Bilingual Lead Case Manager (Spanish-English Required)

Here at the Presbyterian Home for Children, we’re not just filling a position; we’re finding the next hero in our mission to provide healing and hope to at-risk children and families. If you’re ready to be a part of something bigger, read on to see if this is your next great opportunity!

The Presbyterian Home for Children, a ministry of the Presbyterian Churches of Alabama, cares for boys and girls of all ages and their female caregivers who find themselves homeless because of poverty, abuse, or abandonment. The Home is accredited by EAGLE, the world’s only faith-based accrediting body for ministry to children. In 2023, the Presbyterian Home partnered with Everstand to start the Caminos® program in the State of Alabama. This position plays a key role in this program.

What is Caminos Nacional?

Caminos Nacional is a federal grant managed by Everstand to provide residential services for children who enter the United States without a guardian. This population is commonly referred to as recently migrated youth. The grant is funded by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). Delivering this service helps Everstand fulfill its purpose to enrich communities, one family at a time.

How We Serve Recently Migrated Youth

Recently migrated youth are at significant risk of exploitation, including human trafficking. ORR partners with residential providers like Everstand to deliver best practice and trauma informed child welfare services. Some of these services include temporary shelter, education, medical and mental health care, and, most importantly, vetting of a suitable sponsor or foster care placement for the child.

Recently migrated youth who arrive in the United States are often referred for home study and post releases services. They are, in essence, the most vulnerable youth within an already vulnerable population. Many of these children experience multiple spheres of marginality, including vulnerability to trafficking, abuse, forced labor, and exploitation. Recently migrated youth are commonly susceptible to becoming or are already victims of trafficking, child abuse, neglect, and/or have a diagnosed disability.

These vulnerabilities, coupled with the challenging task of having to unify with family in a new country and new community, present the critical need for quality home study assessments followed by comprehensive post-release services provided by organizations with strong child welfare experience and knowledge of trauma-responsive practices.

What Does HS/PRS Do?

• The benefits of Post Release Services are substantial. Comprehensive PRS programming can create a pathway for youth to successfully integrate into a new community, school, and family setting. By offering Post Release Services, Everstand ensures that the foundational needs of youth and families are being met in a way that addresses the lingering effects of past traumatic experiences and promotes healing and recovery.
• Everstand programs strive to provide services in a manner that recognizes the cultural needs of all youth and families. Many services are provided in Spanish, and our programs offer all youth access to communicate in their native language via the use of interpretation services.
• Everstand employs a team-based, collaborative planning case management model to develop and implement individualized care plans for youth and families. The goals of Post Release Services include:
• A child-centered approach that strives to address the needs prioritized by the youth and family.
• The improvement of skills and confidence for youth and families to connect to local support networks and access culturally appropriate community services.
• Developing and strengthening natural support systems for youth and families.
• Providing holistic care that integrates the efforts of available services and programs into one streamlined approach.
• Post-Release Services involve connecting recently migrated youth clients to critical community resources and components such as:
• Placement Stability and Safety
• Immigration Proceedings
• Guardianship (if applicable)
• Legal Service Referrals
• School Enrollment
• Connection to Educational Support & Mentoring Programs
• Medical Services
• Individual Mental Health Services
• Family Stabilization and Family Counseling
• Substance Abuse Treatment Resources
• Gang Prevention
• Trafficking Victim Assistance Programs
• Safety Planning
• Transportation
• Other Identified Needs of Youth (e.g., connections to extracurricular activities, hobbies, faith communities, etc.)

The ideal candidate for our program is:

• A committed and dedicated person who is professional and passionate about helping vulnerable children and families.
• A personable, energetic, and empathetic leader who can work along with staff, children, families, and multiple projects in a prioritized manner to meet the highest quality standards.
• Must have experience in trauma informed care, child welfare practices, and managing cases.
• A good listener, carefully and empathize when necessary, ask the right questions to find out about clients' needs, build trust with people demonstrating culture competence.
• Able to assess needs and circumstances, communicate clearly, both orally and in writing (Spanish and English), can gather, analyze and understand information, can work through conflict sensitively and come up with effective solutions, work well under pressure, can make difficult decisions at times and maintain a positive attitude when you are faced with difficulties.

