Brightpoint (formerly known as Children’s Home & Aid) invites you to join our team of mission-driven staff who share a common vision: an equitable world where all children and families thrive in strong communities. As a leader in the human services sector for 140 years, we aim to advance the well-being of children by investing in families and strengthening communities through data-informed, collaborative, and preventative solutions.

The Licensing Specialist is a critical member of the region’s child welfare team, supporting the recruitment, licensing, approval, and monitoring of homes licensed to care for youth being served by our Foster Care Programs. You will work collaboratively within and across programs to ensure a relentless focus on keeping children safe and supporting families, consistent with our agency's Blueprint for Impact, which includes replacing what we currently think of as child welfare services with what we know to be child, family, and community well-being solutions. As the Licensing Specialist, you will advocate for foster families to have the tools and resources they need to help children thrive in their homes, recruit individuals and families as potential foster parents, complete assessments, provide ongoing monitoring of licensed foster homes and collaborate with foster care teams to understand placement needs. 

Candidate qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work or a closely related field required. 
• You have a Child Welfare Employee License (CWEL), Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP), Child Abuse and Neglect (CANS) certification, and or you’re able to obtain within 90 days of hire.
• Ability to attend in-person meetings and events as needed required.
• Valid driver's license, insurance, and a reliable vehicle required.
• Previous foster home licensing experience and successful completion of licensing/approval examination preferred.

Job details:

• Compensation: Range starts at $43K; offers are commensurate with experience.
• Additional compensation: One-time $3,000 CWEL recognition payment (issued 60 days after hire or following licensure issue date).
• Benefits: Medical/dental/vision insurance, 3 weeks paid time off in the first year including the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day (PTO increases with tenure); 11 paid holidays, supplemental insurance options, 401(k) with match (more benefits details here).
• Location: Hybrid (remote/in office); combination of in-office and community-based work in the Rockford area, with other opportunities to complete service documentation and other case coordination from your preferred location (in office, or remotely).
• Schedule: Full-time, salaried; general business hours with some flexibility for occasional evening or weekend hours. 
• Student Loan Forgiveness: Brightpoint is an approved agency for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

Where you work matters.

We believe that by building diverse and inclusive teams of passionate advocates for youth and families, we can continue to show up for Illinois families, putting those families at the center of every decision, and strengthening the communities where we all work, play, and live together. (More about who we are here.)

We invite you to become an active member of a team that supports, inspires, and challenges each other, and grow your career in an organization that celebrates emerging leaders and provides development and learning opportunities aligned with your individual goals and aspirations. If you are looking for an opportunity to do meaningful work, including raising your unique and authentic voice to disrupt the systemic inequality impacting children and families, we encourage you to apply today.

Click here to review our agency’s Blueprint for Impact.

Brightpoint is committed to the principles of Equal Employment Opportunity and Affirmative Action. All employment activities are conducted in an equal and equitable fashion. The Agency prohibits employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, gender, age, religion, disability, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, marital status, parental status, veteran status, source of income, and any other legally protected category in the recruitment, selection, hiring, determination of salary level and benefits, promotion, demotion, layoff, termination, and other terms and conditions of employment.