In-home Services Lead Specialist (social Services Specialist Iii)

Job Announcement

This position includes a signing bonus of $2,500 (full-time) for new county hires.

Appointees to this position are eligible for an environmental stipend. This stipend will be paid out at a rate of $138.46 per pay period and will be in effect until further evaluation of the position class warrants other considerations.

Do you want to be part of a team that makes a difference in the lives of children and families? Children at risk of harm need quick action from courageous, compassionate individuals dedicated to ensuring their safety. Works as part of the Division of Children, Youth, and Families (CYF.) Provides clinical casework services to stabilize and support children and their families who have experienced child sexual abuse. This demanding and challenging career could be your opportunity to help these children be safe and help their families thrive. Learn more about the culture of DFS, meet our director and some of our employees, watch videos about our programs, and check out the great health benefits offered by Fairfax County.

Grow your career with Fairfax County!
With more than 16,000 employees, Fairfax County is a diverse workforce offering employees stimulating and challenging opportunities across a broad scope of career opportunities. As a Fairfax County employee, you impact the well-being of our community every day.

This is an exciting time to join Fairfax County Government as we shape racial and social equity policies in the county through the One Fairfax Policy. Using this framework, we intentionally consider equity when making policies or delivering programs and services. To learn more, we highly encourage you to watch the Becoming One Fairfax—An Introduction to Key Concepts video by clicking and visit the One Fairfax webpage here.

The Department of Family Services (DFS) is committed to strengthening the well-being of its diverse community by protecting and improving the lives of all children, adults, and families through assistance, partnership, advocacy, outreach, and quality services. To learn more about DFS and its Mission, Vision, and Values, please click here.

This positions works as a member of the Protection and Preservation Services (PPS) Sexual Abuse unit. Work hours are Monday-Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., however, evening and/or weekend work is required as well as being part of an on-call rotation for CPS that includes evening, overnight, weekend, and holiday hours which may require immediate response into the field are required.

Duties and responsibilities include the following:

• As a member of the Protection and Preservation Services (PPS) Sexual Abuse Unit, uses child welfare framework to perform comprehensive assessments of children and their families, including home visits. Areas of assessment include:
  • child abuse and neglect
  • parenting capacity
  • family relationships
  • mental health, substance abuse, and developmental concerns
  • social supports
  • physical health challenges and disabilities, and
  • basic needs including shelter, food, and clothing
• Collaborates with the parents/caretakers, key members of the family, and children, if appropriate, to develop a service plan to ensure children’s safety and reduce risk of future harm to children
• Collaborates with the family and multidisciplinary team to coordinate casework services and ensure progress towards achieving service plan goals
• Coordinates care and delivery of services such as financial, food, shelter, and housing assistance; psychiatric, psychological, or mental health evaluations; and domestic violence interventions to family members
• Responds to and provides crisis intervention to maintain child safety and well-being
• Documents assessments, critical incident reports, detailed case contacts, progress notes, and service plans
• Attends court hearings and provides professional and legal testimony
• Develops partnerships with community agencies to provide a holistic approach to service delivery, guaranteeing collaboration and coordination of services offered to children and their families
• Collaborates with various multi-disciplinary professionals and facilitates family engagement activities
• Coordinates and attends intra-agency and inter-agency meetings
• Mentors and trains staff and provides supervision in the absence of the unit supervisor
• Performs other duties as assigned to ensure child safety and improve outcomes in families

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:

• Knowledge of child protection laws, rules, and regulations
• Knowledge of conducting child protective services assessment and investigation
• Knowledge of foster care and adoption laws, rules, and regulations
• Ability to interview, assess needs, counsel, and refer clients to other resource as needed
• Knowledge in conducting child protective services assessments
• Ability to assess safety, risk, and protective capacity
• Possess critical thinking skills and ability to apply critical thinking and knowledge and research
• Ability to meet deadlines and keep up with documentation
• Ability to work collaboratively with families to identify solutions to specific issues and/or challenges such as parenting, behavior management, childcare, financial stability, housing, mental health, substance abuse, etc.
• Requires the ability to develop goals and to use decision-making tools and resources for the safety and well-being of children.

Note: All Fairfax County Government employees are expected to adhere to the Standards of Conduct. In maintaining a drug free workplace, employees are prohibited from manufacturing, distributing, possessing, using or being under the influence of alcohol or illegal drugs while at work or on county premises.

Employment Standards

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a bachelor's degree, plus three years of professional social work experience. A master's degree in a related field may be substituted for one year of the required experience.

Contingent upon the area of assignment, some positions within this class may require specific certification(s) prior to employment and/or the ability to acquire necessary certification(s) within a specified time period following employment. The certifications are identified in the position description and employment advertisement .

CERTIFICATES AND LICENSES REQUIRED:
Valid driver's license.

NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
The appointee to this position will be required to complete a criminal background, a driving record check, and a Child Protective Services check to the satisfaction of the employer.

This position is considered essential personnel and will be required to report to work during times designated countywide as approved for unscheduled leave regardless of the emergency situation (i.e., weather, transportation, other disaster).

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master's degree in social work (MSW) or a related human services degree
• Minimum of two (2) years of case management experience in child protective services, foster care and/or family preservation
• Minimum of two (2) years of experience working with sexual abuse victims
• Experience in working with the court system and family group facilitation
• Experience in performing case management services in a child welfare setting (child protective services, foster care, adoption, family prevention, permanency planning, or domestic/sexual violence)
• One year of leadership experience in a child welfare

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:
Sufficiently mobile to attend home visits, court, and meetings and community events outside the office. Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing. Ability to use automated technology. Work requires performing tasks with risks of secondary traumatic stress (STS) Ability to navigate through and make decisions in stressful and crisis situations. All duties performed with or without reasonable accommodations.

SELECTION PROCEDURE:
Panel interview and may include a practical exercise.

This job announcement is listed with a closing date of 7/7/23 and interested applicants are advised to submit their applications as soon as possible. Interviews will be conducted on a regular basis throughout the recruitment with candidates whose qualifications best fit our needs. If your application is received later in the recruitment process, it may not be reviewed or considered. The application process may close prior to the currently advertised closing date when the position has been filled.

The population of Fairfax County is very diverse where 39.8% of residents speak a language other than English at home (Spanish, Asian/Pacific Islander, Indo-European, and others) and we are committed to providing county services to individuals regardless of English proficiency. Qualified candidates who are bilingual in English and another language are encouraged to apply for this job opportunity.

Fairfax County Government prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetics, political affiliation, or military status in the recruitment, selection, and hiring of its workforce.


Reasonable accommodations are available to persons with disabilities during application and/or interview processes per the Americans with Disabilities Act. Contact 703-324-4900 for assistance. TTY 703-222-7314. DHREmployment@fairfaxcounty.gov EEO/AA/TTY.