CWS Team Leader - Foster Care / 61016050

State of South Carolina; Columbia (SC); On-site; USD 44,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

The SC Department of Social Services is seeking a dedicated Child Welfare Services Team Leader - Foster Care. The role focuses on safeguarding children and families, ensuring adherence to policies, and fostering team collaboration. Candidates must hold a Bachelor's degree in Social Work along with relevant experience and commitment to professional development.

Benefits

Health, Dental, Vision Insurance

15 days vacation leave per year

15 days sick leave per year

13 paid holidays

Paid Parental Leave

State Retirement Plan

Qualifications

• One year of professional experience in Human Services or Social Service programs required.
• Maintains child welfare certification and completes 20 hours of training yearly.

Responsibilities

• Promotes safety, permanency, and well-being for children and families.
• Engages with child welfare staff, families, and other professionals.
• Ensures adherence to policy and conducts case consultations.

Skills

Empathy

Leadership

Collaboration

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Social Work

Job description

Do you have a passion to provide meaningful contributions to your community? Would you like to be part of an organization whose central mission is helping to protect, stabilize and strengthen the lives of South Carolina's children, families, and vulnerable adults? If so, the SC Department of Social Serviceshas the right job opportunity for you!

Job Duties:

• The Child Welfare Services Team Leader - Foster Care promotes safety, permanency and well-being by ensuring fidelity to policy and procedures and conducting case consultation and case reviews, facilitating meetings, reviewing data reports, monitoring policy changes, and ensuring staff attendance in mandatory trainings.

• Ensures completion of Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) assessments, Child and Family Team meetings, Family Permanency Plans and referrals in accordance with DSS Policy. Ensures CAPSS reflects up to date case information and quality documentation. Ensures timely referrals for services and least intrusive interventions are used with families to address needs identified and maintain the safety of children. Ensures case manager facilitates and/or participates in child and family team meetings.

• Ensures timely court packets are submitted, monitors adherence to court orders, identifies and addresses legal barriers that impact timely permanency and legal proceedings when safety concerns require court intervention.

• Authentically engages and works collaboratively with child welfare staff, families and other professionals with empathy, respect and leadership. Ensures concerted efforts to locate non-custodial parents and kinship support is ongoing. Responds timely and professionally to constituent inquiries.

• Provides supervisors with EPMS planning and evaluation plans. Participates in hiring and training of all new employees, promotes equal opportunity, develops a diverse workforce, and gives fair opportunity to all staff. Completes performance and practice evaluations on direct reports biannually and upon request for level ascension. Timely submits evaluations for level ascension and EPMS evaluations.

• Maintains child welfare certification. Completes 20 hours of training yearly to include certifications that are required yearly.

• Maintains an active routine of self-care and pursues support when necessary to minimize the threat of secondary trauma to physical and mental health. Understands the impact of trauma on families and secondary trauma on child welfare staff and applies principles to support families and staff.

• Ensures personal identifying information (PII) is properly used, accessed, gathered, shared and disposed. Protects the agency networks and applications by safeguarding systems, equipment and data.
  
  
• Perform Red Cross shelter duty or other emergency shelter duties/services as directed.
  
  
• Other duties as assigned.

A Bachelor's Degree in Social Work, Social Welfare, or Behavioral Science and one (1) year of professional experience in Human Services or Social Service programs. This application for employment with the SC Department of Social Services must be completed in its entirety. A resume may be included; but shall not be substituted in lieu of the completion of this application in part or in whole. See Resume is not acceptable information for the completion of any part of the requirements of this application. If such is submitted, this employment application will be considered incomplete and may not be forwarded as eligible for consideration to hiring managers.

May require overtime hours to include weekends and work during natural disaster or deployment of staff in State issued emergency responses.

If you certify, by completion and submission of this application, that you possess educational credentials that qualify you for the available DSS positions, you will be required to provide a certified official transcript, if you are selected for job offer.

The South Carolina Department of Social Services offers an exceptional benefits package that includes:

• Health, Dental, Vision, Long Term Disability, and Life Insurance for Employee, Spouse, and Children
• 15 days annual (vacation) leave per year
• 15 days sick leave per year
• 13 paid holidays
• Paid Parental Leave
• State Retirement Plan and Deferred Compensation Programs

Division: Child Welfare Services - Foster Care / Berkeley County

*Important Salary Information*

With the recent implementation of the Child Welfare salary plan funded by the General Assembly beginning in July 2021, front line case managers and team leaders (supervisors) will not only earn higher starting salaries when joining DSS than in previous years, but will also enjoy supplements to their starting salaries upon completion of training and competencies, attainment of BSW/MSW degrees for front line case managers, annual increases for years of continuous service, and salary increases upon attainment of established competencies/certifications for moving into Level 2 and Level 3 salaries.

New Child Welfare case managers will earn a starting salary of at least $44,825 during initial certification, depending on education level and degree type, with up-front starting salary supplements of 2.5% ($45,947) and 5% ($47,065) for candidates holding a Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) or a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree, and 10% ($49,307) for team leaders (supervisors), respectively. Following completion of training certification, assignment of caseloads with one year of completed experience, quarterly adjustments will be made to move successful trainees into the Level 1 salary bracket and will receive at least a 15% salary increase (adjusting their salary to $51,807, $53,103 or $54,314 depending on degree type), and $56,986 for team leaders (supervisors) at that time.

Annual salary increases of up to 0.50% per year will be awarded on a quarterly basis for each consecutive year a Level 1 case manager remains in his/her class/position.

In January of 2022, DSS rolled out additional opportunities for case managers to progress from Level 1 to Levels 2 and 3, with increases in salary averaging 2.5% for each increase in the case manager’s level of expertise under the salary plan. Level 2 and 3 child welfare staff will also see accelerated annual increases of 1% to 1.5% per year awarded for each continuous year served in his/her class/position. Progression from Level 1 to Levels 2 and 3 requires completion of specified requirements in the Advancement Pathway which include additional training, skill development, and practice model aligned competencies that increase in complexity as the career path progresses. Case reviews, data compliance reviews, field observations and employee self-assessments are used by supervisors to evaluate eligible employees’ demonstration of competencies and skills prior to approval to advance to the subsequent level.