What are the responsibilities and job description for the DCS Intake Associate position at TN Department of Children's Services?
Company Overview
The TN Department of Children's Services is Tennessee's public child welfare agency dedicated to establishing statewide standards for performance that reflect best practices in child welfare. We focus on investigating allegations of child abuse and neglect, administering the foster-care system, and ensuring permanency for children and youth through reunification or adoption.
Summary
The DCS Intake Associate is the training, entry-level classification in the Child Abuse Hotline series. A person in this classification is assigned to work in a crisis-oriented call center and develops skills to conduct an investigatory intake of alleged child abuse and neglect and to appropriately assess the situation to determine next steps to immediately address child safety and risk concerns.
Responsibilities
- Develop skills to receive referrals of alleged child abuse and neglect from a variety of callers including but not limited to the general public and various community partners such as law enforcement, medical personnel, and school officials. Accepts other types of phone calls that could include general information inquiries, child/family interview requests from other states, and afterhours emergency requests for investigative field staff.
- Develop quality interviewing skills over the phone. Develop the ability to assess child safety and risk.
- Develop active listening skills and communicate in a customer focused manner with callers in what may be a sensitive and/or highly stressful situation.
- Develop quality documentation skills to ensure all information is accurately captured in the DCS electronic intake database and accurately documents and conveys reported concerns of child abuse and neglect.
- Develop multitasking skills and historical research skills to conduct detailed search for prior DCS involvement with the child and family.
- Develop policy and procedure interpretation skills to review DCS screening tools to assess child safety and risk of harm for each intake.
- Successfully complete and pass the Child Abuse Hotline Pre-Service Training program, as well as any additional mandatory annual training courses for DCS and/or Child Abuse Hotline. Maintain up-to-date knowledge base related to policy and procedure changes as well as other state mandates and statutes. Attend any designated mandatory meetings. Accurately enter leave and attendance in Edison. Complete travel claims as needed
- Participate in designated mandatory overtime shifts that include monthly weekend shifts, holiday shifts, and on call shifts to ensure appropriate staff coverage for the 24/7/365 Child Abuse Hotline.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in social work, psychology, criminal justice, sociology or a related field preferred.
- Ability to work in a high stress situation and still be customer focused, flexible, demonstrate empathy and be culturally sensitive.
- Skilled in time troubleshooting, problem solving, and written/verbal communications.
- Knowledge of law and government, English language, and computer programs.
- Ability to demonstrate active learning and listening, critical thinking, and reading comprehension skills.
- Competency in time management, decision quality, and conflict management.
- Ability to manually type 40 wpm or higher.
If you are passionate about making a difference in the lives of children and families, we invite you to apply today to join our dedicated team at the TN Department of Children's Services.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $3,197.00 - $4,911.00 per month
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- 401(k) matching
- Dental insurance
- Flexible spending account
- Health insurance
- Health savings account
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Schedule:
- 8 hour shift
- Evening shift
- Night shift
- On call
- Weekends as needed
People with a criminal record are encouraged to apply
Shift availability:
- Day Shift (Preferred)
- Night Shift (Preferred)
- Overnight Shift (Preferred)
Ability to Relocate:
- Nashville, TN 37228: Relocate before starting work (Required)
Work Location: Hybrid remote in Nashville, TN 37228
Salary : $3,197 - $4,911
