Home Study Practitioner

Catholic Social Services; Remote; CAD 60,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A community-focused social services agency is seeking a Home Study Practitioner (Contractor) to provide client-centered care in Northern Alberta. Responsibilities include reviewing files, conducting interviews, and writing detailed assessments for kinship caregivers and foster parents. Candidates should possess a Social Work Degree, strong assessment skills, and the ability to communicate effectively. This role demands a high level of organization due to its nature, requiring travel and flexibility in work hours.

Benefits

Flexible work schedule

Travel reimbursements

Qualifications

• 3 years of experience working in the human services sector.
• Registration in a professional association is mandatory.
• General Liability Insurance of at least $2,000,000.

Responsibilities

• Review files and establish rapport with applicants quickly.
• Interview adults and children for assessments.
• Write the SAFE home study and edit before submission.

Skills

Effective communication with professionals and clients

Strong presentation, written, and verbal skills

Attention to detail

Strong assessment skills

Microsoft Office proficiency

Education

Social Work Degree or equivalent

Job description

Catholic Social Services is currently seeking a Home Study Practitioner (Contractor) in NORTHERN ALBERTA to join our team. Providing excellent client-centered care, you are confident, thoughtful, and motivated to achieve success when supporting others in your community.

Program Overview

The Independent Home Study Practitioner (IHSP) is responsible for writing Structured Analysis Family Evaluation (SAFE) home studies for Children, Family and Community Service. This is an Independent Sub-Contractor role in which the individual would not be directly employed with the Agency but would sub-contract his/her services.

Projects/Programs

This position involves writing assessments for individuals wishing to become kinship caregivers, foster parents, private guardians or adoptive parents. The IHSP is familiar with family dynamics, trauma, child development, therapeutic issues, has the ability to formulate an assessment and is able to write a comprehensive report. The IHSP has strong assessment skills, connects with a diverse population with ease, has solid writing skills and has a strong capacity for conflict resolution. This position demands close attention to detail and superior time management skills.

Job Summary

Primary job duties may include but are not limited to:

• Reviewing files
• Establishing rapport with applicants quickly
• Interviewing adults and children
• Interviewing child intervention practitioner and support workers
• Completing reference checks
• Engaging in consultations with the supervisor
• Travel to remote locations
• Notetaking
• Writing the SAFE home study and editing it
• Participating in appeals if necessary

What This Job Requires

• Social Work Degree or equivalent; equivalencies need to be approved by the funder
• 3 years of experience working in the human services sector
• Registration in a professional association is mandatory.
• General Liability Insurance in accordance with the Alberta Insurance Act, in an amount not less than $2,000,000 inclusive per occurrence, insuring against bodily injury, personal injury and property damage, including loss of use thereof

Skills and Abilities

• Strong knowledge of best practice, procedures and policy within the Agency
• Effective communication with professionals and clients
• Strong presentation, written, and verbal skills
• Maintain and preserve confidentiality due to sensitive personal information
• Capable of interviewing, sometimes with frequent interruptions
• Ability to talk in depth about sensitive issues with clients
• Work independently with minimal supervision
• Highly organized and attention to detail
• Assesses families thoroughly
• Works well under pressure and meets set deadlines
• Competent working with Microsoft Office

CORE COMPETENCIES

Communication: Express and transmit information with clarity, using active listening techniques in order to effectively understand and provide feedback, summarizing information according to the audience in order to promote engagement and increase understanding.

Critical Thinking: Apply systematic, logical reasoning when assessing families, their problems, environment or situations in order to derive conclusions that evaluate a family’s ability to care for traumatized children. Also to consider various issues, components of problems or family dynamics and to understand how to evaluate applicants based on the SAFE Desk Guide criteria.

Decision Making: Make concrete, well-informed and thought-out assessments and recommendations to determine whether or not individuals/families are capable of caring for traumatized children. It is important to include the supervisor in this process through regular consultations. When an unfavorable recommendation is made, it is vital to ensure that issues have been explored thoroughly and to deliver the non-recommendation with compassion and dignity.

Networking and Relationship Building: Effectively and quickly build rapport with clients. To engage in professional relationships with caseworkers and support workers.

Problem Solving: Able to break a situation down into smaller components to identify key issues that will affect the client’s ability to parent traumatized children. Understand how to rate concerns and issues according to the SAFE Desk Guide and have an ability to mitigate issues with rational and deductive reasoning. In addition, it is important to be able to resolve interpersonal conflict with applicants who are resistant to sharing information or who disagree with the HSP’s assessment.

Teamwork: Work cooperatively and effectively with the supervisor and have the capacity to work independently.

WORKING CONDITIONS

• Manual dexterity required to use desktop computer, laptop, and peripherals
• Travel will be required. Agreed upon expenses will be reimbursed.
• Required to conduct interviews in client’s homes
• Flexibility in work schedule (early or late hours & weekends) as needed
• No guarantee of work

PHYSICAL & MENTAL DEMANDS

• Little or no heavy physical exertion
• Requires considerable visual attention and mental concentration

MANDATORY TRAINING

• SAFE Training

CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT

• Satisfactory Security checks including Police (CPIC) and Child Intervention Check (renewals required every three years)
• Transportation to meet with clients in different locations (A vehicle and valid driver’s license is required)
• Social Work Degree or equivalency approved by the funder
• Professional Liability Insurance
• We are looking for Home Study Practitioner who resides in Northern Alberta in locations such as Fort MacMurray, High Level, Peace River, Grande Prairie, Slave Lake, St. Paul, Edson, Hinton, Jasper or other rural areas, not including Edmonton or areas south of Edmonton.

About Catholic Social Services

You will be joining an established Agency that is guided by faith to care for and bring hope to people in need with humility, compassion and respect.

With 65 years of service delivery experience, Catholic Social Services is one of the largest multi-function social services agencies in Canada, with nearly 2000 staff, and hundreds of volunteers delivering over 100 different programs to people in need throughout Central Alberta and Edmonton.

Our values are at the core of everything we do!

• Humility: We acknowledge with gratitude our human abilities and limitations. We demonstrate humility by doing the best that we can with the resources that we have.
• Compassion: We respond to people in need with love. We demonstrate our compassion by caring for people without judgment and without condition.
• Respect: We demonstrate our respect by being personally present, open and attentive to those we care for and by honouring their dignity and freedom.

We thank all applicants. Only candidates selected for an interview will be contacted.

Catholic Social Services is committed to fostering a diverse and representative workforce. In an effort to enrich our agency and reflect the communities we serve, we welcome applications from qualified individuals of all diverse groups and backgrounds.