Family Safety Practitioner III - Protection and Preservation Services (PPS)

Fairfax County Government; Fairfax (VA); On-site; USD 36,000 - 124,000; Full time

Job summary

Fairfax County Government seeks a Family Safety Practitioner III for the Protection and Preservation Services program. This vital role focuses on ensuring the safety and well-being of children at risk of abuse or neglect, necessitating comprehensive casework, collaboration with community agencies, and duties including court representation. The successful candidate will offer guidance, perform assessments, and provide crisis intervention while ensuring compliance with state and federal laws.

Qualifications

• Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university.
• Four years of experience in social work or a related field.
• A master's degree may substitute for one year of required experience.

Responsibilities

• Provides clinical casework services for children and families experiencing abuse or neglect.
• Develops and implements comprehensive service plans.
• Attends court hearings and represents the agency in legal matters.

Skills

Crisis intervention

Social work practices

Family engagement

Community collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in social work, psychology, sociology, or related field

Job description

Family Safety Practitioner III - Protection and Preservation Services (PPS)

Join to apply for the Family Safety Practitioner III - Protection and Preservation Services (PPS) role at Fairfax County Government

Family Safety Practitioner III - Protection and Preservation Services (PPS)

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Join to apply for the Family Safety Practitioner III - Protection and Preservation Services (PPS) role at Fairfax County Government

Fairfax County Government provided pay range

This range is provided by Fairfax County Government. Your actual pay will be based on your skills and experience — talk with your recruiter to learn more.

Base pay range

$36.00/yr - $123,325.00/yr

Job Announcement

This position includes a signing bonus of $2,500 (full-time) for new county hires.

This position is a member of the Child Protective Services (CPS)/Protection and Preservation Services (PPS) Program. Under the general supervision of the PPS Supervisor, performs the following duties and responsibilities:

• Assists the supervisor in planning and carrying out training for new staff, providing guidance to staff;
• Serves as a policy and practice expert in mandated services that supports the protection and wellbeing of vulnerable populations, governed by state and federal laws, administrative code, state-level policies and procedures, accreditation standards, and/or court orders for compliance with public welfare or other court-mandated services;
• Provides clinical casework services for a caseload of children (and their families) who have experienced abuse/neglect or who are at-risk of abuse/neglect
• Casework responsibilities include but are not limited to completion of comprehensive assessments and service plans, care coordination, crisis intervention, and brief counseling
• Attends court hearings and provides professional and legal testimony as needed. Completes casework and documentation in compliance with federal, state, and local policies and procedures
• Develop partnerships with community agencies to provide a holistic approach to service delivery, guaranteeing collaboration and coordination of services offered to children and their families
• Coordinates and attends intra-agency and inter-agency meetings
• Uses automated information systems to maintain case documentation
• Travels throughout the county for the provision of services
• Responds to cases outside of traditional business hours
• Be part of an on-call rotation that includes evening, overnight, weekend, and holiday hours which may require immediate response into the field
• Performs other duties as assigned to ensure child safety and improve outcomes in families.
  
  

ILLUSTRATIVE DUTIES:

• Contributes to the development of protocols, policies, procedures, grants and contracts for a social services program, department, and other entities;
• Manages service contracts and provide and directs other contract-related functions;
• Assists the supervisor in planning and carrying out training for new staff, providing guidance to staff. May directly supervise staff, and covers for the supervisor in their absence;
• Serves as a policy expert in an area of social work specialization;
• Coordinates or oversees the daily activities of a program or project to include staff supervision, oversight of administrative functions/requirements associated with the program or project, evaluation of the program or project for its impact/effectiveness, and making recommendations for changes or improvements;
• Conducts comprehensive clinical assessments and prepares and implements service plans;
• Conducts initial and ongoing, comprehensive clinical and social assessments of the family system;
• Works with clients to develop a plan of service to meet social, health, emotional and economic needs. With the client, formulates objectives and identifies actions to resolve the clients' problems;
• Conducts home visits to families for the purpose of monitoring, counseling and supervision;
• Provides crisis intervention on a timely basis to clients or families whose well being is seriously and immediately threatened, to include Child Protective Services after-hours;
• Conducts mediation services to families in conflict;
• Investigates allegations of abuse and neglect of children, elderly persons and incapacitated adults who live in the community and institutional facilities;
• Makes assessment of risks posed to clients in accordance with state and local policies, and works to ensure risks are eliminated or minimized;
• Performs emergency removal of children from their homes when required, places children in foster homes and residential programs, and coordinates services for them as needed;
• Represents the agency in court proceedings; prepares testimony and testifies in Juvenile, Circuit, Criminal, Civil and Federal Courts;
• Interviews and counsels natural parents, adoptive parents, foster parents and children to be placed in foster homes or residential facilities and those involved in adoption placement;
• Evaluates child's readiness for placement and recommends placement, ensuring compliance with legal provisions;
• Conducts and documents interstate and intrastate family home studies to evaluate and make recommendations as to families' ability to provide a safe and nurturing environment for children;
• Works with the community to identify families, children and individuals needing services and to coordinate these services using a wrap-around approach;
• Advocates and assists families and individuals in obtaining services (e.g., mental health, intellectual disability, alcohol and drug, housing referrals, home based services, training and medical services);
• Communicates and works with colleagues, clients and the community in a manner that supports the agency and program goals and objectives;
• Participates as a contributing member on interagency, multi-disciplinary teams, community groups and professional organizations;
• Collaborates and contributes to child specific teams on non-agency cases as assigned to assist in identifying community resources and services for families;
• Participates, collaborates and contributes to Comprehensive Services Act activities for families on caseload;
• Uses automated technology and hard copy files to maintain and update case data, notes, documents, records, contacts and summaries of information;
• Manages and maintains program data and outcomes.
• Prepares written reports and required documentation supporting decisions related to immediate and ongoing safety needs.
  
