Social Worker III - Adult Services (Guardianship)

Salary : $54,975.00 Annually

Location : Nashville, NC

Job Type : Full Time

Job Number : 2025-00002

Department : Department of Social Services

Opening Date : 01 / 09 / 2025

Closing Date : Continuous

General Statement of Duties

• Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit

This social worker position is assigned to the Adult Service Unit, which is part of the Service Division of a local department of social services which provides crisis assistance and on-going supportive services to eligible individuals and their families.

The social worker in this position has the responsibility of assisting aged, disabled, and other adults experiencing medical, social, and community problems to identify their problems. The worker strives to enhance the client's problem-solving and coping capacities with the purpose of providing services to enable the individual to live independently in his or her community.

The normal work hours are from 8 : 00am until 5 : 00pm. The worker may have to work overtime on some occasions for which he / she will receive compensatory time.

This position now has the added responsibility to investigate Adult Protective Service reports, assess competency of adults and make recommendations regarding the need for a guardian.

Protective Services for Adults is a multi-factored service based on an awareness of the vulnerability of some adults to abuse, neglect, and exploitation. Abuse means willful infliction of physical pain, injury, or mental anguish or unreasonable confinement, or the willful deprivation by a caretaker of services which are necessary to maintain mental and physical health. Neglect refers to a disabled adult who is either living alone or not able to provide for himself or herself the services which are necessary to maintain mental or physical health or is not receiving services from his caretaker. Exploitation means the illegal or improper use of a disabled adult or his resources for another's profit or advantage. The protective service component consists of provisions in the state law for intervention in crisis situations in which adults are reported to be in need of protection. It is the role of the social worker to ensure that the agency's actions are consistent with statutory and state requirements. Adults who are in need of this protection are persons 18 years of age or older with disabilities or handicaps such as age, physical, mental or socioeconomic, which have incapacitated them to such a degree that they are unable to take care of themselves and who have no one able or willing to assist them with the care of their needs.

Guardianship involves the provision of services to individuals who are alleged to be incompetent and their families. It includes legal proceedings in which an adult is declared incompetent by the court and another party is given the responsibility for duties relative to the adult's personal affairs and / or property. The nature and scope of a guardian's responsibility are determined by the court, based on applicable provisions of the law and the circumstances of the individual case. Guardianship ends with the death of the incompetent adult or with a judicial restoration of the adult's competency.

The legal determination that an adult is incompetent means that the adult is considered incapable of making important decisions concerning his / her personal welfare and / or financial resources. The authority in this position is given to a guardian to make decisions such as where the adult will live, including the geographical area and type of living arrangement; how the adult's income will be spent; and whether the adult will have recommended medical treatment or surgery. To the extent that the guardian is given authority over these and other areas of the adult's life, the adult no longer has the right to make decisions in those areas. Because of the effect of declaring an adult legally incompetent and giving his / her authority to make decisions to guardian, guardianship should be considered only when other less drastic methods of assisting adults are not sufficient.

Essential Duties and Tasks

Description of Responsibilities and Duties (written in order of importance)

This worker will have the case management responsibility to provide supportive services to individuals and families residing in the county. The social worker receives case assignments through intake as assigned by supervisor and from applications taken in the field, or as referrals from current service recipients. The clients served by this worker represents a cross-section of the adult population from age 18 until death and are from variant socio economic backgrounds. A common characteristic of the clients served as their inability and inadequacy to maintain an independent lifestyle in his or her community due to physical health problems, limited economic resources, and an immediate change in household composition, an agency, community and / or a breakdown of the family's support system. The social worker networks the services that are needed to assist the clients in maintaining or improving their quality of life and to continue an independent lifestyle. The work is performed by completing the following duties in order to enhance the individual and / or family functioning.

The Adult Service Social Worker will make the initial interview and assist the client in identifying problems and translating these problems in existing programs. The social worker is called upon to use his / her extensive interviewing skills to enable the client to be able to verbalize his / her feelings. The social worker completes a thorough social work assessment of all clients evaluating their social, environment, mental, emotional, physical health ADL (Activities of Daily Living) IADL (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living), and economic status. The above process is accomplished through observations make by the worker in the home as to the interaction of individuals in the family as well as availability of resources to meet that person's basic needs in life. As the social worker gathers this necessary information, she applies his / her knowledge base of human behavior, developmental stages, family dysfunction, psycho-social and emotional conditions as well as other socio-economic problems and available services and solutions, which enable the social worker to accurately assess the individual family's need for services and willingness to accept assistance. These services include At-Risk Case Management, In-Home Aid, Special Assistance In-Home services, Individual and Family Adjustment, Health Support, Housing and Home Improvement, Representative payee, and all programs related to medical transportation. The social worker, on an on-going basis, assesses and reassesses services, the need to continue services as well as the need to increase or decrease services. The social worker must also be aware of neglect, abuse, and exploitation definitions in order to make appropriate referrals to protective service if deemed necessary.

lb. This worker will assist as a back-up to Adult Protective Services Worker. He / She will be assigned to screen in / screen out Adult Protective Services referral for him / her to evaluate the need for this semce. He / She will gather information for this service as for any other adult service case; assessing their social, environment, mental, emotional, physical health, ADL (Activities of Daily Living), IADL (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living) as well as the need for protection and their capacity to consent to services. Responsibilities also include assessing the competency of adults, making recommendations regarding the need for a guardian and testifying in court to achieve safety outcomes for the adult.

