Career Detail
Family Support Specialist, Social Worker, Muscatine, IA
- Job Type: Full-Time
- Location: Muscatine, IA
- Date Posted: 6/11/2021
Job Description:
Family Support Specialist – Social Worker
This position will serve the city of Muscatine in Muscatine County, IA and surrounding areas in Iowa; travel is expected.
Family Support Specialist positions within the agency consist of a tiered, level program with each level/tier comprised of a specified salary range. Several factors including but not limited to years of experience, education and training will determine level/tier qualifications, eligibility, and placement.
Families First is one of the leading providers of family based, in-home and in-office services in the State of Iowa.
· We are accredited by the Council on Accreditation.
· Employ approximately 230 employees.
· Serve approximately 3,000 individuals through our various programs in forty-four counties within the State.
· Our employees assist entire families with the daily stressors enabling them to balance a family, work and school.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities:
Open Agency & Non-Agency Child Welfare Cases:
· Will provide Solution Based Casework®, shall be trained and certified in SBC or working towards training and certification.
· Family Support Specialist (FSS) shall be responsible for delivering and/or coordinating all services and supports provided for the case and preparing and submitting required reports on the case to the DHS worker throughout service delivery meeting all internal and contractual timelines.
· Family Support Specialist (FSS) shall have case management and decision-making responsibilities on Non-Agency involved cases and will ensure minimum casework contacts are met.
· FSS and the Intervention Specialist assigned to the same Case shall work collaboratively as a team and provide necessary interventions and/or supports to address Family needs.
· Administer agency endorsed screening tools that evaluate the individual and collective needs of the family unit.
· Work to connect family with community resources and informal supports as identified in the Eco Map and DHS case Plan.
· Align the specific range of delivering services and supports with the results of these meetings and the family’s Department Case Plan.
· Attend all court hearings and other meetings on the children and family while the case is open.
· On an ongoing basis throughout service delivery, assess the educational, physical and mental health conditions, strengths and needs of all children in cases open for services; and, in consultation with the Department worker, refer children for additional evaluation or services that may be necessary.
· Coordinate service planning, including planning for parent/child and sibling interactions, with staff from the child’s/children’s placement setting.
· Coordinate the contractor’s services with services and supports children and families may be receiving from other sources, including both public and private organizations and informal community networks.
· Implement plans to connect children and families to other community resources and informal supports, such as local community centers, mentors, or community support groups, and reduce their reliance on formal services.
Family Preservation Services:
· Family Support Specialist (FSS) shall be responsible for meeting with the family unit within 24 hours of referral and will be responsible for delivering and/or coordinating all services and supports provided for the case and preparing and submitting required reports on the case to the DHS worker throughout service delivery meeting all internal and contractual timelines.
· FSS providing Family Preservation Services (FPS) shall be trained and certified in Motivational Interviewing® or working towards training and certification.
· FSS shall ensure a 2-hour response time, either Face-to-Face or by phone to provide crisis intervention to crisis situations that present significant risks to the safety, permanency, or well-being of the children.
· FSS shall utilize individualized case needs and results of the CSC to direct the blend of services and supports provided to maintain children safety in the home or with kin/fictive kin while addressing individual and family needs.
