Youth and Family Specialist

The Youth and Family Specialist can serve dual roles in the Child and Family Services because the work supporting youth in home like settings and achieving permanency, and the work of recruiting and supporting families, needs to be a shared responsibility across the team.  Each youth and each foster family will have their own Youth and Family Specialist with differing roles.  Both roles require close collaboration with school personnel and educational teams, child welfare staff, Family Networks lead agencies, therapists, lawyers and court personnel, the general public and intra-agency collaterals

Who are we? 

Ascentria Care Alliance has spent the past 150 years helping people in need. We empower people of all backgrounds to rise together and reach beyond life’s challenges by building stronger communities and helping people move forward together.  

Essential Responsibilities:

• Demonstrate a human centered, strength-based, and trauma informed philosophy by treating all clients, families and collaterals in a non-judgmental and respectful manner while building on their strengths.
• Create a trusting and safe relationship with the client and encourages personal growth of the client
• Advocate for the youth’s needs to ensure equitable and quality care
• Provide clinical case management working in multiple systems and settings providing services to foster children, foster families and biological families
• Depending on level of training, provides group and/or individual counseling and coaching services, mediation and guidance to children and their biological and/or foster families.
• Facilitates supervised family visits, and provides parent coaching as appropriate
• Consistently demonstrate discretion and independent judgment with regard to assessing and making decisions around the best interest for children and families
• Undertake the responsibility of “on-call” duty as assigned and is responsive to crises independently either by phone and\or in person, demonstrating a calm and professional approach while assuring safety for all involved.
• Facilitate treatment meetings/ foster care review, and invites the appropriate attendees, while ensuring effective interagency collaboration
• Coordinate dental, medical, psychological and community support for youth
• Ensure that educational needs are met including advocacy for special education services
• Attend all meetings called by collaterals and support a team approach to best serve the needs of children, youth and families

Qualifications:

• MA - Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work or a related field with 1 year experience and LSW licensure eligibility;
• NH - Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work or a related field with 2 years experience working with children and/or families;
• Ability to work within the Mission of the agency.
• Significant experience working with children with social/emotional/physical problems desirable. Mediation and conflict resolution skills helpful.
• Word processing/computer skills preferred.
• Open to new ideas and desire to grow professionally. Flexibility in thinking and scheduling. 
• Possession of a valid driver’s license and a good driving record.
• Ability to utilize independent sound clinical judgement and decision making with regards to best interest of children and families

• Ability to work flexible hours and be available to meet for emergency situations.
• Ability to effectively manage client behavior, foster independence, and maintain perspective and a sense of humor.
• Ability to handle people and situations with compassion, diplomacy, and tact.
• Ability to work independently by setting priorities; organizing resources and effectively performing tasks in a timely manner.
• Ability to provide documentation such as valid driver's license, evidence of automobile insurance and a clear criminal record check.
• Ability to work cooperatively in a team environment and to problem solve unexpected/unpredictable circumstances calmly.
• Knowledge of federal, state and local regulations, protocols and/or procedures.
• Computer skills required.
• Ability to travel to meet client needs
• Excellent interpersonal and written communication skills
• Ability to use independent judgment and discretion; investigate, analyze and draw professional conclusions.

Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Ascentria we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.

Company Benefits

• Medical
• Dental
• Vision
• FSA and dependent care account
• 3 Weeks PTO and 9 Holidays!
• Tuition Assistance
• Retirement plan with employer match for eligible employees
• And many more!

Ascentria Care Alliance celebrates diversity and is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. In compliance with federal and state employment opportunity laws, qualified applicants are considered for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, pregnancy, status as a veteran, sexual orientation, gender expression or identity, or any other legally-protected category. Candidates who identify as BIPOC, multilingual or have lived experience with immigration or human services are encouraged to apply.