20% : Development / Treatment / Goal / Service Plan

The Adult Services social worker, after gathering the information needed to complete the assessment, helps the client come to terms with the reality of his / her situation and pointing out the individual strengths and weaknesses which the client possesses to deal with the situation. This enables the social worker and client to develop realistic goals and service plans. These goals and plan are usually time structures and task specific. Individualized goals are directed toward allowing the client to remain in their own home at his / her highest level of functioning and the prevention of problems. This may include providing the client with a mechanism to establish links with needed community resources. The goals and plans are monitored and reviewed at least quarterly and more often if needed. A complete reassessment is done yearly.

20% : Counseling / Therapy

Examples of techniques utilized by the Adult service worker places emphasis on the family systems approach. These include problems identification, client advocacy, reality therapy, crisis intervention, problem solving, ego enhancement, environmental manipulation, positive reinforcement, and psycho-social assessment. The worker, at times, seeks community resources to assist the client in attaining and maintaining goals. Because some of the situations the client faces are very sensitive, the social worker offers supportive counseling.

10% : Implementation

The Adult Service social worker on initial visit begins assisting the client in formulating and implementing the service plan by assessing appropriate and available services, presenting options to the client and encouraging client decision making with the focus on problem solving and independent actions. The involvement of other services and / or other professionals is initiated at the discretion of the social worker in consultation with supervisor.

5% : Monitoring / Maintenance

The Adult Service social worker monitors that the services plan on an on-going basis for progress, appropriateness and changes if needed. Changes may occur if there are changes in client family composition, health (i.e. physical or mental), economic, social environment, or etc.

Most consultation is centered on client related problems and is provided for family and other informal support systems and for other professionals, agencies and community resources. The purpose of such consultation is to advocate for the client, to promote the goals of the service plan and to provide the needs of the client.

The social worker, by advocating for the client, allows him / her to establish linkage to community resources. These resources are sometimes the lifeline needed to assist the client in remaining in his / her own home and having a sense of independence. It is often necessary begin this process by acting as liaison for the client with agency and community programs such as Medicaid, Food and Nutrition, Crisis Programs, churches, medical providers, civic organizations, mental health, law enforcement personnel, public housing, and any other resources available to help clients meet their needs.

Administrative duties are necessary to insure appropriate service delivery. This involves maintaining required statistical reports, accurate documentation, and record keeping in accordance with agency, county, state, and federal mandates, regular consultation with direct supervisor, and periodic in-service training sessions.

This social worker may be involved in presenting educational presentations regarding supportive services the agency offers.

Other Position Characteristics

Accuracy must prevail in the position because of determining and documenting clients' eligibility for required service programs. The worker must be accurate in giving correct information and being current on information that is shared with client and community. Worker must be accurate when managing client's finances when serving in the capacity of representative payee. It's extremely important to accurately assess issues related to APS and guardianship.

If eligibility determination is not completed correctly, eligible clients may not receive needed services or in the reverse, non-eligible clients could receive services. In either case, the agency may be sanctioned negatively by the state at additional monetary cost to the county. Errors in APS or guardianship could cause irreparable harm.

Instructions are provided in written and oral form. Bi-monthly meetings are held to develop and receive instructions on policies and procedures. Worker also has scheduled conferences with supervisor. Instructions are provided by the sate through manuals and adID;inistrative letters. The worker attends appropriate

Volume V, VI, VII Family and Children's Service Manual

Service Information System Manual

Division of Aging Policy Manual

A Model for Excellence in Adult Services

A Guide to Record Keeping for Adult Services Social Worker

Medicaid Manual for Transportation

North Carolina Personnel Regulations

Agency Personnel Handbook

Instruction from Director, Assistant Director, Program Administrator, and Regional Consultant

Medicaid At-Risk Manual

This employee receives supervision by scheduled conferences, meetings, informal interaction, reports, and an annual performance appraisal. Review for quality is also received through process of random case review and reading of assessments and reassessments completed on all active cases b supervisor. Random monitoring is also performed by State DSS consultant and Medicaid Consultant.

