Caregiver Support Specialist

• Compensation: USD 30.65 - USD 34.66 - hourly

Amara is committed to positive long-term outcomes for children and families. We drive systemic change, promote healing, and advance racial and LGBTQIA+ equity by offering programs and services to families engaged in the child welfare system.

At Amara, we believe that a supportive, equitable and inclusive workplace, where everyone feels valued, trusted, and nurtured, is key to shaping organizational culture and investing in underrepresented communities. Amara believes that a diverse workforce and inclusive workplace enhances our ability to fulfill our mission. We strongly invite candidates from diverse backgrounds, including communities of color, the LGBTQIA+ community, veterans, and people with disabilities to apply.

We are seeking to hire a Caregiver Support Specialist to become an integral and valued part of our Resource Care Team to achieve Amara’s vision. The Caregiver Support Specialist will be responsible for providing assessment, case management, and case aide coordination services to a mixed caseload of caregivers and youth as part of the new state Caregiver Support contract supporting children and youths who are placed with foster or kinship caregivers.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities
:
To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform the following satisfactorily; other duties may be assigned. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. This summary reflects the current expectations for the role; responsibilities will shift as contractual obligations and programmatic needs evolve.

• Provide Caregiver Support Services to caseload as assigned. This includes, but is not limited to:
  • Develop Caregiver Support plans with every assigned caregiver for each placed youth in their care. Collaborate with caregiver and DCYF Social Service Specialist in this development
  • Support caregiver in monitoring child’s progress toward the child’s service plan
  • Assess for the child and caregiver’s needs for additional services, resources, or community connections and coordinate referrals for those services (cultural, wellbeing, and educational)
  • Assess and support youth and families in accessing necessary Case Aide Services as directed and when caseload allows
  • Ensure the physical, emotional, and social needs of foster/kinship youth assigned to your caseload are met
  • Support caregiver in creating an individualized resource list (including child care/after school care, medical/dental services, respite care, cultural supports, mental health services, etc.)
  • Assist caregivers and youth in building/maintaining connection to their family and other important individuals in the youth’s life
  • Provide caregiver(s) with resources and skills training to increase their child/youth-specific parenting skills (including behavior management, culturally relevant connections/practices, independent life skills, etc.)
  • Assist with the creation and implementation of child-specific supervision plans as needed
• Liaise with multiple professionals in the child welfare arena
• Meet requirements for timely, accurate, and thorough documentation for case files and required reporting as directed
• Attend and participate in staff meetings, supervision, and training as directed
• Participate in the facilitation of family training and support groups as directed
• Provide occasional on-call services as a member of the on-call team
• Provide coverage for team members at the direction of Caregiver Support Program Manager
• Flex hours to accommodate family needs on an occasional and ongoing basis (staff are asked to provide at a minimum one night a week for evening appointments)
• Collaborate with staff in other Amara programs as directed to ensure appropriate cross-program referrals and consistent service delivery.
• Be an active participant on the Resource Care team.
• Represent Amara in community and coalition meetings, events, partner and donor meetings as directed by Caregiver Support Program Manager.
• Serve on internal and external committees as assigned.

Qualifications: The requirements listed below…