Foster Care Licensing Worker

Job Title: Foster Care Licensing Worker

Location: Belleville, MI

Department: Foster Care

Reports to: Foster Care Licensing Supervisor

FLSA Status: Full Time Exempt

Job purpose

As a Foster Home Licensing Worker, you will impact the lives of children and families through by helping to ensure that foster children are placed in healthy and nurturing homes that meet the identified standards of care. The primary responsibility for a Licensing Worker is to recruit, license and train families to become licensed foster parents.

The collection and timely completion of paperwork/documentation, and coordination of support services for the children placed in their care is necessary for success in this role. The ideal candidate will be self-disciplined, organized, empathetic and understand the impact of trauma.

Duties and responsibilities

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

• Initiate, orient, train and license foster parent and coordinate all training events.
• Develop aggressive recruiting plan for licensing.
• Develop and train foster parents in an area of skill or expertise.
• Hold foster parent training & orientation at least monthly for pre-service/licensing and connect foster parents to additional training to satisfy licensing requirements. Responsible for holding at least 2 “in-house” trainings per year for foster parents.
• Responsible for foster parent support groups and an annual recruitment/retention meeting with foster parents.
• Initiate public speaking engagements monthly for recruitment of homes and recruitment through cable, news, radio, advertisements, flyers, etc.
• Hold foster parent bi-monthly training & orientation monthly for pre-service/licensing and connect foster parents to additional training to satisfy timing requirements
• Responsible for community contacts and community networking
• Implement foster parent requirements for corrective action, foster parent agency agreement and foster care compliance record.
• Complete Initial Evaluation and Re-evaluations and request Variance, when necessary, in a timely manner.
• Responsible for annual foster home visits (minimum) & phone contact as often as needed
• Investigate all licensing complaints per contract and licensing requirements in a timely manner.
• Maintain and update foster parent & client files by filing, updating information, etc., in accordance with policies/rules/licensing,
• Develop Foster Parent Newsletter bi-monthly.
• License foster parents in the 180 day time frame, clearly document if time limit exceeds 180 days.
• Link clients & parents to services and make referrals and transport when necessary.
• Possible court attendance pertaining to foster home licensure
• Complete initial intake and assure all paperwork is completed thoroughly and meets all time frames. in accordance with policies/rules/licensing, standards
• Assist with placement preparation, intake and replacement of clients into foster homes.
• File 3200’s when necessary (mandated reporting) and inform administration immediately of any client abuse or neglect.
• Informs immediate supervisor verbally and in writing any issues that impact clients, employees & administration of the agency.
• Complete a minimum of 40 hours of on-going training annually.
• Participate in all assigned training.
• Maintain each client and foster home record in MISACWIS.

Skills and Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree with a major in human behavioral science or a related field
• Knowledge of the child welfare system, licensing and juvenile court procedures.
• Must be highly motivated and flexible
• Understanding of working with children who have experienced trauma
• Commitment to the goals and philosophy of the organization including cultural competency objectives.
• Must display sophisticated writing and interpersonal communication skills.
• Excellent organizational skills and ability to work independently or with a team.
• Strong skills in Microsoft Office including Word, Excel, Outlook, etc

Working conditions

• This job operates in a clerical office setting. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, phones, photocopiers, filing cabinets and fax machines.
• Responsible to work with On-Call when there is an emergency and perform On-Call duties as needed.
• May be required to work nights and Weekends and have a flexible schedule.
• This position requires travel; Must have reliable transportation and maintain a good driving record.

Physical requirements

• The worker is required to have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; and extensive reading.
• Exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects.
• Positions in this class typically require fingering, grasping, talking, hearing, seeing and repetitive motions.
• May be exposed to hazardous materials found in a home or general office environment.
• Use of household cleaning products and disinfectants may be required.

Direct reports

This position supervisors the Licensing Workers.