less-experienced case management staff
• Participates in multi-disciplinary teams including Child Protective Services Investigative Team, Foster Care Review Board, Community Advisory Board
• Determines if abuse or neglect has occurred, who the abuser is, the level of risk or harm to the child, determines the need for a safety plan, makes recommendations regarding permanency and/or termination of parental rights, monitors adoptive and foster families, recruits foster parents, conducts home visits, and coordinates/observes visitation
• Maintains documentation for case files and other required documentation
• Prepares for, participates and testifies in court proceedings
• Conducts interviews with alleged child victims, individuals reporting alleged abuse or child neglect, child's family, and collateral contacts; gathers required information such as school records, demographic information, medical exam/psychological information, etc., identifies supports for children and families, administers client drug screens; and conducts required assessments/assessments of home
• Conducts face-to-face visits with children, resource families, providers, kinship homes, and other relevant entities
• Schedules appointments, meetings, visitation with children on caseload
• Transports children to various appointments safely, assists children in preparing for placement, and sits with children who are awaiting placement
• Communicates effectively and timely with others, engages with children and families to build trustful relationships, encourages clients to overcome barriers and achieve permanency, explains parental rights and other relevant documents to families, responds timely to families, providers, co-workers and supervision
• Convenes and identifies members for Child and Family Team Meetings to work collaboratively with all Child and Family Team Meeting participants. Develops action steps and goals to be accomplished by the Team
• Works within communities by making referrals to service providers on behalf of clients; collaborates with law enforcement officials and multi-disciplinary teams; trains foster parents, adoptive parents and community

Qualifications

• Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor's degree
• Experience equivalent to two years of full-time professional work providing child welfare services including, but not limited to, social, psychological, or correctional counseling or case management; volunteer services coordination for a children's service program; and/or juvenile classification coordination

Requirements

• Must be at least twenty-one (21) years of age on the date of application
• Be a citizen of the United States
• Possess a valid driver's license prior to and during employment
• Have a good moral character, as determined by investigation
• Complete a criminal history disclosure form in a manner approved by the appointing authority
• Have no conviction for a felony
• Agree to release all records involving their criminal history to the appointment authority
• Supply a fingerprint sample in a manner prescribed by the TBI for a fingerprint based criminal history records check
• Submit to and pass a pre-employment screening test for use of illegal drugs

Overview

This classification is responsible for professional case management work of considerable difficulty and lead work of routine difficulty; and performs related work as required. This is the lead level class in the DCS Case Manager job series. An employee in this class is responsible for leading and training subordinates in the performance of case management work for children under the State's supervision, in State custody, or at risk of State custody, and their families.