In Home Outreach Counselor

SUMMARY

This position provides intensive services to families in the Family Preservation (FP) Program in-home or wherever it is most beneficial for the family. The In Home Outreach Counselor provides a full range of services, including family assessments within scope of practice, service planning, case management, crisis intervention, linkage/referral and advocacy.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provides services to Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and Probation referred families who meet the Family Preservation Alternative Response Services – Emergency Response Referrals, Open DCFS/Probation Open case, and Intensive Family Preservation target population criteria.
• Encompasses Engaging, Teaming, Assessment, Planning & Intervention, and Tracking & Adapting into services delivered as guided by the values and principles of the Core Practice Model.
• Provides strengths-based, trauma-informed care within scope of practice and focuses on building Protective Factors of Parental Resilience, Social Connections, Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development, Concrete Support in Times of Need, and Social and Emotional Competence of Children.
• Facilitates and updates the Family Assessment Form (FAF), Protective Factors Survey, and other tools to assess and monitor family strengths and needs.
• Works collaboratively with the family, DCFS and Probation staff, as an active member of the Multidisciplinary Case Planning Committee (MCPC), as well as Team Decision Making/Child and Family Team (TDM/CFT) meetings.
• Develops comprehensive treatment plans, monitors progress toward court ordered and non-court ordered treatments/case plan goals.
• Provides in-home case management services at a minimum of 4 times per month for each assigned family.
• Provides services in alternative locations of the family’s choice and may be more frequent at the beginning of services or during critical times in the family’s life.
• Maintains a minimum 10-15 family case load.
• Assists families to develop the skills necessary in improving, maintaining or restoring their functioning.
• Engages families to develop service plans collaboratively.
• Works collaboratively with therapists, county staff, school personnel and parents/guardians to ensure progress.
• Reinforces positive parenting skills to increase parent’s ability to meet their child’s needs for healthy physical, social and emotional development.
• Arranges for/links families to Supplemental Services and resources needed to support achievement of their goals.
• Provides services including but not limited to: teaching and demonstrating homemaking, budgeting, case management, assisting parents in accessing translation, tutoring, help access respite care, educational support, parenting support, crisis counseling, domestic violence services, behavioral management, medication education, stress management, mentoring/role model for the parent, psychosocial skills training.
• Assists in monitoring the children and families to ensure child safety.
• Identifies risk factors for child abuse or neglect, develops treatment plans to lower the risk to children and report any cases of suspected child abuse or neglect as required by California child abuse reporting law.
• Provides on-call emergency response to clients.

POSITION REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor of Arts from an accredited school in social work, psychology, marriage and family therapy or a closely related field.
• Minimum 6 months Case Management or in-home experience
• Must be available to work primarily in the afternoons and evenings and available to provide after-hours on-call coverage.
• Experience providing culturally competent services to diverse populations.
• Experience in providing direct service to individuals, families and groups.
• Experience in providing child abuse treatment.
• Experience working with at risk families such as pregnant/parenting teens, families with children 0 to 3, youth/adolescents involved in juvenile justice/probation system.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Demonstrated effectiveness at navigating and using Foothill Family’s Electronic Health Records System (EHRS).
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to work cooperatively as a team member.
• Ability to be an excellent representative of the Agency to the community.
• Knowledge and sensitivity to cultural differences.
• Valid CA Driver’s License and maintains insurability on the Agency’s auto liability policy (including a minimum of 2 years driving experience after receiving license) and maintains the California state required auto insurance liability limits.
• Bilingual English/Spanish skills required.