*Join our partner Positive Impacts! This position is hired by our partner Positive Impacts, a staffing agency. 

Vision

FamilyForward leads the community in providing innovative solutions for advancing safer, healthier relationships for children and families.

Mission

FamilyForward moves vulnerable children in the direction of hope by delivering comprehensive therapeutic and educational services to support biological, foster, and adoptive families. 

Core Values

Out Front: We are leaders in the use of innovative tools and methods to get better results for the children and families we serve. We prefer to set the pace, testing new ideas and collecting data; always striving to make the biggest impact we can.

Whole Hearted: We are tirelessly committed to the vision and mission of FamilyForward. We use our unique talents and expertise to serve our clients and community with compassion, acceptance, and respect.

Rock Solid: We are responsible stewards of an organization with a long and proud history of service. Reliable, trustworthy, and hard-working, we do whatever it takes to get the job done, even when no one is watching.

General Summary

A Resource Development Specialist performs services to ensure that foster/relative parents are trained, licensed, and re-licensed within a specified time frame. The Resource Development Specialist finds alternative care placements for children with a primary focus on permanency and safety for the child.  

Essential Job Functions

• Adhere to the ethical standards of FamilyForward and those of the specific profession
• Maintain core values standards
• Develops community resources to assist foster and adoptive parents
• Attends community activities to promote foster care and recruitment as needed which often includes after hours events
• Performs pre-service responsibilities including initial screening, home study assessment, and completion of all related forms in compliance of policies of all governing and reporting agencies for foster/relative licensure
• Complete re-licensing requirements for foster and relative parents within specified time frames
• Meets Family Forward goal for each year for number of licensed foster parents
• Provide and trains STARS curriculums for traditional foster parents as well as relative foster parents and /or other pre-service training
• Provides on-going, in-service training opportunities for foster, adoptive, and relative parents
• Assists in the on-going retention of foster parents
• Provides monthly training and supports groups for foster parents, and kinship parents
• Serves as liaison for foster parents
• Must maintain on-going data entry and narratives/documents and case activity
• Required to visit providers at least once per quarter or more if necessary
• Must be actively involved in Performance Quality Improvement processes and standards promoting excellent services to our FamilyForward’s clients and help maintain an excellent environment for all staff and volunteers
• Must complete a minimum of twenty hours of continuing education/training per calendar year, three of those hours must be Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging focused.
• May participate on an afterhours rotational on-call, and office intake 

Qualifications and Education Requirements

• Have a bachelor’s degree in an area such as: social work, or a comparable human service field preferably with 2 years’ experience; master’s degree preferred
• Have a minimum of 1-year professional employment in the delivery of proactive social services, family preservation services, or targeted case management services in a public or private agency
• Have demonstrated experience as a positive contributor in a close team, community relationship, and with community resource mobilization
• Have a valid driver’s license, personal automobile, and valid automobile insurance    

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Can establish a rapport and responsive behaviors with persons served
• Collaborate with other disciplines, and community services in meeting the needs of persons served
• Ability to identify, and assess the needs of individuals and families in crisis including special service needs of victims of violence, abuse, or neglect, and their family members
• Procedures for working with foreign language speakers and persons with communication impairments
• Knowledge of public assistance and government subsidies
• Able to help children and families plan for and adjust to transitions 
• Able to assess risk and protective factors, and family strengths and needs 
• Can facilitate permanency and family connections
• Able to help improve their ability to care for their child
• Able to evaluate the continued need for placement
• Have the knowledge and ability to recruit, evaluate, and develop a collaborative relationship with foster parents, and help foster parents provide a safe nurturing environment

Working Conditions

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. The employee frequently is required to walk; sit; stand for a period not less than one-hour intervals; project voice so a room of people can hear; and use hands to finger, handle or feel. The employee is occasionally required to reach with hands and arms. The employee must lift and/or move up to 10 to 25 pounds. Specific abilities required by this job include close vision and distant vision. 

Additional Notes

The statements herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work performed but are not to be seen as a complete list of responsibilities, duties, and skills required of employees so classified. Also, they do not establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of the employer.