Foster Care Coordinator - TN

About the role

Childhelp Tennessee’s Foster Family Services program is seeking a full-time Care Coordinator for our Knoxville office location. Childhelp provides therapeutic foster home services to children in state custody as well as services to their families in the hope that we can achieve permanency for these children by safely reuniting them with their birth families, or providing these children with a permanent adoptive family if reunification is not possible. As a Care Coordinator for Childhelp’s Foster Family Services program, you will work closely with our children in care, their biological parents, Childhelp therapeutic foster parents and other involved stakeholders—DCS workers, court staff, attorneys, therapists and others—to help these children and families reach their goals and achieve permanency. Childhelp Care Coordinators help ensure that the children and the families we serve receive all of the services they need—safe, loving and structured foster home environments, health services, therapeutic services if/as needed (counseling, OT, PT, speech, etc.), education services and others. Besides serving as a “case manager,” our Care Coordinators serve as active therapeutic mentors and teachers for ALL of our clients, provide crisis intervention when/as needed and advocate for the best interest of the children and families we serve.

Responsibilities

• Make regular, timely home visits to foster homes to check on children and foster families and ensure everyone’s needs are met
• Engage, teach and encourage birth parents to complete Permanency Plan goals in an effort to safely reunite children and families whenever possible
• Provide crisis intervention to children as needed
• Serve as part of the child and family’s Treatment Team and attend all case planning and progress meetings (court hearings, Child and Family Team Meetings, etc.)
• Supervise therapeutic child and family visits
• Assist in Independent Living skills planning and training for children ages 14 and up
• Document all contacts with children, families and services received
• Create and implement Treatment Plans and goals for children in our foster care program
• Assist foster parents in obtaining and scheduling needed services for children in their care
• Demonstrate excellent customer service, organizational and communication (verbal and written) skills
• Be creative, innovative, flexible and solution-focused in a fast-paced environment
• Be a supportive, encouraging member of the staff and treatment teams

Qualifications

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work, Psychology, Counseling or a closely-related field
• Minimum of 21 years of age
• Ability to pass extensive background checks and pre-employment screenings
• Possess a valid, unrestricted driver’s license