  

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES:

• Knowledge or skill with crisis intervention or conflict resolution techniques;
• Thorough knowledge of the principles and practices of social work;
• Thorough knowledge of current social service problems and methods/approaches to address issues;
• Thorough knowledge of regulations and guidelines relating to the assigned area of social service specialization;
• Knowledge of casework supervision practices and procedures;
• Ability to collaborate as a team member to create and support safety planning and monitoring;
• Ability to engage with juridical systems and processes to support the safety needs of clients as needed or when required by statute;
• Ability to demonstrate advanced critical thinking and judgment by understanding and applying governing policy and statutes alongside best practices and unique case factors;
• Ability to engage with persons effectively and empathically from different cultures who may be experiencing stressful family situations;
• Ability to maintain a high level of sensitivity and confidentiality while performing client related tasks; Ability to engage children, adults, and/or families under safety-sensitive, time-limited, and difficult circumstances, to gather information and make informed decisions that are inclusive of their language, race, and culture;
• Thorough knowledge of the principles and practices of social work;
• Ability to analyze case information and to reach sound decisions on the basis of such information;
• Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing;
• Ability to use automated technology to establish and maintain case records;
• Ability to maintain professional ethics and confidentiality of client information;
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with a variety of individuals.;
• Ability to schedule and manage workload sufficiently to meet deadlines;
• Ability to provide guidance, direction, supervision and coaching to less-experienced staff;
• Ability to provide management and oversight of a program or project.
• Skill in defining and explaining complex rules and guidelines in a variety of settings and providing sound guidance and direction to staff;
• Skill in writing and reviewing reports that are behaviorally specific, factually correct, include conclusions and recommended action.
  
  

Employment Standards

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

Graduation from an accredited four-year college or university with a bachelor's degree in social work, psychology, sociology, or a *related field, plus four years of experience in social work, psychology, sociology, or a *related experience. A master's degree in a related field may be substituted for one year of the required experience.

• A related field/experience is based solely on the position description.
  
  

CERTIFICATES AND LICENSES REQUIRED:

Valid driver's license.

Positions within this class are required to complete the state mandated training in the functional area within a specified time period.

NECESSARY SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

The appointee to the position must satisfactorily complete a criminal background check, driving record check, and a Child Protective Services check.

This position is considered essential personnel and will be required to report to work during times designated countywide as approved for unscheduled leave regardless of the emergency situation (i.e., weather, transportation, other disaster).

Requires being part of an on-call rotation that includes evening, overnight, weekend, and holiday hours which may require immediate response into the field.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master's degree in social work (MSW) or a related human services degree
• At least two (2) years of experience in child protective services
• At least three (3) years of experience in child welfare
• Experience working with a diverse multicultural population
  
  

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS:

Work requires performing tasks with risks of secondary traumatic stress (STS)

Ability to navigate through and make decisions in stressful and crisis situations

Sufficiently mobile to attend home visits, court, meetings and community events outside the office

Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing

Ability to use automated technology

Sufficiently mobile to travel outside of the office for client contact, meetings, and to work with community groups

All duties performed with or without reasonable accommodations.

SELECTION PROCEDURE:

Panel interview; may include practical exercise.

The population of Fairfax County is very diverse where 38.7% of residents speak a language other than English at home ( Spanish, Asian/Pacific Islander, Indo-European, and others ) and we encourage candidates bilingual in English and a foreign language to apply to this opportunity.

Fairfax County Government prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetics, political affiliation, or military status in the recruitment, selection, and hiring of its workforce.

Reasonable accommodations are available to persons with disabilities during application and/or interview proces s es per the Americans with Disabilities Act. Contact 703-324-4900 for assistance. TTY 703-222-7314. [e-mail] EEO/AA/TTY.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Not Applicable

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Health Care Provider

• Industries

  Government Administration

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