Families Together Building Solutions Worker

About the role

This position provides home-based services to assist in reducing child abuse/neglect, solution-focused services to assist families with meeting behaviorally specific goals, and helps keep families intact. This role works alongside families to decrease the risk of child abuse/neglect and out-of-home placement, enhancing household management skills, transportation networks, communication, and conflict resolution skills.

Responsibilities

• Enhance household management skills, transportation networks, communication, and conflict resolution skills.
• Increase the use and awareness of community resources.
• Serve families in Cass and St. Joseph counties.
• Support families in achieving goals outlined in the Service Plan.
• Teach, model, and document Infant Safe Sleep teaching and practices for all families with an infant aged less than one year.
• Develop and implement a proactive and reactive safety plan with each family, based on identified risk factors, and continuously assess appropriate safety planning.
• Conduct a routine inquiry for domestic violence with each referred family.
• Makes referrals to other services as appropriate.
• Works collaboratively with all other service providers involved with the family and the referring worker to assist the family toward goal achievement.
• Completes mandatory MDHHS releases and authorizations.
• Observes and interviews parents and children, using skills from Protective Factors Framework® and documents the Protective Factors observed.
• Administers Specific Assistance Funds, averaging $100.00 per family served, in support of activities and purchases that reduce the risk of out-of-home placement, and support the achievement of goals.
• Participates in weekly supervision sessions, case reviews, bi-weekly team meetings, and other meetings as required.
• Submits a weekly summary of all face-to-face to the referring worker for all open cases.
• Conducts a termination meeting with the family to summarize the progress made during the intervention and options for maintaining progress.
• Provides parent(s) with the Protective Factors Survey Retrospective to complete within seven days prior to case termination.
• Administers a family satisfaction survey and referring worker survey upon termination of services for each case.
• Completes, and/or attempts to complete, follow-up visits with each family served at three and six months following closure of the case.
• Attends court hearings and provide testimony at the request of the family, MDHHS, or PAFC referring worker.
• Completes all necessary documentation in a way that meets the expectations for content and timeliness as required by the contract and the agency.
• Performs other special assignments at supervisor’s request.

Requirements

• Knowledge of brief solution-focused therapy.
• Knowledge and skills necessary to provide services appropriate to families and children 0-18.
• Knowledge and skills around substance abuse and co-occurring disorders.
• Knowledge of local resources.
• Able to have a non-judgmental positive attitude toward families in crisis.
• Able to be committed to empowering families to solve their own problems.
• Able to work in partnership with other team members and/or service providers.
• Able to demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness to cultural differences present in the agency’s service population.
• Able to forge a mutually respectful partnership with individuals and families in which they are helped to gain skills and confidence in addressing issues and problems.
• Must have the conviction about an individual’s/family’s capacity to change and grow.
• Requires reliable transportation.
• Must have a valid driver’s license and good driving record with zero work restrictions.
• Must have personal auto insurance as required by law with minimum bodily injury coverage limits of $250,000 per person/$500,000 per incident or $500,000 combined.
• Willing to work a flexible schedule based on needs of the clients served.
• Participation is required in initial FTBS and ongoing Family Preservation training provided by DHHS Family Preservation staff or DHHS coordinated trainers.
• Must submit to Agency approved background checks.

Qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in any human services field or the field of education is required.
• A minimum of 1 year of prior field work experience working with children and families with multiple problems is preferred.

Skills

• Knowledge of brief, solution focused and strength-based solution focused intervention strategies.
• Knowledge and skills around substance abuse and co-occurring disorders.
• Knowledge of local resources.
• Able to have a non-judgmental positive attitude toward families in crisis.
• Able to be committed to empowering families to solve their own problems.
• Able to work in partnership with other team members and/or service providers.
• Able to demonstrate sensitivity and responsiveness to cultural differences present in the agency’s service population.
• Able to forge a mutually respectful partnership with individuals and families in which they are helped to gain skills and confidence in addressing issues and problems.
• Must have the conviction about an individual’s/family’s capacity to change and grow.

Benefits

Up to $47,715.20 annually; $22.94/hour based on relevant work experience.

Pay

Up to $47,715.20 annually; $22.94/hour based on relevant work experience.

Schedule

Flexible work schedules must be maintained to ensure appointments are scheduled based on families’ needs and to allow for timely crisis intervention.