Kinship Support Specialist

Description

Easterseals Blake Foundation started as the Cerebral Palsy Foundation of Southern Arizona. Since then, we have expanded our services to better serve our community members. We are now one of Arizona's top providers of comprehensive behavioral health services, child welfare, and services for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We serve more than 40,000 individuals and families across 10 counties and support more than 3,700 children in Foster Care throughout Southern Arizona. Are you ready to make profound, positive differences in people's lives every day?

We offer our full-time employees the following benefits:

• Medical, Dental and Vision
• Flexible Spending Account and Dependent Flexible Spending Account 
• Health Savings Account
• Voluntary Life insurance
• Voluntary Short-term Disability insurance
• Critical Illness insurance
• Accident insurance
• Employer paid life insurance, long-term disability insurance, and Employee Assistance Program

General Position Description: Provides support to kinship families caring for youth experiencing foster care, conducts initial home assessments, and assists in the foster care licensing process.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Contacts and schedules appointments with DCS referred families within the required timeframes specified by the contract.
• Conducts initial home visits with referred families to identify needs and assist in providing resources and support.
• Assists families in enrolling in support programs such as WIC, TANF, fingerprinting, behavioral health services, and educational supports.
• Completes interviews and writes the home assessment for kinship families identified as placement for a youth experiencing foster care.
• Conducts initial and ongoing home inspections for foster care licensure. Conducts monthly and quarterly monitoring and support home visits. Ensures all timelines for home assessments and home studies for licensure are completed per contract requirements.
• Guides kinship families through the foster care licensing process by conducting interviews, gathering required documentation, providing resources, training families using the foster parent college curriculum, and submitting the home study and necessary documentation to the State of Arizona.
• Ensures all documents required for each family file are complete and current per contract and Chapter 6.
• Conducts amendments and renewals on licensed homes within contract requirements and timelines. Conducts licensing investigations as requested by the Office of Licensing and Regulation (OLR) and the Department of Child Safety (DCS). Provides initial licensing and ongoing trainings to kinship providers.
• Conducts courtesy supervision visits on behalf of DCS for out of county placements.
• Assists in adoption certifications and guardianship annual review reports as assigned.
• Participates in Aviva events as needed.
• Participates in the process of ongoing professional development and meetings. Maintains comprehensive communication among all contacts within the agency, members, and external agencies. Models professional standards and ethics in accordance with EBF Code of Conduct, Strategic Plan, Mission, and Vision.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Requirements

Minimum Requirements: High School diploma or GED with 1 year of experience working with kinship caregivers, this can be a combination of education, experience and completed training necessary for the type of service to be delivered required. Bachelor’s degree preferred. Bilingual (Spanish) preferred.

Regulatory

• Must be at least 21 years of age.
• Current, unrestricted AZ driver’s license with no more than two (2) minor moving violations or one (1) accident within the past three (3 years). Three (3) years of driving experience required.
• Must be able to pass a criminal background check.
• Ability to obtain and maintain an AZ DPS Level 1 fingerprint clearance card (employer provides).
• CPR and First Aid certification (Employer provides).
• Pre-employment clear/negative pre-employment drug test result, as well as a clear/negative random drug test biennially from the date of hire (employer provides).

Skills/Job Knowledge/Abilities: Must be self-motivated to take a high level of initiative and desire to meet specific goals. Ability to manage multiple project, requests, and deadlines simultaneously. Outstanding customer service skills, tact, discretion and attention to detail. Must be able to exchange accurate information. Excellent interpersonal communication skills. Speak and write effectively. Work independently. Able to teach others using anticipatory guidance, modeling, coaching, reflection, and role-play. Able to form strong partnerships with staff, consumers and community service agencies. Able to work collaboratively and positively with colleagues. Able to acknowledge, respect, and build upon the diversity of families with regard to such factors as race, ethnicity, family constellation, gender, socioeconomic status, values, and traditions. Able to recognize abuse and/or neglect in the home. Possess a high level of computer proficiency and corresponding programs (i.e. PDF; Microsoft Office, Microsoft Calendar/Outlook, and Microsoft Teams). Knowledge of the foster care system, family systems, strength-based home visiting techniques, and child and adolescent development and behavior. A working knowledge of the impact of domestic violence, sexual abuse, child neglect, and substance abuse on families and children.

Working Conditions/Physical Requirements (with or without accommodation): Normal office environment with multiple interruptions in person and through computer and phone. Field position visiting different homes. Will work outside and inside environments, as needed. Travel to outlying sites and other locations. Interacts with employees and members of the public on a daily basis. May lift normal office equipment and materials up to 50lbs. Visual acuity to read information from computer screens, forms and to assess the wellbeing of children and families. Able to speak clearly in conversations, general communications and to communicate verbally with families, children, and emergency personnel as needed for daily operations. Hearing ability for communication in persona, phone, and/or other electronic methods. Manual dexterity for typing and writing. Able to stoop, squat, reach, pull, push, stretch, ascend and descend stairs, stand and sit for long periods of time. May be required to work additional hours or days depending on circumstances.

Easterseals Blake Foundation and Aviva are an Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative action employer that promotes a work environment of inclusion and diversity. We are committed to provide employment opportunities to all candidates based on their qualifications free of discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation or gender identity), age, disability, veteran status, genetic information, mental or physical disability, or any other characteristic protected by law.

If you have any questions, require assistance or reasonable accommodations while seeking employment, please contact the Human Resource Department at [email protected] or call 520-327-1529.