Foster Care Family Worker

EVOLVE Family Services; Oak Park Heights (MN); Hybrid; USD 47,000 - 53,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pet-friendly workplace

High-speed internet and cell phone service provided

Laptop provided for remote work

Job summary

EVOLVE Family Services is looking for a Foster Care Family Worker in Oak Park Heights, MN. This role supports youth and families in navigating the child welfare system and licensing processes. Candidates should have a bachelor's degree and strong communication, advocacy, and assessment skills. Responsibilities include family assessments, community engagement, and support for foster and kinship caregivers. This hybrid position requires in-office presence 2-3 times a week, with some evening hours to meet families. Salary range is $47,000 to $53,000.

Qualifications

• Education and experience in social work or related fields.
• Ability to navigate child welfare system.
• Strong personal and professional boundaries.

Responsibilities

• Assess families for foster care licensure.
• Engage with community for awareness.
• Gather personal history and family background.
• Complete home study narratives.
• Support youth through caregivers.

Skills

Communication skills

Advocacy skills

Assessment writing

Ability to track complex standards

Emotional maturity

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Job Title: Foster Care Family Worker

FLSA Status: Exempt

Supervisor: Foster Care Programs Manager

Revision: April 2026

Primary Department: FCA - Foster Care

Salary Range: $47,000 to $53,000

Position Summary

This position plays a critical supportive role for youth and families navigating the child welfare system, often with limited preparation or support. This role connects with families to guide them through the Foster Care and Kinship Care licensing process, to make sure the needs of the family are being met, and to be an educator and empathetic ear. This role is a good fit for someone who has excellent communication and advocacy skills, assessment writing skills, ability to track and meet complex licensing standards and deadlines, and has strong personal and professional boundaries. Education and experience in social work or related fields, child welfare and family social services is desired.

Our Agency

At EVOLVE Family Services, we fight to build a world where everyone has nurturing, permanent, and supportive familial relationships. We accomplish this by connecting youth with adults, by giving adults the tools to succeed, and by giving youth a voice in a system that has been developed from a place of oppression. We serve youth and families across Minnesota and western Wisconsin, often within and alongside the child welfare system. We serve all, regardless of race, religion, age, economic status, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or marital status. EVOLVE is an antiracist, anti-oppressive agency, and expects our workforce to hold one another accountable for continued growth. Please our standards of antiracism and anti-oppression HERE.

Core Competencies

• Social Awareness: Empathetically internalize the perspectives of others from diverse backgrounds and cultures. Understands social and ethical norms for behavior and recognizes the pulse and vibes of the community. Recognizes power dynamics and underlying societal influences on behaviors.
• Emotional Maturity: Demonstrates effective interpersonal skills. Utilizes non-threatening methods to address sensitive issues and inappropriate behavior or performance. Accurately assesses personal feelings, strengths, and limitations and how they impact relationships.
• Communication: Listens and expresses self effectively and in a manner that reflects a true understanding of the audience. Seeks first to understand others' point of view and remains calm in challenging situations. Listen to understand meanings; communicate effectively orally and in writing.
• Self-Management: Ability to regulate one’s behaviors, thoughts, and emotions in a productive way. Uses mastery of self-control to manage one’s time, workflow, and communication. Desires to produce, and effectively delivers on assigned priorities. Takes direction and moves forward in execution.

Essential Functions

1. Follow government and agency requirements to assess families’ appropriateness for foster care licensure.
2. Engage with community members to increase awareness of foster care needs through tabling and outreach.
3. Gather information on families’ personal history, relationships, experience, traditions, health, trauma experiences, support network, strengths, and overall fit for providing foster care or kinship care.
4. Complete home study narratives, writing detailed notes and summaries supporting the licensing process.
5. Support youth indirectly through support of caregivers, oftentimes related caregivers in kinship families.
6. Make recommendations for placement of children based on assessment of family capacity, skills and abilities.
7. Discuss the licensing process and requirements with adults who are seeking to be foster care providers.
8. Complete licensing updates, placement reports, and other necessary documentation required.
9. Facilitate discussion and education around identity, transracial complexities, and trauma-informed care.
10. Participate in recruitment of additional foster parents through outreach efforts and community engagement.
11. Facilitate home visits with clients 1-3 times / month to review progress of placements and to support the family.
12. Provide consultation, assessment, and resource referral for families and children.
13. Conduct licensing investigations when licensing violations occur within licensed foster homes.
14. Participate in monthly discussions or learnings about anti-oppressive practice at team meetings.

Licensure / Credentials

This position must be able to pass a background check and FBI clearance check.

This role requires a bachelor’s degree.

This position requires valid driver’s license, acceptable driving record and access to reliable transportation.

This hybrid role is for a Minnesota or Wisconsin based employee who can be in-office 2-3 times a week in Oak Park Heights, MN. The EVOLVE workspaces are semi-private, and open air with partitions separating workspaces. The EVOLVE office is a pet-friendly workplace. All employees are provided with a laptop to work from home, provided the employee maintains high‑speed internet and cell phone service. Your home workspace must be conducive to performing your role. Whether at home or at the office, this role requires sitting for extended periods of time at a desk, while utilizing a computer to complete work. The hours of this role typically fall between 9:00 a‑m–5:00 p‑m with evening hours required approximately twice per week to meet with families in their homes, an essential function of this role.