The employee has contact with unit, staff, and other staff within the agency. Majority of worker's time is field work. Contacts will be made with clients in the private home as well as in the office. Worker also makes contacts with local health care providers, out of county health care providers, mental health, crisis organization, churches, civic organizations, State Office Personnel, Division of Aging Personnel, Region L Council of Governments Staff, law enforcement, doctor, nurses, hospital social workers, environmental health personnel and the general public. These contacts may be needed to gather information for assessment, and service planning. Worker may be asked to serve on various committees and will act as liaison between the numerous persons and agencies involved in the delivery of services to client and as client advocate. Employee will also interpret programs, policies, and procedures on an individual basis.

The physical effort required on this job is to have the stamina to continue at maximum performance at all times. At times, effort is needed in assisting clients with mobility. Physical effort is needed for employee to move within the agency, climb stairs, and use office equipment described in #9 below on a frequent basis.

Work is performed in the field and worker has a private office in the agency. Employee is placed in unpleasant or dangerous situations when dealing with hostile clients. Employee is occasionally exposed to infectious diseases such as scabies, head lice, flu AIDS, TB, and etc. All staff is aware of precautions to take when such events occur.

Employee uses copier, calculator, computer, automobile, telephone, cell phone, manuals, camera, and paper shredder in order to perform duties.

All areas of this job require close visual attention because accuracy is very important. The activities performed in this job require most intense mental concentration in areas such s engaging clients trust, determining the reality of the situation problem solving, goal planning, and interpreting policy and mandates as it applies to each case situation. Employee must have physical dexterity required to successfully and efficiently operate machinery and tools outlined in #9 above.

See #8 above for issues confronting this employee.

Programs are periodically affected by changes in m thodology, guidelines, legislation, laws, and shifting program emphasis. Worker will receive guidance and appropriate supervision as these changes occur.

Knowledges, Skills and Abilities

Desirable Education and Experience

Required Minimum Training

Master's degree in social work from an accredited school of social work; Bachelor's degree in social work from an accredited school of social work and one year directly related experience; Master's degree in a human services field and one year of directly related experience; Bachelor's degree in human services field from an accredited college or university and two years directly related experience; Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university and three years of directly related experience.

INSURANCE PROGRAMS

Group Health Insurance

Nash County provides full time and part-time benefit eligible employees working 30 plus hours per week with Health Insurance coverage with the North Carolina State Health Plan

Included in each selection is :

Health Insurance may become effective for employees the first day of the month following employment.

Group Dental Insurance

Nash County provides full-time and part-time regular employees working 30 plus hours per week. Dental Insurance becomes effective for employees the first day of the month following the 30th day of employment.

Group Life Insurance

Nash County provides term Life Insurance for full-time and part-time regular employees working 30 or more hours per week.

Life insurance is paid for you by Nash County and pays your beneficiary one time your annual salary not to exceed $200,000 in the event of your death. Accidental death and dismemberment coverage is also provided.

Life Insurance becomes effective the first day of the month following 30 days of employment. Voluntary supplemental term life insurance coverage for you, your spouse or your dependent children is also available - please see the Human Resources Department for more details.

Short Term Disability Insurance

Nash County provides active full-time regular employees working 30 plus hours per week the option to purchase Short Term Disability Insurance.

Short Term Disability Insurance may cover up to 70% of an employee's monthly salary with a maximum of $2,000 per month, in the event of an injury or illness, for up to 13 weeks.

FINANCIAL PROGRAMS

Retirement

Membership in the North Carolina Local Government Employees Retirement System is a requirement for all regular full-time and regular part-time employees. Employees contribute 6% of their annual compensation before it is taxed. If you leave County service before retirement, you may withdraw your retirement contributions or elect to freeze your contributions in anticipation of future local government employment. If you have 5 years of service, you are 100% vested in the NCLGERS.

NC401(k)

The NC401(k) supplemental retirement program is available to regular full-time and regular part-time employees. The County establishes this 401(k) account for each eligible employee and makes a 5% contribution based on monthly earnings. Employees may elect to make voluntary contributions through payroll deduction.

457 Deferred Compensation

The 457 Deferred Compensation program is available to regular full-time and regular part-time employees through payroll deduction. Deferred compensation is a voluntary investment plan to supplement retirement income and to defer taxable income.

Special Separation Allowance

The Separation Allowance is available to law enforcement officers between the ages of 55 and 62 years that are eligible and retire under the provisions of the NC Local Government Employees Retirement System.

125 Flexible Benefit Plan

Flexible Spending Account options are available to regular full-time and regular part-time employees who wish to use pre-tax dollars for eligible medical, pharmacy, dental, vision, and daycare expenses. The Flex Convenience Card program gives you instant access to your account funds.

