Placement Specialist, Refugee Foster Care

PROGRAM OVERVIEW:

The Refugee Foster Care (RFC) program provides culturally and linguistically appropriate child welfare, foster care, and independent living services to youth in the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors (URM) Program. The URM program serves youth in the U.S. who are refugees, Cuban/Haitian entrants, asylees, victims of human trafficking who have an ORR eligibility letter, U-visa holders, and youth who have received Special Immigrant Juvenile Status. Clients may have Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), substance abuse issues, mental health and medical needs and other special needs. RFC supports youth with housing, education, health, medical, immigration, mental health, independent living services, and with family reunification efforts when possible. RFC uses strength-based, trauma-informed, and culturally relevant models to build and expand on a youth's natural resources.

GENERAL NATURE OF POSITION:

We are seeking a detail-oriented, proactive and organized person with strong analytical and relationship-building skills to join our dynamic team in supporting care for Unaccompanied Refugee Minors. The position will make placement recommendations to the management team and coordinate placement of youth in  Foster Care, Supervised Independent Living Placements (SILP), host homes for Supported Housing (SH) and Emancipated Youth Services (EYS).

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Provide a clinical assessment of all placement referrals and placement changes based on current capacity of the program and the program’s ability to meet a youth’s needs; make recommendations to the Placement Consultation Team for accepting referrals and/or determining placement changes.
• Serve as the primary point of contact for resource parents and outside partners regarding referrals, placement changes and respite requests. Monitor and update internal placement capacity in collaboration with the Foster Family Agency Administrator.
• Lead and facilitate weekly Placement Meetings to review placement needs of youth, present potential referrals and recommendations for placement, and track progress of pending home studies and annual updates.
• Actively participate in the Placement Consultation team and the Certification Training team to screen, train, and assess prospective and approved resource families. Participation may include, but is not limited to, facilitating panel interviews, teaching certification classes, and conducting home studies of prospective resource families to determine suitability for the program.
• Serve as the primary point of contact and coordinator for all new client arrivals, including, but not limited to, pre-placement meetings, arrival logistics and necessary coordination and support to assure a smooth arrival and transition to the program.
• Maintain a positive working relationship, regular communication and timely completion and submission of required reports to referring agencies and other partners.
• Maintain timely and accurate documentation regarding resource parent contact in Agency database (AWARDS) as well as physical charts/binders to meet all compliance standards.
• Coordinate and support placement matches by reviewing each approved home study and summarizing placement recommendations for the clinical and management teams.
• Initiate, develop and execute a placement/resource parent retention strategy for jeopardized placements in consultation with the RFC management team and Placement Consultation team support.
• Process respite requests from resource parents and/or social workers and collaborate with social workers to implement the respite plan.
• Facilitate placement changes upon request after consultation with the Placement Consultation team; document and notify all relevant parties of the placement change; track and report on all placement changes.
• Manage overall placement options for the program by tracking and maintaining resource parent capacity list; develop resources for specialized placements; and conduct housing searches for appropriate placement options for youth in foster care, extended foster care and Supported Housing.
• Coordinate and facilitate Team Decision Making (TDM) meetings involving placement stabilization interventions and placement changes.
• Participate in Child and Family Team (CFT) meetings to promote the best interest of the child, as needed.
• Assist Clinical Program Supervisor in tracking and reporting on placement disruptions through the Placement Tracking Form and participating in the Placement Disruption Task Force.
• Assist Parent Partner and Clinical Program Supervisor in providing clinical support to resource parents as needed.

SUMMARY OF OTHER DUTIES:

• Represent the program in external relation activities.
• Assist in coordinating logistics for Family Night or other RFC hosted events.
• Participate in the on-call rotation as needed.
• Other duties as assigned. 

QUALIFICATIONS:

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Minimum of a Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited school in Social Services, Human Services or related field, OR
  • A Master’s Degree from an accredited or state approved graduate school in social work or social welfare, marriage, family and child counseling, child psychology, child development, counseling psychology or social psychology preferred; OR
  • Registered and/or licensed as a ACSW, LCSW, LMFT or LPCC highly preferred.
• Minimum of one (1) year in a social services setting providing direct client work within a trauma-informed framework, or a minimum of two (2) years experience working in a child welfare or foster care agency. 

REQUIRED KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• Strong skills in interpersonal communication (both verbal and written in English), assessment and analytical/critical thinking.
• Excellent cross-cultural experience and ability to work well with a diverse population.
• Excellent computers skills: MS Office (all apps) and Google Suite apps.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• 2+ years experience working in a child welfare or foster care agency
• Proven track record of recruiting and retaining resource families for a foster family agency
•  Experience working with immigrants/refugees/asylees, and/or youth and family services
•  Multi-lingual in a language commonly spoken by refugees and immigrants (Spanish, Tigrinya, Swahili, Oromo, Amharic, Hindi, Farsi, Dari, Pashto, French, Arabic)
•  Meet minimum requirements listed in CCL Interim Standards Section 88265.3 and 88365.3

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• Ability to work at a desk for extended periods of time.
• Ability to use a computer workstation.
• Ability to lift up to 25 lbs.
• Ability to travel to agency sites within Santa Clara County.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS:

• Criminal background check via livescan fingerprint.
• Must have TB test performed and submit results.
• Provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination and booster status.
• Automobile, valid driver's license and auto insurance per agency policy; or have access to reliable transportation.

WORKING CONDITIONS:

• Work will be indoors and outdoors even in increment weather.
• Some work will include visiting clients' homes and/or agency resource sites.
• Local travel within the Santa Clara County required. Occasional Bay Area (outside of the county) and out-of-state travel required.

HOURS AND OTHER CONDITIONS:

• Standard office hours are Monday through Friday, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
• This is a full-time, non-exempt position. Hours will be based on client and resource family availability, which may include some evening and weekend hours. All program staff may be expected to work at least one weekday night per month and at least one Saturday per month.
• Available to work in a hybrid environment and schedule.

This position description intends to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by people assigned to this job. It is not intended to include all duties and responsibilities. The order in which duties and responsibilities are listed is not significant. Because of a need to remain responsive to the needs of our clients and our Agency’s operations, responsibilities may be modified at any time.

Catholic Charities is a non-profit, non-discriminatory service organization and employer. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, age, sexual orientation or disability. Persons receiving services in our programs are entitled to freedom from harassment and retaliation and reasonable accommodation for qualified disabilities.