Job Description

Senior Social Worker

The Senior Social Worker in the Child Foster Care Licensing unit offers a meaningful and engaging opportunity to help ensure safe, high-quality foster care while providing leadership within the team. The Senior Social worker manages a caseload of foster care providers, overseeing licensing, compliance, and providing consistent support. The position involves handling complex and sensitive cases.

The Senior Social worker also provides consultation, training, and guidance to colleagues on the licensing team. The position requires close collaborations with child protection, children mental health teams, state partners, and the County Attorney's Office. Some provider meetings, trainings and recruitment opportunities may occur outside of standard business hours. As a Senior Social Worker, the expectation is to play a key role in supporting foster families, mentoring staff, strengthening team performance, and advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion within the unit and agency.

Overview:

• Initial and Ongoing Licensing
• Licensing Investigations
• Collaborate with providers while balancing accountability and support
• Ensure license compliance while building respectful, stable relationships that promote quality care for kids
• Leadership through consultation, staff support, and training
• Support onboarding and staff development
• Model strong engagement, professionalism, and critical thinking
• Show initiative and strong work ethic
• Passionate about supporting colleagues and high-quality foster care
• Contribute to team and agency needs through additional duties as assigned

Desirable Experience:

• Paid work experience with and providing services to individuals from a variant of cultural and ethnic backgrounds
• Paid work experience as a:
• Child Foster Care Licensing Social worker in a county setting
• Child Foster Care or Adoption Licensor or Social Worker in a Private Setting
• Child Care or Adult Foster Care Licensing Social worker in a County Setting
• Social Worker in a Child Protection/Child Welfare County Setting
• Work experience using the Social Service Information System (SSIS)
• Master's Degree in Social Work (or closely related field)

Hours/Days: 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday - Friday. Work schedules (hours and days) and location are subject to change based on department needs.

Anticipated Hiring Rate: $77,188.80 - $105,352.00 Annually

E-Verify Participation: Washington County participates in the federal E-Verify program.

Job Summary:

The Social Worker, Senior is a lead professional position with significant responsibility for performing complex work in the development, implementation, provision, evaluation and fiscal management of services, programs, grants, and contracts.

Client assignments of a Senior Social Worker may include more complex, sensitive or difficult cases than Social Workers l and ll and is also responsible for the consultation, training and support to Social Workers and professionals in and outside the agency.

A Senior Social Worker may be assigned duties in any of the following units: Family/Children, Licensing, Chemical Health, Adult Mental Health, Development Disabilities, Adult Family Services, Minnesota Family Investment Program/WorkForce Center or Housing.

Employment Criteria:

Minimum Qualifications: This position requires a Bachelors Degree in Social Work or related field and four years of full-time work experience as a Social Worker in a public human services agency and/or a private human services agency that contracts services with a public human services agency. A Master's Degree in Social Work or related field may substitute for up to one year of required Social Worker experience. Required Social Work experience must have occurred after receipt of Bachelor's Degree. There may be additional requirements based on area of assignment.

Core Competencies, Job Specific Knowledge, Skills and Abilities Required for Successful Job Performance:

• Support and prioritize a welcoming and respectful workplace that fosters diversity and encourages contributions from all individuals.
• Provide inclusive and equitable service to all members of the community with dignity and respect.
• Demonstrate support for the County's diversity, equity and inclusion program.
• Promotes a culture of continuous quality improvement in the workplace.
• Demonstrates knowledge of, or ability to learn, quality/continuous improvement.
• Demonstrates knowledge of social and economic problems and family systems.
• Demonstrates knowledge of interviewing techniques and skills at conducting interviews.
• Demonstrates skills in assessing danger to self and others and can safely intervene in dangerous situations.
• Demonstrates ability to translate complex information into understandable messages.
• Demonstrates ability to apply principles, techniques, ethics and practices of Social Work.
• Demonstrates ability to follow state, federal and county relevant laws, rules, regulations and policies.
• Demonstrates ability to utilize previously acquired knowledge and skills to identify and solve complex situations.
• Demonstrates ability to seek any on-going training requirements of the state Department of Human Services.
• Demonstrates ability to function comfortably in and knowledgeable of legal and court proceedings.
• Demonstrates ability to serve as a consultant to staff and reviews work of staff to assure compliance to relevant laws, rules, policies and procedures.

Duties & Responsibilities:

1. Provide assessment and case management services for eligible individuals or families.
2. Assist clients in obtaining financial support (Social Security benefits, child support, housing, medical care and treatment for chemical or mental health needs).
3. Assess continued client eligibility for county provided services as needed.
4. Lead intensive consultations with staff and service providers for case planning, specialized programs and agency procedures.
5. Strive to keep clients at home through the use of other community resources and waivers funded by state and federal sources.
6. Explain legal processes and county systems to client families and community partners.
7. Maintain frequent and ongoing client contact either in-person or over the phone.
8. Provide leadership and guidance to staff team members.
9. Provide leadership, team development, direction and case consultation to unit staff.
10. Collaborate frequently with team members for consultation on team cases and for review of diagnostic assessments.
11. Participate in staff performance evaluations.
12. Keep supervisor appraised of issues and problems.
13. Assume supervisory duties when supervisor is unavailable.
14. Evaluates training needs, Designs and provides specialized training and orientation to staff as well as service providers.
15. Assists with department administration.
16. Assist in the preparation of program budgets, contracts and reports.
17. Compile statistical information and prepare reports.
18. Prepare RFPs.
19. Develop plans for specialized program grants.
20. Design, recommend, implement and evaluate designated programs, policies and procedures.
21. Make recommendations for changes to make current practices more efficient.
22. Analyze and interpret state/federal rules and regulations.
23. Promote culturally competent social work practices.
24. Raise Community awareness and support of social work issues.
25. Design and facilitate specialized training and orientation to the community.
26. Represent the department in the community, at policy forums and at inter-agency meetings.
27. Coordinate and/or lead various task forces, committees and multi-disciplinary teams at the local and state level.
28. Perform all duties of a Social Worker II and may include management of a complex caseload.

Performs other duties as assigned. Essential functions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 25, 27, and 28. Work Environment Semi-sedentary involving office and outside field work. Lifting requirement may include lifting up to 20 pounds. Exposures may include but not be limited to disagreeable odors, communicable diseases, bodily fluids and behavior challenges. Use of general office equipment to include telephone, cell phone, pager, personal

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