Child & family Case Manager Lead

Minnesota Prairie County Alliance; Minnesota; On-site; USD 70,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Minnesota Prairie County Alliance seeks a Social Worker Lead-Child & Family to coordinate services for high-need families, develop and supervise detailed case plans, and collaborate with courts, schools, and health providers. The role emphasizes trauma-informed practice and team leadership.

You will mentor staff, manage risk, and participate in multidisciplinary reviews while ensuring compliant documentation and timely progress updates for diverse client needs.

Qualifications

• Strong assessment and crisis intervention abilities.
• Robust case management with trauma-informed approaches.
• Clear communication with clients, families and partners.
• Experience coordinating services across agencies and courts.
• Ability to train and mentor staff and interns.

Responsibilities

• Lead complex Child & Family cases with sound judgment.
• Develop and monitor detailed service plans and milestones.
• Collaborate with state, local agencies, schools and providers.
• Provide testimony and court involvement as needed.
• Support onboarding, coaching, and professional development of staff.
• Ensure timely documentation and audit readiness.

Skills

Assessment skills

Crisis intervention

Case management

Communication skills

Staff mentoring

Education

MSW or equivalent

LSW/LISW licensure

Tools

SSIS

Job description

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Provides advanced professional case management services while offering guidance and support to others within the unit. This position serves as a key resource to staff regarding complex assessments and cases consults while guiding and modeling best practices. This position will maintain a reduced client workload. Work is performed under the limited supervision of the Executive Director/Deputy Director, with opportunities for independent judgement and leadership within

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Assesses the psychosocial, behavioral, medical and safety needs of clients and families to coordinate appropriate services to meet client and family needs, via ongoing communication with clients, families and providers.
• Creates and implements detailed service plans to manage all goals, services and resources specific to each client, while maintaining paper files, electronic files and database systems to meet federal, state and local mandates and timelines.
• Analyzes and investigates critical circumstances; manages crisis situations where imminent danger to self or others is apparent or possible.
• Prepares extensive and comprehensive social histories; home studies; case plans; case records; court reports, petitions and testimony; appears personally in court to represent MNPrairie.
• Collaborates with state, federal and local entities; other service providers; schools; mental health professionals, court personnel, attorneys, home care providers and managed care organizations regarding policies, funding and service delivery.
• Organizes, provides and participates in ongoing training to increase community knowledge and skills.
• May participate in the hiring process for new unit staff; mentors’ new staff and interns.

Child Protection & Child Welfare

• Knows, understands, and provides child protection and/or child welfare services according to laws, rules, and agency expectations.
• Completes structured decision-making tools as required.
• Assess family needs based on evaluation and observation to identify strengths and risks.
• Writes and executes child protection plans involving family, legal representatives, guardian ad litem, judge, school, law enforcement, providers and other community professionals, etc.
• Assist parents with the implementation of plans utilizing both risk and strength-based approaches.
• Maintains regular contact with children, parents, providers and other community professionals.
• Completes duties related to judicial processes including attending and testifying in court.
• Gathers information from families regarding private insurance, MA, SSI, social security, child support, or other legitimate revenue sources.
• Completes comprehensive documentation in SSIS or other systems based on agency timelines.
• Attends and participates in community meetings/work groups and provides community education as requested.
• Interact positively with internal and external customers. Always communicates and interacts effectively and respectfully when representing MNPrairie.
• Participate in on call rotation and responds outside of regular hours

Additional Essential Functions Specific to Social Worker Lead-Child & Family

• Serves as a first-line consultant on complex or high-risk cases, supporting sound judgment and decision-making.
• Promotes consistency in practice across the team and helps integrate policy into everyday work.
• Models professional, trauma-informed practice in all interactions.
• Leads onboarding, job shadowing, and training activities for new or developing staff.
• Identifies staff skills needs and collaborates with supervisors to support development.
• Participate in screening and intake consultation to support appropriate case assignment and response.
• Ensures adherence to timelines and documentation standards; supports audit readiness and documentation quality.
• Works collaboratively with courts, schools, health providers, and community organizations on complex cases.
• Participates in multidisciplinary reviews and contributes expertise to collaborative planning.
• Identifies practice trends or concerns and communicates them to supervisors and leadership.
• Supports implementation of practice or policy changes across the team.
• Performs related work as assigned.

Special Requirements

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities

• Comprehensive knowledge of rules, regulations, policies, processes and procedures governing social work in a county setting
• Thorough knowledge of social, economic and health problems common to at-risk populations
• General knowledge of laws pertaining to social work as it is applied to situations of abuse, neglect, exploitation and mental illness
• Comprehensive skill in crisis intervention
• Comprehensive skill in maintaining database systems related to services and clients
• Comprehensive skill evaluating and coordinating services for clients using comprehensive knowledge of local and state resources
• Comprehensive skill creating and maintaining effective service plans and records of services provided
• Comprehensive skill composing general correspondence
• Competence in using standard office equipment and related hardware and software
• Ability to empower individuals and families to utilize services and supports
• Ability to demonstrate acceptance of other’s rights, responsibilities and differences
• Ability to effectively work with people encompassing a wide range of emotional, cognitive, physical and socio-economic barriers
• Ability to plan and organize work
• Ability to solve problems within one's scope of responsibility
• Ability to prepare reports and maintain records
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with clients, service providers, staff, law enforcement agencies, court officials, federal agency representatives, medical facilities, financial agencies and the general public
• Thorough knowledge of Minnesota child protection statutes, child welfare policy, and best practices in trauma-informed assessment and case management
• Advanced assessment and case management skills, including the ability to analyze complex family dynamics, assess risk with nuance, and make well-reasoned decisions under pressure
• Demonstrated ability to train, mentor, and coach colleagues, with patience, credibility, and a genuine investment in others' professional growth
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to produce clear documentation, testify in court, and facilitate difficult conversations with families and partners
• Strong Sound judgment and decisive thinking, particularly in high-stakes or ambiguous situations where child safety is at stake