Direct Deposit

Direct Deposit is a condition of employment for all employees. Deposit of your paycheck will be made to checking or savings accounts in a bank of your choice.

Credit Union

Local Government Federal Credit Union membership is available to all employees. Once you join, you can remain a member for as long as you choose. Immediate family members such as spouse, children, stepchildren, brothers, sisters, and parents can all become members.

Employees of both the Departments of Social Services and Public Health are eligible to join the State Employees Credit Union.

LEAVE PROGRAMS

Vacation Leave

For regular full-time County employees, vacation leave accrues based on length of service. Regular part-time employees accrue prorated vacation leave based on a percentage of the full-time benefit.

Sick Leave

For regular full-time County employees, sick leave accrues at 8.0 hours per month. Regular part-time employees accrue prorated sick leave based on a percentage of the full-time benefit. Your unused sick leave balance can be applied as creditable service toward a service retirement under the guidelines of the NCLGERS.

Holidays

The policy of the County is to follow the holiday schedule as published by the State of North Carolina each year.

The following holidays are observed :

Military Leave

Annual Training - Reserves and National Guard -Ten paid workdays per fiscal year.

Active Duty - Reserves and National Guard - Ten paid workdays upon activation.

Civil Leave

Paid leave is provided to full-time or regular part-time County employees called for jury duty or as a witness of the court for the federal or state government, or a subdivision thereof.

Family Medical Leave Act

Federal law provides job protection and continuation of existing paid health insurance during 12 weeks of leave, paid or unpaid, to an eligible employee for qualifying events. These events can include birth or adoption, and serious illness of an immediate family member, or of the employee.

OTHER PROGRAMS

Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

The Employee Assistance Program is open to all employees and their dependents. It is a confidential service provided at no cost to the employees of the County. EAP provides certified counselors who administer assessment and brief therapy to employees who want help with a variety of personal and work-related issues such as stress, parenting concerns, grief, alcohol / drug use, family problems, financial concerns, and work-related problems.

Wellness Center and Telemedicine

We believe that staying healthy is inclusive of exercising regularly and taking care of your physical body. Nash County has a Wellness Center, which consists of various exercise equipment and videos, open to all full and part-time employees.

All full-time employees also have access to telemedicine through Teladoc. Teladoc treats conditions like allergies, sore throats, asthma, and more. Doctors are available by phone or video 24 / 7 from wherever you are. They are available to diagnose symptoms and send a prescription if needed.

NOTICE OF PRIVACY PRACTICES

The benefits offered by Nash County are subject to change. In the event there is a conflict between the above contents and Nash County policies and / or a State or Federal statute, the policy / statute shall control. Plan documents will govern benefits plans should there be a conflict with this information. They are not held out to any employee as part of any contractual agreement. Benefits, policies, and procedures are subject to change or termination at any time.

Information provided on this site is for informational purposes only. Actual provisions of each plan will be provided on the certificate of coverage as part of the Summary Plan description.

Nash County is an Equal Opportunity Employer / Provider

In accordance with Federal civil rights law and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) civil rights regulations and policies, the USDA, its Agencies, offices, employees, and institutions participating in or administering USDA programs are prohibited from discriminating based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, family / parental status, income derived from public assistance program, political beliefs, or reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity, in any program or activity conducted or funded by USDA (not all bases apply to all programs).

Remedies and complaint filing deadlines vary by program or incident. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means of communication for program information (e.g., Braille, large print, audiotape, American Sign Language, etc.) should contact the responsible Agency or USDA's Target Center at (202) 720-2600 (voice and TTY) or contact USDA through the Federal Relay Service at (800) 877-8339.

Additionally, program information may be made available in languages other than English. To file a program discrimination complaint, complete the USDA Program Discrimination Complaint Form, AD-3027, found online at http : / / www.ascr.usda.gov / complaint filing cust.html and any USDA office or write a letter addressed to USDA and provide in the letter all of the information requested in the form.

To request a copy of the complaint form, call (866) 632-9992. Submit your completed form or letter to USDA by :

1. mail : U.S. Department of Agriculture

Office of the Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights

1400 Independence Avenue, SW

2. fax : (202) 690-7442; or

3. email : program.intake@usda.gov

USDA is an equal opportunity provider, employer, and lender.

Which best describes your level of education? (SWIII)

Do you have knowledge of Adult Services including Guardianship?

How many years of experience do you have as a Social Worker?

Employees are expected to work in emergency shelters and / or perform disaster related tasks.

Your application must illustrate all relevant education and experience you have acquired in the last 10 years, to include any gaps you have had between employment (gaps in employment MUST be documented under the work experience section of the application). Failure to complete the "Work Experience" & "Education" sections of the application may result in your application not being considered. A resume will not be considered in determining your qualification for this position.

Required Question

Salary : $54,975 - $200,000