Social Worker, Family Advocacy & Support Services

Social Worker

Buncombe County is a caring community in harmony with its environment where citizens succeed, thrive, and realize their potential. Our mission is to promote a healthy, safe, well-educated, and thriving community with a sustainable quality of life; to provide effective and efficient government our citizens can trust; and to deliver needed service through a responsive work force committed to excellence, integrity, and teamwork.

This posting is for ongoing recruitment in the Foster Care & Adoptions and Family In-Home Social Work divisions.

Transcripts are required to be submitted with your application in order to be considered for Social Work positions.

Purpose of the position:

The primary purpose of this position is to provide direct adoption & Foster Care services to children and resource families to ensure a safe and permanent placement of children in agency custody. Family In-Home Services provides direct services to children and families to ensure safety and prevent removal from families.

Essential Functions of the position:

• Ensure children who cannot safely return to their birth families achieve a safe and legally secure placement via adoption or guardianship.
• Provide services through which a plan for temporary substitute care appropriate to a child's needs is evaluated, arranged, maintained and supervised in Court sanctioned placement or a licensed facility when the child's own family is unable to care for him/her adequately due to safety/risk factors.
• Provide direct services to children and their pre-adoptive caregivers to ensure the protection, safety and permanency of the children.
• Assess, prepare, place and monitor children cleared for adoption.
• Provide state mandated case management services for children in DSS Legal Custody.
• Develop and monitor service plans with families and provide or refer services as needed.
• Make recommendations to the court, including services needed, progress and barriers to permanent plan.
• Establish rapport with children, families and appropriate professionals/non-professionals in the community to provide a strengths-based, family centered approach in working with families throughout child welfare involvement.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Minimum Education , Training and/or

Experience:

Master's degree in social work from an accredited school of social work; or a Bachelor's degree in social work from an accredited school of social work and completion of the Child Welfare Collaborative; or a Bachelor's degree in social work from an accredited school of social work and one (1) year directly related experience; or a Master's degree in a human services field and one (1) year of directly related experience;

or a Bachelor's degree in a human services field from an accredited college or university and two (2) years directly related experience; or a Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university and three (3) years of directly related experience.

Additional Training and

Experience:

English/Spanish bi-lingual speakers preferred.

License or Certification Required by Statute or Regulation: A current, valid North Carolina driver's license.

Successful FIH/Permanency Planning Social Workers:

• Engage and work collaboratively with children and family members who have often experienced significant trauma, are angry and/or scared.
• Promote and demonstrate competency and respect for cultural diversity among clients, coworkers, and all other work-related contacts.
• Demonstrate the ability to work in an emotionally charged environment and conduct home visits in isolated or high crime areas, involving exposure to substandard and unsanitary living conditions.
• Assess protective capacities of caretakers, develop Family Service Agreements, and identify and…