Position Summary: The Lead Case Manager for the Presbyterian Home for Children provides effective leadership and management to uphold the Everstand’s Trauma Informed Care Culture for clients, families, and staff. The Lead Case Manager provides adaptive leadership through supportive coaching and mentoring to Home Study & Post Release Service (HS/PRS) case management staff and is responsible for providing oversight to activities related to the completion of Home Studies and delivery of Post Release Services to unaccompanied children and their sponsors (caregivers). This position ensures the creation of strong systems and methods of performance excellence to conduct Home Studies that assess for safety and suitability of placement and provide Post Release Services that promote successful integration of youth and support family reunification efforts. Everstand works in collaboration with the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to provide home study and post-release case management to unaccompanied children who are reunified with caregivers across the South and surrounding regions as well as other parts of the country.

Essential Functions:

· Model and act in accordance with PHFC’s core values.

· Demonstrate and practice trauma-informed leadership.

· Provide oversight and coordination for all aspects of Everstand’s Home Study and Post Release Services Program, including direct supervision of the HS/PRS case management team.

· Assign referrals to individual case managers within the required timeframe, taking into consideration case manager workload, location, and complexity of case distribution.

· Provide initial and continuous training and professional development for the HS/PRS case management team regarding responsibilities within the Caminos Program, including agency, state, and federal policy updates and changes and best practice service provisions.

· Provide ongoing and continuous identification of community-based resources, providers, and services available to meet the needs of communities served by the program, ensuring that HS/PRS case management team has easy access to current and up-to-date resources.

· Facilitate regularly scheduled individual and group guidance sessions for all members of the HS/PRS case management team, including part-time and contract staff.

· Actively participate in agency and community efforts to build culturally competent outreach, education, and interventions for the immigrant and refugee community.

· Ensure adherence to Everstand-established performance metrics related to best practice contact requirements for youth and family, including phone and in-person face-to-face visitation requirements.

· Provide oversight and support necessary to ensure that all case managers submit detailed and thorough documentation in compliance with Everstand and ORR requirements and reporting deadlines, including but not limited to: case notes, federal and agency data collection, programmatic reporting, assessments, care plan documentation, transition/discharge planning and post-discharge follow-up.

· Acts as the primary point of contact for internal and external stakeholders.

· Provide effective communication across departments and programs to ensure consistency and clear expectations across the interdisciplinary team.

· Responsible for interviewing and onboarding new employees for the department. Integral in the orientation process for case management staff, teaching clear expectations of the position and promoting a strong connection to the organization.

· Required to maintain a reduced caseload, providing direct service provision of both Home Studies and Post Release Services.

· Participate in the development and implementation of policies, procedures, and reports to ensure effective department functioning and documentation of activity and performance outcomes.

· Promote team understanding of available Everstand resources and assist with the facilitation of referrals as appropriate.

· Maintain effective working relationships with families, children/youth, colleagues, consultants, and community agencies.

· Develop and maintain emotional intelligence for effective self-care and the role model for youth, staff, and families the essence of Trauma Informed Practices.

· Ensure that services are provided to all youth and families 24/7 in keeping with federal and state regulations, EAGLE, and agency standards.

· Demonstrates an understanding of the value of cultural diversity, including the ability to develop systems and practices that are inclusive of diverse staff members and responsive to the cultural needs of the client population served.

· Demonstrates knowledge of and familiarity with both Everstand and Office of Refugee Resettlement Policy and Procedures relating to services for Unaccompanied Children. This includes knowledge of legal background and authority governing the practice as related to working with Unaccompanied Children.

· Demonstrates knowledge of and ability to identify community social service resources and the processes required to connect youth and families to available social service benefits and programs.

· Assist in the provision and facilitation of department and agency-wide training opportunities.

· Identify supervision and/or professional training needs to supervisor as they arise.

Non-Essential Functions:

· Provides case coverage in the absence of the assigned Case Manager, as needed.

Competencies:

· Accountability for Others

· Accurate Listening

· Attitude toward Honesty

· Commitment to the Job

· Consistency and Reliability

· Developing Others

· Emotional Control

· Empathetic Outlook

· Flexibility

· Handling Stress

· Human Awareness

· Leading Others

· Monitoring Others

· Practical Thinking

· Creative Problem Solving

· Cultural Humility

· Relating to Others

· Role Awareness

· Frequent Interaction with Others

· Attention to Detail

· Bilingual Fluency

Supervisory Responsibility: Responsible for supervising Home Study / Post Release Services Case Managers. The Lead Case Manager demonstrates adaptive leadership through supportive coaching and mentoring to Case Managers through regular administrative supervision and training opportunities. Integral person responsible for the professional development of the department, recognizing the importance of addressing vicarious trauma for staff. Responsible for providing regular guidance and annual performance evaluations for full-time, part-time, and contracted staff, as applicable.

