Cannon County Safe Baby Court Coordinator

The Cannon County, TN Safe Baby Court Coordinator is responsible for the effective administration and coordination of the cases of children aged 0-5 years and their families who have involvement with the Juvenile Court and the Department of Children’s Services as dependent and neglected children and who have been assigned to the Safe Baby Court by the Juvenile Court Judge. The administration of the case involves docketing monthly Child and Family Team meetings between the SBC Coordinator, parent(s), caregivers, attorneys, the Guardian ad Litem, service providers, and the Department of Children’s Services;

docketing monthly court hearings between these individuals and the Juvenile Court Judge; frequent communication with the parent(s), caregivers, attorneys, service providers, and the Department of Children’s Services between meetings and hearings by telephone, text, email, and in-person check-ins to promote the progress of the case toward permanency. The SBC Coordinator is the team builder between the family and the professionals involved with the family with a focus on removing barriers to permanency for the child and reducing further trauma to the child.

The SBC Coordinator will develop and facilitate quarterly community meetings to engage and educate the community. The Coordinator monitors client-related grant expenditures and communicates funding needs to the Director throughout the year, ensuring grant funds are utilized in alignment with program goals and expended within the grant period.

• Work with local child welfare stakeholders to implement recommendations of the Safe Baby Court Team (SBCT) and develop policies and procedures to implement the local program.
• Provide neutral facilitation of, and documentation for, a multi-disciplinary team/family team meetings that meet monthly to assist children and their families in developing strategies to mitigate the circumstances that brought them to the court’s attention.
• Act as a liaison for identifying community-based resources and support and disseminate the information to other agencies and families.
• Track monthly follow-up activities for each case monitored by the SBCT.
• Assess community’s needs for training/technical assistance to meet goals of the SBCT.
• Provide training related to trauma, family engagement, learning disabilities, relating to intellectually disabled parents, and other topics pertinent to the needs of the families served by SBCT.
• Handle logistical arrangements for local training and work collaboratively with other organizations to provide training regionally or statewide.
• Coordinate with in-state SBCT community agencies to arrange local training and technical assistance activities and resources.
• Build a strong collaborative relationship with the Statewide SBCT Coordinators to ensure consistency in implementing the SBCT approach.
• Implement an evaluation plan and help collect data on SBCT cases.
• Formulate specialized and comprehensive statistical data used in the analysis process.
• Create connections with community partners to recruit for and develop an Active Community Team (ACT).
• Convene and facilitate quarterly ACT meetings to promote collective impact for systems change.
• Engage families early in the SBCT process and ensure that their input is valued throughout their child welfare/court journey.
• Support families with frequent communication to include telephone, text, and in-person contact.

Comprehensive knowledge of early child development and knowledge of issues related to child abuse and neglect; comprehensive knowledge of local community resources for mental health, substance abuse, and behavioral health; knowledge of infant/toddler social-emotional…