SOCIAL WORKER 3 - ELKO

State of Nevada; Elko (NV); On-site; USD 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health Insurance

Vacation

Sick Leave

Holidays

PERS Retirement

Deferred Compensation

No State Income Tax

Public Service Loan Forgiveness

Job summary

State of Nevada's Division of Child and Family Services seeks a Social Worker III in Elko to provide child welfare services, assess safety, and develop case plans promoting safety, well-being, and permanency for children and families.

The role requires a Nevada social work license and at least one year of professional case management experience in child protective services, foster care, or adoption, with duties including home visits, planning, and collaboration with families and agencies.

Qualifications

• Licensure as a Social Worker in Nevada.
• One year of professional case management experience in child protective services, foster care or adoption.

Responsibilities

• Assess and reassess client functioning levels through interviews and records; determine needed services.
• Develop and implement case plans for safety, permanency and services.
• Coordinate with state agencies, community orgs, and families; monitor progress and adjust plans as needed.
• Conduct home visits, document cases, and prepare reports for courts and agencies.

Skills

Case management

Crisis intervention

Documentation

Collaboration

Education

Social Work license

Job description

• No Nevada state income tax.

Job Summary

DIVISION OF CHILD AND FAMILY SERVICES is recruiting for a Social Worker 3 position in Elko. Position to provide child welfare services to children and families to include but not limited to: Assess/ manage for on-going safety threats throughout the life of the case; deliver strength-based family centered case management permanency services to families that promote the safety and well-being and permanency of children. Ensure children have their medical, mental health and educational needs met. Ensure Case Plans are developed and reviewed in accordance w/ policy and practice guidelines; documentation of assessments, CFT’s, monthly caseworker visits, court reports, social summaries, diligent search efforts, TPR packets and other pertinent paperwork. A current Nevada Social Work license is a requirement for employment.

Social Workers are licensed professionals who provide case management services to children, families, vulnerable adults with intellectual, developmental, physical disabilities, serious mental illness, and older adults (collectively referred to as “vulnerable adults”) and other individuals within local communities and institutions. Case management is defined as the process by which an individual's needs are identified and the social, habilitative, and medical services designed to meet those needs are located, coordinated, and monitored. Positions in this series may specialize in one service area, or may work in several areas as a generalist, depending upon the needs of the community and the mission of the agency to which it is assigned.

Essential Qualifications

Licensure or provisional licensure as a Social Worker, Clinical Social Worker, Independent Social Worker or Associate in Social Work and one year of professional experience providing case management in child protective services, foster care services and/or adoption services in a social work setting equivalent to a Social Worker I in Nevada State service.

Job Duties

Assess and reassess client levels of functioning by interviewing clients, family members and other community contacts; utilize tests, inventories, and other assessment tools; review medical, legal and law enforcement reports; and evaluate client resources for the purpose of identifying the level of assistance needed and services appropriate to meet client emotional, social, financial and health needs.

Develop and implement a case plan that presents intervention strategies to meet client needs including alternative placement, job training, socialization, nursing services, legal and medical intervention, and financial assistance according to federal and State regulatory guidelines and budget limitations.

Locate and coordinate a network of services and resources provided by other State agencies, community organizations and private service providers in areas such as mental health, substance abuse, rehabilitation, developmental, homemaking, financial assistance, and employment programs pertinent to assessing client needs and case plan goals.

Provide ongoing case management services by conducting home visits, monitoring delivery of services and quality of care, and reassessing client needs; track client progress and well-being, evaluate case plan effectiveness, and effectively manage resources; assist clients in identifying strengths and barriers and developing problem- solving and coping abilities; collaborate and coordinate case reviews with families, friends, attorneys and multiple agencies including social and community services and law enforcement to ensure case continuity and prevent conflicting case plans and duplication of services.

May organize multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings to assist in strategic assessment and planning of protective services, issues regarding the delivery of service, programs, or individual plans for preventing, identifying, remedying, or treating abuse, neglect, exploitation, isolation, or abandonment of children or vulnerable adults; MDT teams may include representatives of other organizations concerned with education, law enforcement, or physical and/or mental health.

Document case activities; maintain written case histories to include client status, progress and assessment results; complete necessary forms and prepare relevant correspondence and case reports according to applicable policies, procedures, laws and regulations.

Provide crisis intervention in the office or community setting to include responding to emergency calls; report instances of neglect or abuse to the appropriate authorities; utilize appropriate controls for individuals who may be aggressive, combative, or hostile by following established protocols and policies.

May provide technical assistance, training, guidance and/or serve as lead workers to other new or experienced Social Workers; may train, supervise, and evaluate the performance of non-professional staff such as Family Support Workers and Administrative Assistants.

Perform related duties as assigned.

Under limited supervision, Social Worker III’s perform advanced journey level case management services in child protective services, foster care, adoptions, adult protective services, and/or guardianships. This work requires the application of advanced principles of the social work profession, and case planning directives affecting critically and chronically dysfunctional families, children, and/or vulnerable adults whose welfare is at high risk. Actions and decisions directly affect the safety and welfare of children and/or vulnerable adults at risk and extend to families, substitute caregivers, guardians, and other resources within the community. Crisis intervention and objective evaluation may require incumbents to encounter potentially hostile and combative individuals. Social Worker III’s are distinguished from the journey level by the nature and high proportion of complex and sensitive case work needs of children, vulnerable adults, and families, and a more critical level of decision making and authority to take action to include removal of children from their home environment or emergency relocation of vulnerable adults to an alternate safe location.

Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

This job specification lists the major knowledge, skills and abilities of the job and is not all inclusive. Incumbent(s) will be expected to have knowledge, skills and abilities from a previous level.

