Lead Placement Specialist

Are you searching for meaningful work that ensures the safety of children and helps to build strong families in the community? Then our Communities Connected for Kids program has an opportunity that will interest you! We are looking for a motivated, dedicated and compassionate individual to be a Lead Placement Specialist!

Being a Lead Placement Specialist has its Advantages

As a Lead Placement Specialist you will work with other dedicated professionals who share your passion for helping individuals in need. We offer:

• Opportunities to make a positive impact in the lives of children in need of support
• Unique rewards that come from seeing families improve and flourish with the services you referred them to
• Excellent benefits including low-cost, high-coverage health insurance, generous time-off, competitive retirement, and non-profit student loan forgiveness.

Communities Connected for Kids provides oversight and coordination of the child-welfare system in Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee and St. Lucie counties.  Based out of Port Saint Lucie, FL, this position provides assistance to Placement Specialists in order to ensure appropriate placements for children sheltered into licensed out-of-home care are both identified and stabilized and will have some oversite of departmental responsibilities as assigned by the Placement Supervisor. The Lead Placement Specialist serves as a knowledgeable resource and point of contact to internal and external consumers when the Placement Supervisor is unavailable.  Additional duties include:

• Ensure children are placed in settings that best suit their needs and receive services that are appropriate to their needs.
• Creatively solve problems and deal with a variety of variable with minimal direction.
• Perform crisis intervention.
• Assures accurate documentation of services provided to include, but not limited to, comprehensive placement assessments, child placement agreements and FSFN updates.
• Provide assistance regarding difficult placement challenges.
• Assist with placement stabilization once children are placed in licensed out-of-home care.
• Assume supervisory duties in the absence of the placement supervisor.
• Assume On-call responsibilities, as assigned by the supervisor on a rotating schedule, to effectively meet Placement needs after normal program hours, weekends and holidays.
• Participate in the quality improvement process.
• Maintain compliance with Minimum Training Requirements (MTR)
• Perform other duties as assigned.

EDUCATION: 

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in Human Services or related field from an accredited college or university.
• Preferred: Master’s (MS, MA) degree or Masters of Social Work is preferred. 
• Proficiency in Microsoft Office desk applications

 EXPERIENCE: 

• Minimum two (2) years of experience in child welfare, behavioral health, or a related field.
• Minimum one (1) year experience in placement services.
• Experience with dependency case management preferred.
• Strong analytic, critical thinking and organizational skills.
• Excellent interpersonal skills including oral and written communications
• Awareness of cultural values and beliefs, willingness to be flexible and examine own cultural biases, and ability to communicate with co-workers, clients, families and customers from various cultures.

CERTIFICATION: 

• Required: Child Welfare Certification issued by the Florida Certification Board or related certification, or any other qualifying specialized academic training prior to hiring.