Foster Care Aide - On-Call

Position Summary

The Foster Care Aide is responsible for supporting and reinforcing the individual treatment and transition plans of youth in the Treatment Foster Family Home by providing guidance, assistance, and supervision of clients in their daily living activities.

Primary responsibilities

• Client Support & Mentorship
• Provides mentorship, role-modeling, and assistance to clients in developing daily living skills and activities that will help them obtain a healthy and age-appropriate sense of self.
• Assists in implementing the individualized/client specific treatment interventions that have been determined by the treatment team.
• Serves as a mentor and role model by demonstrating compassion and understanding for feelings, opinions, and experiences of others, and communicating and interacting in a manner that is honest, positive, respectful, and professional; demonstrates ability to effectively communicate verbally and in writing.
• Assists in providing educational assistance/guidance, social skills development, life planning skills development, and therapeutic recreational/leisure activities for the clients as needed.
• Treatment Reinforcement
• Assists and supports the Treatment Foster Family Parent in establishing and enforcing the guidelines, procedures and house rules which are designed to ensure safety and structure within the home.
• Reinforces adherence to daily schedules and activities established for the treatment foster family home including attending school and school events, therapy sessions, doctor appointments, family visits, planned recreational activities and other external appointments, etc., and provide transportation and supervision as needed.
• Reinforces the structure of the home environment with focus on enabling clients in developing age-appropriate life skills in areas such as self-care, completion of household duties, meal preparation, recreation and leisure, money management, vocational readiness, and employment.
• Makes sure the clients’ medical needs are met and communicates medical concerns to appropriate staff; administers medications per established protocols and documents information as required.
• Individual Treatment Planning
• Supports the foster parent by providing direct supervision of the client during daily living activities, during the implementation of individualized treatment plans and during other therapeutic events as needed.
• Supports the clients’ families in achieving their permanency goals through collaboration and guidance.
• Responsible for providing regular transportation and supervision for the youth to ensure their safety to a scheduled location in an assigned company vehicle or personal vehicle.
• Engages with and includes client families in decision-making and provides guidance in establishing effective boundaries and limits with their child.
• Participates with co-workers as a team on implementation of treatment plans and therapeutic services; proactively manages multiple client treatment and program needs.
• Engages in therapeutic interventions with clients within treatment parameters, while maintaining appropriate boundaries with clients and their families.
• Treatment Policy, Procedure & Compliance
• Complies with all documentation requirements and standards, including but not limited to, any family or other external contact, individual, family, or group counseling session, critical incident reporting, etc.
• Works with the treatment team to assess and intervene with problematic clients to encourage retention in the program.
• Understands, adheres to and applies all Nexus policies involving privacy and confidentiality of information regarding clients and their families; remains apprised with HIPAA regulations.
• Attends and actively participates in weekly staff meetings.
• Ensures client safety and collaborates with co-workers to maintain a therapeutic environment that is clean, safe, positive, and respectful.
• Performs First Aid/CPR procedures and responds according to established protocols in the event of an emergency situation.
• Identifies and notifies the team and foster parent(s) of any safety hazards or concerns within the treatment foster family home and demonstrates the ability to handle a crisis situation and use sound judgement.
• Upholds all safety and supervision procedures to ensure safety of youth in the home as well as in the community, which includes compliance with safety measures involving the foster family home(s), campus grounds and while traveling to and attending off-campus activities.
• Participates in required training to meet company and State agency’s expectations, including training that provides additional skills and strategies to use in regard to implementing therapeutic interventions that address the client’s behavioral, emotional, and mental health needs.

Nexus’ Comprehensive Benefits Include

• Paid Time Off (PTO) benefits
• Holiday Time
• Multiple options for health insurance coverage
• No-cost life insurance
• Short/long-term disability insurance
• 401k match
• NEW – Talkspace Therapy Benefit for the whole family
• NEW – Hinge Health Benefit for the whole family
• NEW – Carrot Fertility Benefit
• Tuition assistance and training opportunities
• Advancement pathways and internal promotion
• And much more!

Required Education and Licensure

• High school Diploma or GED
• Minimum of 21 years of age.
• Valid driver’s license required. Must meet state regulating agency and Home Office driving requirements

Preferred Education and Experience

• Associate’s or Bachelor’s Degree
• Experience working with youth

ICARE Values & Behavioral Competencies

• Innovation: Leading the way and implementing creative, cutting-edge ideas and approaches.
• Compassion: Listening, honoring differences, and showing respect, kindness, empathy care, and concern.
• Agility: Exhibiting flexibility and adapting quickly.
• Responsiveness: Being quick, positive, and accurate.
• Excellence: Demonstrating quality results that surpass ordinary standards.

Commitment to Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

At Nexus Family Healing, our voices and actions will be focused on recognizing, affirming and respecting people of every race, ethnic background, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, gender expression and faith.