Family Service Specialist

Summary Statement

The Family Service Specialist series consists of the Family Service Specialist, Senior Family Service Specialist, Master Family Service Specialist, and Family Crisis Therapist classifications. Incumbents in these roles directly provide and coordinate professional case management services to children, youth, adults, and families experiencing abuse, neglect, dependency, behavioral concerns, crisis situations, or family dysfunction. An incumbent in this class conducts assessments, and provides planning, facilitation, advocacy, monitoring, and evaluation which is achieved through collaboration with the client and other professionals.

The incumbent is responsible for conducting child abuse investigations and/or providing ongoing case management services, which may include foster care and other permanency planning.

Positions require the ability to work independently in both the office and during home visits or in community settings, including independent statewide travel to conduct home visits, court appearances, community-based services and responses, and respond to urgent situations to assess/maintain child safety and wellbeing. Work may involve responding to time-sensitive situations in community and home settings, which may require working outside of the standard work hours based on meeting the needs of families and children as well as other operational needs.

Upon satisfactory completion of Department promotional standards and job requirements, employees may be eligible to be promoted to the next level.

This position is part of the Family Services Specialist career ladder series, which includes the following levels:
Family Services Specialist (entry level), Senior Family Services Specialist, and Master Family Services Specialist.

Applicants are encouraged to review all DSCYF job postings within this series and apply for any level for which they meet the minimum qualifications.

Selective Requirements must be met in addition to the job requirements. Applicants who do not possess the selective requirement will not be qualified.

As a condition of hire you must possess a valid driver's license (not suspended, revoked, or cancelled, or disqualified from driving). This position requires statewide travel which may include driving at night or through adverse weather conditions.

• Provides services to advocate for health, safety and welfare or rights of clients and their families and assists them in obtaining needed services.
• Interviews clients and family members and/or professionals to gather personal, social and background information; works closely with the client and family to formulate a clear description of the client and family’s problems; identify the key forces which maintain the problems; discover resources and strengths available to the client and family to resolve the problems; and identify the blocks, if any, that prevent the client and family from resolving the problems without the intervention of the State agency.
• Determines eligibility for various social service programs offered by the agency or available in the community.
• In collaboration with the client and family, and with consultation from a technical superior, develops and implements service/treatment plans, outlining the goals and objectives to be accomplished, methods and techniques to be used, and anticipated results; helps the client and family to obtain community, social and/or therapeutic services and resources needed to accomplish plans and objectives.
• Conducts individual and family counseling sessions with clients and members of the family to aid in achieving satisfactory social development and adjustment to specific problems and situations.
• Assesses progress toward goals and makes recommendations on plans such as reclassification, discharge, aftercare, emergency protective placement in emergency or crisis situations, guardianship, petitions or options counseling.
• Prepares social histories, client progress reports, evaluation and discharge summaries, court reports or petitions; prepares and maintains a variety of records and files pertaining to clients assigned to caseload.
• Enforces court orders and conditions of community supervision as required. Attends court hearings and other judicial proceedings to answer questions; makes recommendations and prepares progress reports regarding clients.
• May be called upon to intervene in crisis situations such as potential suicides, assault and battery…