Working knowledge of: federal regulations and State laws applicable to child or vulnerable adult welfare; dynamics of families, caregivers, and/or guardians who deprive, abuse, neglect, and/or exploit their children or vulnerable adults; indicators of physical, sexual and emotional abuse in children or vulnerable adults; family centered or person centered assessment process, principles and practices; human characteristics which indicate dysfunction, characteristics of family marital problems and their solutions; effects of cognitive impairment such as dementia, serious mental illness, or traumatic brain injury on vulnerable adults and their spouses, family members, caregivers, or guardians and/or the effects of foster care on the child or guardianship on the vulnerable adult, caregiver, biological family, adoptive family, and the community; indicators and effects of abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation on the child or vulnerable adult; court procedures related to child or vulnerable adult abuse and neglect, removal of parental rights, removal of guardianship, and adoption; law enforcement, mental capacity evaluations, civil rights, guardianship referrals, and procedures related to the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of vulnerable adults; federal regulations, State laws, and policies and procedures related to assigned program areas; services, roles and responsibilities of other related social services providers; crisis intervention techniques; theories and practices of substance abuse addiction and recovery; HIV, fetal alcohol syndrome, common communicable diseases, intellectual, developmental, physical disabilities, cognitive impairments, and/or serious mental illness.

General knowledge of: collaborative and concurrent case planning; medical and pharmaceutical terminology sufficient to complete health surveys, evaluate medical reports and assess client health status; physical, psychological, and social characteristics associated with the aging process; characteristics of intellectual, developmental, and/or physical disabilities and mental illness; court processes and protocol related to program assignment.

Ability to: respond to emergency calls after normal working hours to investigate reports of abuse and neglect; complete safety and risk assessments and determine appropriate action; exercise authority to remove children from the home and/or take decisive action for emergency relocation of vulnerable adults when they are at risk of serious harm or injury; screen for severely emotionally disturbed children or cognitively impaired vulnerable adults and coordinate appropriate placement; take decisive action to protect children or vulnerable adults at risk in accordance with legal requirements; prepare periodic and permanency reports and comprehensive recommendations to the court system; provide timely response to subpoenas including preparation of case documents for litigation; investigate complaints of abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation and prepare law enforcement reports for further criminal investigation and/or prosecution; take decisive action to complete mental capacity evaluations and guardianship referrals; prepare petitions and court orders and testify in court; supervise child/parent visits; present cases to advisory boards; community councils, review teams, and/or multidisciplinary teams; investigate and make State and interstate placement decisions; investigation and/or monitor compliance with court orders and recommend enforcement action when necessary; prepare referrals regarding abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation to regulatory agencies and professional boards; promptly coordinate and implement case plans by determining the time, place and sequence of actions to be taken based on the analysis of data; modify and/or adapt case plans, procedures and methods to maximize services and effect change in clients; negotiate, persuade, counsel and exchange ideas with others to arrive at joint decisions, conclusions or solutions; analyze crises and intervene appropriately; compute costs and hours of service; develop and present training programs designed to educate and motivate clients; organize and facilitate meetings; navigate, locate and enter data into the agency's computer system; oversee the work of private and public providers of social services.

Benefits Include

• Health Insurance: Medical, dental, life, and disability insurance programs for employees and their dependents/family are offered through the Public Employees' Benefits Program (PEBP).
• Vacation: Accrual of three weeks of annual leave each year.
• Sick Leave: Accrual of three weeks of sick leave each year.
• Holidays: 12 paid holidays per year.
• Retirement: Participation in the Nevada Public Employees Retirement System (PERS). Employees do not contribute to Social Security but will contribute to PERS if their position is at 50% or more full-time equivalency. For more information on how PERS service may impact Social Security benefits, visit the SSA publication.
• Deferred Compensation: The State offers a voluntary Deferred Compensation Program.
• No Nevada state income tax.
• Public Service Loan Forgiveness: Eligible due to public sector employment.
• Longevity Payments Eligibility: Employees who have received a performance rating of "standard" or better and have completed eight (8) or more years of continuous service are eligible for longevity pay.

Additional benefits

may apply to employees covered under a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), depending on their designated bargaining unit. For more information, visit the Labor Relations Unit (LRU).

For more details about your rights and responsibilities as a State of Nevada employee, please review the State of Nevada Employee Handbook (PDF).

• State Holidays The holiday schedule for State employees is established by the Legislature.

The Following Are Legal Holidays

• January 1.............................................. New Year's Day
• Third Monday in January.................. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday
• Third Monday in February................ Washington's Birthday
• Last Monday in May........................... Memorial Day
• June 19................................................ Juneteenth Day
• July 4.................................................... Independence Day
• First Monday in September.............. Labor Day
• Last Friday in October....................... Nevada Day
• November 11........................................ Veterans' Day
• Fourth Thursday in November........ Thanksgiving Day
• Friday following the Fourth Thursday in November...................... Family Day
• December 25........................................ Christmas Day

When January 1, June 19, July 4, November 11, or December 25 falls on a Saturday, the preceding Friday is the observed legal holiday. If these days fall on Sunday, the following Monday is the observed holiday. Eligibility for holiday pay is covered by the provisions of NAC 284.255

01

• Licensure or provisional licensure as a Social Worker, Clinical Social Worker, Independent Social Worker, or Associate in Social Work and one year of professional experience providing case management in child protective services, foster care services, adoption services, adult protective services, and/or guardianships in a social work setting.

02

• Yes
• No

03

• Yes
• No

04

• Yes
• No
• Required Question