Work Environment/ Remote Office Requirements: This position requires the ability to operate both in a professional office environment as well as a remote work capacity. This role routinely uses standard office equipment such as computers, keyboard and mouse, dual monitors, phones, hot spot/phone case, headset, photocopiers, filing cabinets, and fax machines. Remote duties require the ability to procure fast, reliable internet service (15 Mbps minimum download speed required) at the remote office location. Remote workspace must allow for phone and video calls to be made without interruption, the confidentiality of protected health information to be maintained, and equipment stored securely when not in use. PHFC will provide a laptop and cell phone.

Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; sit; use hands to finger, handle, or feel objects, tools or controls; reach with hands and arms; climb stairs; balance; stoop, kneel, crouch or crawl; talk or hear; and taste or smell. Specific vision abilities required by the job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception, and the ability to adjust focus.

Position Type/Expected Hours of Work: This is a full-time position. The schedule requires flexibility based on the availability of youth and families served. This position regularly requires long hours and weekend work. Eligible for flex schedule. Non-essential during inclement weather.

Travel: Travel is required and will include local as well as out-of-area and overnight travel. Frequent local travel will be required to serve the home communities of youth and families served by the program.

Must be able and willing to travel to other cities by flying on commercial airlines, driving a rental car and/or using other transportation, and staying overnight in hotels.

Required Education and Experience

· Master’s in Social Work (MSW) or an equivalent degree in behavioral sciences or social services field.

· Three years of progressive employment experience in family preservation, kinship care or general child welfare services.

OR

· Bachelor's degree in one of the aforementioned sciences, plus approximately 5 years of relevant employment experience, that demonstrates supervisory and case management experience.

· Bilingual in English and Spanish (both oral and written).

Preferred Education and Experience

· Two years of experience providing direct services to foreign-born, immigrant, and/or refugee populations.

· Three years’ supervisory experience in case management or in home/community based direct service provision.

· Professional Licensure.

· Active certification in Alabama Department of Human Resources Home Study (or similar method) certifications.

· Experience providing services within the ORR network of programs.

· Proficiency in languages other than English and Spanish.

Additional Eligibility Qualifications

· Able to learn and effectively utilize different technology platforms.

· Excellent computer-use knowledge with Microsoft Windows 10 and 365 Office products, including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, and Outlook.

· Proven effective time management, planning, communication, and interpersonal skills.

· Ability to problem-solve.

· Ability to work independently.

· Ability to keep an electronic calendar (Outlook).

· Ability to pass TCI certification both at employee orientation and per the schedule outlined by HR thereafter.

· Ability to pass CPR/First aid certification both at employee orientation and per the schedule outlined by HR thereafter.

· Ability to pass a Tuberculosis Screening both prior to employment and per the schedule outlined by HR thereafter.

· Ability to pass a work-readiness physical performed by a certified medical professional both prior to employment and per the schedule outlined by HR thereafter.

ADDED PERSONNEL REQUIREMENTS

Due to federal requirements of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) and Presbyterian Home for Children, and the nature of this position the Employee must be able to:

· Pass a criminal background check that includes history of conviction of child and sexual abuse.

· Pass Federal, state, and local background checks which include:

o FBI fingerprinting,

o Child Abuse & Neglect (CA/N) check,

o DHR background check both prior to employment and per the schedule outlined by HR thereafter,

o Driving Clearance both prior to employment and per the schedule outlined by HR thereafter.

· Pass a drug screen via urinalysis both prior to employment and randomly thereafter.

Upon employment, the Employee is required to review and sign the following required PHFC policy agreements:

· PHFC Staff Code of Conduct

· Confidentiality Policy

· Zero Tolerance

· Social Media

· Grievances

Other Duties: Please note this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities, and activities may change at any time with or without notice.

Tipo de puesto: Tiempo completo

Idioma:

• Spanish (Obligatorio)

Lugar de trabajo: Híbrido en Birmingham, AL 35216