Social Worker III (Adult Protective Services)

About the role

The Social Worker III carries a difficult caseload involving the determination of need for basic social services functions for applicants or clients; performs social studies and assignments involving individualized treatment and specialized application of casework methods and skills; provides comprehensive casework services of a tangible nature; and performs other related work as assigned.

Responsibilities

• Carr[ies] a caseload of more difficult types of social services cases requiring a high degree of technical competence, such as situations where environmental forces affect family life
• Receives and responds to reports of suspected abuse; obtains information from reporters; personally investigates and assesses situations to protect vulnerable adults and children and recommends alternate placement; may provide information to law enforcement or district attorneys; may be required to work on-call; may testify in court
• Performs case studies evaluates individual and family case information to assess the safety of children and adults; determines appropriate types and methods of treatment
• Develops and carries out social treatment plans for an assigned caseload; ensures all services are delivered in a respectful, culturally sensitive and appropriate manner
• Counsels or provides guidance and support to individuals and/or families with more complex or specialized needs including Adult Protective Services, crisis intervention, special medical or legal needs, and other social services
• Refers clients to other staff members
• Makes a diagnosis of client problems and follows through with the social treatment plans with a high degree of independence
• Interprets policies, rules, and regulations to client, applicants, and others
• Acts as a lead worker to a small group of social service workers or service employees
• Aids applicants and recipients in utilizing available resources for individual needs
• Makes home visits in connection with casework assignments
• Develops and prepares court report, case plans, case narratives and safety plans in automated computer systems
• Enters and retrieves data and narratives from automated computer systems
• Prepares and maintains case
• Participates in in-service training and other staff development activities to increase knowledge of the social work processes and achieve technical competence
• Receives casework consultation from professionally trained staff members
• May be required to testify in court
• Works with community organizations and makes referrals to outside resources
• Provides self-help information, education, and services; works with clients and caregivers to develop and improve caregiving and independent living skills
• Obtains and evaluates police, medical, and psychological reports
• Maintains client confidentiality; performs all duties in conformance with the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) Code of Ethics
• Performs related duties as assigned

Requirements

• Knowledge of principles and practices of organization, workload management and time management
• Principles and practices of note taking, report writing, and English composition, grammar, punctuation, and spelling
• Phone etiquette and interview techniques
• Socio-economic conditions and trends
• Basic principles of individual and group behavior
• Current issues in the field of social welfare
• Basic public welfare programs on the Federal, State, and local level
• General principles of public assistance policies and programs
• Principles and techniques of interviewing and recording of social casework
• Laws, rules, and regulations governing the operation of the public welfare agency and the role and responsibilities of a social worker
• Community organization and the social problems calling for the use of public and private community resources
• Current problems and methodology in the field of public social services
• Medical, legal, economic, and social management needs of individuals and families with special medical needs such as HIV disease, drug dependency, the medically fragile child, Alzheimer's, and the terminally ill
• Strategies and protocols surrounding crisis intervention techniques such as voice modulation and assessing the potential for suicide
• Psychopathology, the different types of mental illness diagnoses, how mental illness affects human behavior and mental health services and treatments utilized by clients
• Signs, stages and dynamics of abuse, and the effects of abuse on child/adult development and behavior
• Signs and symptoms of alcohol and drug use/abuse in adults and children and the effects on families
• Standards for maintaining clients safely in home; options for placement; effects of removing clients from unsafe situations

Qualifications

• One (1) year of full-time experience performing journey level social work case management in the Social Worker II classification in an Interagency Merit System (IMS) county
• Two (2) years of full-time social work case management experience in a public or private agency
• Thirty (30) semester units or forty-five (45) quarter units from an accredited college or university, including fifteen (15) semester units or twenty-two and a half (22.5) quarter units in social welfare, social/human services, sociology, or other social or behavioral science
• One (1) year of full-time social work case management experience in a public or private agency
• Bachelor's degree and successful completion of twenty-four (24) semester or thirty-six (36) quarter units of a master's degree program in Social Work, or a Counseling program from an accredited college or university, emphasizing Marriage, Family and Child Counseling or Marriage and Family therapy, Gerontology or Clinical Psychology
• Twelve (12) months of social work case management experience

Skills

• Effective communication skills in writing, in person and over the telephone
• Analytical skills to interpret data, procedures, and regulations
• Ability to respond appropriately to situations and maintain confidentiality
• Ability to organize and maintain work detail
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships
• Ability to analyze data from multiple sources, interpret and apply complex directions, rules, policies, procedures and regulations, and develop appropriate responses

Benefits

N/A

Pay

N/A

Schedule

N/A