Family Safety Practitioner II - Foster Care

Job Overview

This position includes a signing bonus of $2,500 (full‑time) for new county hires. The Division of Children, Youth, and Families (CYF) of the Department of Family Services (DFS) seeks a Foster Care and Adoption (FC&A) Family Safety Practitioner II to provide clinical casework services that support the permanency of children in foster care as well as their parents and caregivers. This role requires caring and motivated individuals dedicated to serving families and children in our community.

• Conduct face‑to‑face contacts and attend home visits to ensure children in foster care and adoption are safe and that their physical, emotional, and educational needs are being met.
• Conduct comprehensive assessments covering safety, permanency, wellbeing, educational, social and independent living skills, substance abuse, developmental concerns, family relationships, domestic violence, parenting capacity, social supports, physical health challenges, basic needs such as shelter, food and clothing.
• Collaborate with parents, prior custodians, foster parents, and children when appropriate to develop a family‑centered, solution‑focused service plan that ensures safety, permanency, and wellbeing of the children in foster care.
• Coordinate and collaborate with foster families and others to deliver services such as home‑based family and individual counseling, health insurance and medical care, parenting support, and domestic violence interventions.
• Respond and intervene in emergency crisis around placement of children in foster homes, congregate care facilities, and trial home placements.
• Conduct court‑related services including writing and submitting service plans to court, consulting with the county attorney, writing affidavits, filing petitions, and testifying in court.
• Document assessments, critical incident reports, detailed case contacts, progress notes, and service plans in a timely manner in accordance with local and state policy.
• Participate in required trainings and meetings and serve as a representative on work groups, contributing to the development of written products.
• Coordinate and attend intra‑agency and inter‑agency meetings.
• May be required to be on‑call rotation that includes evening, overnight, weekend, and holiday hours which may require immediate response into the field.
• Perform other duties as assigned to ensure child safety and improve outcomes in families.
• Provide individual and family safety and risk assessment and casework duties pursuant to applicable state and federal policies/laws to ensure the safety and wellbeing of people facing vulnerabilities.
• Determine whether people at risk of harm should be separated from their current living situation, including emergency separations of children or vulnerable adults from their homes when required.
• Engage county residents in services that are often non‑voluntary and/or protective in nature, helping them overcome stressful situations that threaten their immediate physical or psychological safety.
• Advocate for and assist families and individuals in obtaining services such as mental health, intellectual disability, alcohol and drug, housing referrals, financial assistance for basic needs, home‑based services, training, and medical services.
• Provide family, individual, and group counseling and conduct mediation services to families in conflict.
• Investigate and evaluate complaints of alleged abuse or neglect, and in consultation with a supervisor, assess risks posed to clients in accordance with state and local policies, working to ensure risks are eliminated or minimized.
• Prepare written reports and required documentation supporting decisions related to immediate and ongoing safety needs.
• Provide crisis intervention on a timely basis to clients or families whose wellbeing is seriously and imminently threatened.
• Collect, document, and make appropriate case decisions related to information from clients, their family members, and community support systems concerning their social, financial, physical health, emotional wellbeing, and problems affecting the completion of safety or services plans.
• Document detailed records that become…