Child Specific Adoption Recruiter (Social Worker III)

Salary Range:  $49,340.27 - $81,411.45 (Compensation negotiable within the salary range for fully qualified applicants. Salary rates are based on education, skill, and experience level as well as internal equity and market rates.) Catawba County Social Services is committed to making living better through serving children and families with multiple and complex needs.  We are recruiting for an individual who shares our common core values: Doing what’s right:

• Recruiting adoptive parents who can provide secure, nurturing, permanent placements for children legally clear for adoption, and to preparing the family and children for lifelong permanency so that the family remains intact.

Doing what matters most:

• Serving families, children, and our community by providing support and comprehensive family-centered, solution focused assessments and interventions that will support a parent’s capacity to protect and nurture their children.

Doing it together:

• Working cohesively with resource families, children, guardian ad litems, court partners, community and in-agency partners, and other child welfare entities to support and strengthen children and families.

Doing it well:

• Striving for excellence in meeting all mandated standards in a fast-paced and mandated, but rewarding environment that ultimately seeks to assure child safety and develop and reinforce permanent, protective family units.

RESPONSIBILITIES SPECIFIC TO CHILD SPECIFIC ADOPTION RECRUITER:

• Assess, prepare and place children for adoption who may have a wide range of needs
• Work with resource (foster, kinship, or adoption) parents and birthparents to obtain information regarding the child
• Active participation on adoption selection committees, treatment team meetings, and permanency planning meetings
• Provide support to foster/adopt families
• Provide assistance to improve the foster/adopt families understanding and skills to facilitate positive behaviors and communication with the child
• Support adoptive family through the adoption legal process
• Provide state mandated case management services for children in DSS Legal Custody
• Develop and maintain case plans
• Provide post adoption services and support
• Keep statistic, maintain records, record case management activity as well as other documentation and reporting
• Communicate with private agencies/providers to stabilize placements and advocate for the needs of children

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master’s degree from an accredited school of social work; or
• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited school of social work with Child Welfare Collaborative; or
• Bachelor's degree from an accredited school of social work and 1 year of social work experience; or
• Bachelor’s degree in a human services field and 2 years of social work experience

ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS:

• Valid Driver's License with safe driving record
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including active listening and interviewing skills
• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills
• Ability to organize, prioritize, and multi-task on a daily basis
• Sound knowledge of social work principals, techniques and practices with the ability to apply these practices to complex situations in order to assess and prepare families and children for adoption placement
• Prior experience using assessment skills, critical judgment, and knowledge of mental health/child welfare/trauma issues
• Ability to complete legal documents required for facilitation of adoption
• Effective group facilitation skills
• Position requires lifting up to 40 pounds to carry children and belongings.

PREFERENCES: 

• Strong preference for a Masters or Bachelor’s degree in Social Work.