Social Worker II

About the role

Under the supervision of the Specialized Health and Social Services (SHSS) program supervisor, performs complex and comprehensive public health social work and case management (CM) services for children with special health care needs and their families, high-risk pregnant women, and the general public.

Responsibilities

• Conducts home visits and visits to other community settings as appropriate to comprehensively assess client and family’s unmet social needs;
• Completes intake, Family Needs Assessment (FNA), individualized service plan, and other relevant assessment forms;
• Collaborates with medical providers, community partners, and other state agencies to address needs;
• Maintains current and accurate documentation of all contacts/case activities in case files and appropriate database systems according to program policies and applicable state and federal laws;
• Attends Admission, Review, and Dismissal (ARD) meetings to address unmet educational needs (20%);
• Conducts functional needs assessments for the Personal Care Services (PCS) and Community First Choice (CFC) programs (20%);
• Assists eligible clients and families with locating or recruiting Children with Special Health Care Needs Services Program (CSHCN-SP) providers (20%);
• Completes BDES evaluation form with clients and families; enters data into appropriate database within designated timeframes (5%);
• Educates clients regarding safe sleep practices; delivers cribettes and demonstrates proper usage; provides follow up CM (5%);
• Educates clients regarding abnormal newborn screening results to facilitate understanding and appropriate medical intervention; provides follow up CM (5%);
• Performs CM duties for other individuals/populations as assigned (5%);
• Conducts presentations and attends community events to educate the public about available services;
• Provides training, consultation, and technical assistance to program contractors and providers;
• Actively participates in community organization functions and collaborates with other community entities to improve the health and well-being of the community;
• Serves as regional expert on Medicaid services for children and high-risk pregnant women;
• May supervise interns, train peers, and participate in quality assurance reviews (10%);
• Attends trainings relevant to licensure requirement and continued development of professional social work knowledge and skills;
• Participates in the performance evaluation process;
• Works other than normal business hours in order to respond to public health emergencies and actively participates and/or serves in a supporting role to meet the agency’s obligations for disaster response/recovery/Continuity of Operations (COOP) activation--requires completion of at least ICS 100, 200 and may require an alternate shift pattern assignment and/or location.

Requirements

• Current, unrestricted social work license issued by the Texas State Board of Social Worker Examiners;
• Valid Class C Texas Driver's License or equivalent;
• Active duty, military, reservist, guardman, veteran status (if applicable).

Qualifications

• Knowledge of: social work and case management principles and best practices; children’s programs such as Medicaid, CSHCN, CPW, CPS/Foster Care, SSI, NBS, NBHS, Lead, Early Childhood Intervention (ECI), and CHIP; quality assurance and technical assistance policies and procedures; community resources on a local, state and national level; cultural and socioeconomic issues related to health and disabilities.
• Skills in: use of electronic mail, internet, databases, and Microsoft Office products; conducting telephonic and in-home intake and family needs assessments; developing service plans; conflict resolution, mediation, and problem solving; planning, prioritizing, and organizing workload; providing training and technical assistance to professionals;
• Ability to: communicate effectively, verbally and in writing; thoroughly assess, analyze, summarize, and evaluate clients’ complex educational, biological, psychological, and social needs; establish and maintain effective working relationships with all levels of staff in an interdisciplinary setting; interpret and apply program policies and procedures; submit timely work activity, travel, and time reports; maintain confidentiality; plan and manage multiple workloads and assignments to meet deadlines; follow DSHS and HHS Policies and Procedures; adhere to HHS Work Rules and the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics; provide own transportation to perform work duties; ability to move up to 30 pounds to deliver client goods.