Social Worker (Child Protective Services & Permanency Planning)

  Duties in Child Protective Services (CPS) include receiving and screening reports from the public regarding suspected child abuse, neglect and dependency to see if they meet legal criteria for CPS assessments; providing direct services to children and their parents/caretakers through which a timely and comprehensive assessment is conducted to determine if abuse/neglect/dependency exists, and providing for ongoing intervention if warranted; providing protective services to help families keep children who have been maltreated safely at home whenever possible; applying crisis intervention techniques, assessing risk, and developing case plans to ensure children's safety; entering information into various software systems and ensuring all required documentation, forms and reports are completed and maintained in a timely and consistent manner in accordance with local, state and federal requirements.   Duties in Permanency Planning Services (PP) include determining the most appropriate plan of reunification, relative placement, or adoption; partnering with parents, relatives, kinship placements, foster parents to develop case plans ensuring all services are arranged and provided for children and families. This includes testifying in court hearings; documenting cases; preparing reports; entering information into various software systems; and working hard to develop a positive relationship with children and parents to help strengthen families and promote permanency for children in the custody of the Department. *** 90% of field work is done in homes, court, and the community.  Must be able to lift and carry a child.  This position holds the opportunity for telework on a partial basis, where the selected candidate will occasionally start his/her workday from home and report directly to job sites throughout the day.  Certain meetings or trainings will require the employee to come into the office. The ideal candidate for telework position  is a self-starter with strong written and verbal skills and solid proficiency in using modern office technology to perform work duties.