JTDC - Caseworker II

Job Title: CASEWORKER II

Division: RESIDENT DAILY LIFE

Location: JUVENILE TEMPORARY DETENTION CENTER, 1100 S HAMILTON, CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 60612

Union: AFSCME 3696

Grade: PS2

Salary: $73,706

The Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) provides safe and temporary housing for youth ages 10 – 18 with pending legal action in the Cook County Courts. The JTDC provides its youth with leadership, structured care, and supervision through a balanced approach of creative programming and services that teach responsibility, accountability, and sensitivity. Each member of the JTDC staff is actively encouraged and supported in pursuit of creative participation, personal well‑being, and professional development.

As the largest juvenile detention center in the nation, the facility contains five major departments and various offices consisting of 600+ employees who serve an average daily population of 280+ residents.

The Caseworker II serves as the designated advocate for each resident on an assigned Center. The Caseworker II is delegated the primary responsibility for coordinating all social services for residents, as well as maintaining complete and accurate Center records for the residents housed in the JTDC.

• Participates in the planning, implementing, supervision, and reporting on the programs, projects, and other services for residents and their families.
• Monitors and documents all therapeutic and recreational programs/activities for residents and their families.
• Assists daily with monitoring the personal conduct, care, and safety of residents on their assigned Pods while providing leadership.
• Assists in the intake process by assigning new residents to a Center and facilitating an orientation of the Center for the residents that includes providing a list of Pod rules.
• Reviews, maintains, and updates the DSI system at the beginning of each assigned shift.
• Responds to resident emergencies and provides crisis intervention as needed.
• Maintains continuous communication with the Center’s Team Leader, Assistant Team Leaders, Youth Development Specialists, and Recreation Workers.
• Prepares and maintains complete and accurate resident case files according to agency program specifications which will include but not limited to service plans, weekly progress notes, court reports, administrative intervention plans, and IDJJ discharge summaries.
• Provides individual counseling sessions to each resident housed on their assigned Pod typically during the day and after school hours.
• Conducts two group sessions with their assigned Pod weekly focusing on various topics associated with common residents in daily life.
• Facilitates phone communication between residents and their parents/guardians, probation officers, public defenders, and any other approved personnel through telephone contact and visitation.
• Arranges and monitors special visits for residents who earn the privilege.
• Identifies residents with special needs: mental, emotional, social, or physical and coordinates a service plan with the residents and appropriate individuals or agencies to address those needs.
• Serves as an advocate for the residents as it relates to their progress, placement options, family needs issues, disciplinary hearings, and court proceedings.
• Collaborates with assigned mental health team to come up with different programs and strategies of dealing with challenging residents on the Centers.
• Attends and participates in weekly, bi‑weekly, and monthly resident staffing’s, Center team meetings, Administrative Intervention Meetings for residents, Monthly School (NBJS) meetings, and Court Hearings when assigned.
• Serve as multi-disciplinary team member with the Probation department by sharing any detention related information pertinent to resident’s cases.
• Provides direct and continual observation of residents.
• Performs other duties as assigned.
• The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned this classification. They are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all job duties performed by personnel so classified.

• A bachelor’s…