Kinship Support Worker

Kinship Support Worker

790 Ridge Rd, Lackawanna, NY 14218, USAReq #462

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

Are you looking for a rewarding career? If you love making a difference, building relationships and being in a supportive community, we may have the perfect career for you!

A kinship case manager plays a vital role in child welfare services, focusing on supporting children who are placed with relatives or close family friends when they cannot stay with their biological parents.

Salary: $20.00 per hour.

This position is 6 hours per month. May include, evenings, weekends and holidays.

Perks:

• Flexible schedule

• Casual dress code

• $$ Employee referral program $$

Responsible to: Assistant Foster Care Director

Job Summary:

The Kinship Support worker provides a supportive role within the Kinship Caregiver Program. The Kinship Caregiver Program focuses on providing case management and supportive services to kinship families in order to prevent disruption of the child's placement in the kinship home. The program specifically works with families in both Erie and Chautauqua counties. Further, the program places emphasis on improving relationships between relative caregivers and birth parents where applicable, and decreasing kinship caregiver stress overall. For the purposes of the program, kinship families are defined as relatives or other adults with preexisting relationships, who care for children through either informal arrangements, or temporary or permanent legal custody arrangements.

The Kinship Support worker is responsible for assisting in the planning and leading of peer and child support groups, community education groups, and family engagement activities. The Kinship Support worker also assists with securing and transporting tangible supports to families as needed, such a s clothing, food, school supplies, and holiday items.

The Kinship Support Worker provides hourly respite services as needed.

Essential Job Duties:

1. Develop a strong working knowledge of the roles, permanency options, needs and services for relative caregiving families. Will demonstrate strong initiative in developing this knowledge through individual research, effective partnerships with kinship caregivers, and participation in trainings on topics relevant to kinship care at the program, agency, and community levels.

2. Willingness to develop strong relationships, and ability to demonstrate patience, compassion, and empathy for clients.

3. Assists in planning and co-facilitating peer and child support groups, education groups, and family engagement activities.

4. Assist in securing and transporting tangible items to kinship families.

5. Attends trainings necessary to provide approved program curriculums for group sessions (ie. Therapeutic Crisis Intervention for Families, Caring For Our Own, Parenting A Second Time Around, etc).

6. Participates in family team conferences, case reviews and department meetings as needed.

7. Provide hourly respite services for youth in kinship care as needed.

8. Documents interactions with kinship families in the case record.

9. Attends all mandatory in-service training and regularly attends supervision meetings.

10. Follows Agency and OCFS policies to ensure compliance with regulations and requirements.

11. Performs other duties as assigned.

Skills:

• Culturally sensitive to the needs and diversities of multi‐cultural communities.

• Computer skills in typing, basic computer operations, Microsoft, PowerPoint, Excel.

• Strong organizational and time management skills.

• Ability to work independently, demonstrating good judgment and prioritizing.

• Must be accurate and detail oriented.

• Practices good customer service skills in all working relationships.

• Strong interpersonal skills, respectful, and courteous nature.

• Demonstrated assessment skills in identifying strengths, needs, and opportunities for clients.

• Intermediate knowledge of child welfare regulations and regulatory agencies whenever possible.

• Ability to present and teach in front of a group and individual sessions.

• Ability to establish strong interpersonal skills to foster healthy and productive relationships with clients and colleagues.

• Strong mediation/conflict resolution skills.

• Ability to work effectively with clients, families, staff and community contacts from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

• Knowledge of community resources and the ability to access specialized services to clients.

• Ability to advocate effectively for clients.

• Ability to be flexible and adapt to change.

• Excellent communication skills. Must be able to work with groups and people on an individual level. Need to be open to communicating through various mediums such as in person, e-mail, telephone, virtual platforms, etc.

• Must be an excellent listener.

Minimum Education Required:

High School Diploma or equivalent

Minimum Experience Required:

1-2 years working with children and families

Preferred experience in case management, child welfare, kinship care, or other relevant area.

License/Registration/ Certifications Required:

Valid NYS Driver's License is required.

Training Requirements:

New Hire Orientation

Physical Requirements:

The overall nature of the position is sedentary requiring little physical effort with occasional light physical exertion required. There is little, if any, exposure to environmental conditions.

• The constant physical demands of the position are sitting. standing, walking

• The frequent physical demands of the position are climbing, talking, hearing, repetitive motions, and eye/hand/foot coordination.

• The occasional physical demands of the position are lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, balancing, stooping, crouching, reaching, handling, grasping, and feeling

Other details

• Job FunctionNon-Essential

• Pay TypeHourly

• Min Hiring Rate$20.00

• Max Hiring Rate$20.00

• Required EducationHigh School

• 790 Ridge Rd, Lackawanna, NY 14218, USA