Sr. Social Worker

Washington County (MN); Penn Hills (Allegheny County); On-site; USD 80,000 - 109,000; Full time

Job summary

Washington County is seeking a Senior Social Worker to join the Hiring, Onboarding & Training Team (HOT). You will train and mentor new child protection social workers, provide case coverage across investigations, PSOP, Family Assessment, or ongoing cases, and help colleagues navigate challenging visits.

The role requires strong problem-solving and collaboration skills to strengthen the children’s division.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Social Work or related field and four years of full-time Social Worker experience.
• Master's Degree may substitute for up to one year of required experience.
• Experience working with diverse populations and challenging cases.

Responsibilities

• Provide assessment and case management services for eligible individuals or families.
• Lead intensive consultations with staff for case planning and program services.
• Develop plans for specialized program grants and evaluate outcomes.
• Coordinate and lead multidisciplinary teams on complex cases.

Skills

Training & mentoring

Consultation

Multidisciplinary teamwork

Creative problem solving

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Social Work or related field

Master's Degree in Social Work may substitute for up to one year

Job description

This Senior Social Worker position is a child protection position located on the Hiring, Onboarding & Training Team (HOT). The role of the Senior Social Worker joining the HOT Team will work in supporting our workforce, including training and mentoring new social workers in child protection, providing case coverage, helping colleagues navigate challenging situations, and jumping in wherever support is needed. The senior in this position typically carries a reduced caseload in order for them to be more available to provide support to the children’s division.

This position is a great fit for someone who is passionate about supporting colleagues, enjoys teaching and training, and thrives on variety. You may find yourself:

• Training and supporting new child protection social workers as they develop their skills and confidence
• Providing coverage for a wide variety of cases and programs—from an investigation to a PSOP, Family Assessment, or ongoing case. Helping license a foster home
• Going out with a colleague on a difficult or challenging visit
• Brainstorming creative solutions when a colleague or team needs help
• Stepping in to meet an unexpected need or provide coverage
• Learning and developing expertise across all areas of child protection and child welfare

The right person for this role is someone who sees a need and jumps in, enjoys solving problems creatively, and genuinely values the opportunity to make their colleagues' work better and more manageable. The HOT Team will continue to grow over the next six months as we incorporate MAAFPCWDA services into our work. This means this position will have a unique opportunity to help shape and build a team that supports multiple program areas. We are looking for a Senior Social Worker who is excited not only about the work itself, but also about helping create a healthy, collaborative, supportive team culture as the team continues to evolve.

DESIRABLE EXPERIENCE

• Four years providing Child Welfare/Child Protection Social work in a county setting
• Paid work experience with and providing services to individuals from a variety of cultural, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds
• Experience providing consultation, coaching/training, or technical assistance to social workers and/or supervisors
• Work collaboratively within multidisciplinary teams

SELECTION TECHNIQUE

Your training and experience will be rated based on the required application material submitted and the top scoring candidates will be forwarded to the hiring department for further consideration.

HOURS/DAYS

8:00 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday. Work schedules (hours and days) and location are subject to change based on department needs.

ANTICIPATED HIRING RANGE

$79,705.60 - $108,784.00 Annually

E-Verify Participation

Washington County participates in the federal E-Verify program. This means that Washington County will provide the Social Security Administration (SSA) and, if necessary, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with information from each new employee's Form I-9 to confirm work authorization. If the Government cannot confirm that you are authorized to work, Washington County is required to give you written instructions and an opportunity to contact DHS and/or the SSA before taking adverse action against you, including terminating your employment. Employers may not use E-Verify to pre-screen job applicants and may not limit or influence the choice of documents you present for use on the Form I-9.

E- Verify Participation

Right to work Poster

The Social Worker, Senior is a lead professional position with significant responsibility for performing complex work in the development, implementation, provision, evaluation and fiscal management of services, programs, grants, and contracts.

Client assignments of a Senior Social Worker may include more complex, sensitive or difficult cases than Social Workers l and ll and is also responsible for the consultation, training and support to Social Workers and professionals in and outside the agency.

A Senior Social Worker may be assigned duties in any of the following units: Family/Children, Licensing, Chemical Health, Adult Mental Health, Development Disabilities, Adult Family Services, Minnesota Family Investment Program/WorkForce Center or Housing.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS: This position requires a Bachelors Degree in Social Work or related field and four years of full-time work experience as a Social Worker in a public human services agency and/or a private human services agency that contracts services with a public human services agency. A Master's Degree in Social Work or related field may substitute for up to one year of required Social Worker experience. Required Social Work experience must have occurred after receipt of Bachelor's Degree.

CORE COMPETENCIES, JOB SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES REQUIRED FOR SUCCESSFUL JOB PERFORMANCE outline essential business and professional traits necessary to perform this job.

• Support and prioritize a welcoming and respectful workplace that fosters diversity and encourages contributions from all individuals.
• Provide inclusive and equitable service to all members of the community with dignity and respect.
• Demonstrate support for the County’s diversity, equity and inclusion program.
• Promotes a culture of continuous quality improvement in the workplace.
• Demonstrates knowledge of, or ability to learn, quality/continuous improvement.
• Demonstrates knowledge of social and economic problems and family systems.
• Demonstrates knowledge of interviewing techniques and skills at conducting interviews.
• Demonstrates skills in assessing danger to self and others and can safely intervene in dangerous situations.
• Demonstrates ability to translate complex information into understandable messages.
• Demonstrates ability to apply principles, techniques, ethics and practices of Social Work.
• Demonstrates ability to follow state, federal and county relevant laws, rules, regulations and policies.
• Demonstrates ability to utilize previously acquired knowledge and skills to identify and solve complex situations.
• Demonstrates ability to seek any on-going training requirements of the state Department of Human Services.
• Demonstrates ability to function comfortably in and knowledgeable of legal and court proceedings.
• Demonstrates ability to serve as a consultant to staff and reviews work of staff to assure compliance to relevant laws, rules, policies and procedures.

1. Provide assessment and case management services for eligible individuals or families.
2. Assist clients in obtaining financial support (Social Security benefits, child support, housing, medical care and treatment for chemical or mental health needs).
3. Assess continued client eligibility for county provided services as needed.
4. Lead intensive consultations with staff and service providers for case planning, specialized programs and agency procedures.
5. Strive to keep clients at home through the use of other community resources and waivers funded by state and federal sources.
6. Explain legal processes and county systems to client families and community partners.
7. Maintain frequent and ongoing client contact either in-person or over the phone.
8. Provide leadership and guidance to staff team members.
9. Provide leadership, team development, direction and case consultation to unit staff.
10. Collaborate frequently with team members for consultation on team cases and for review of diagnostic assessments.
11. Participate in staff performance evaluations.
12. Keep supervisor appraised of issues and problems.
13. Assume supervisory duties when supervisor is unavailable.
14. Evaluates training needs, Designs and provides specialized training and orientation to staff as well as service providers.
15. Assists with department administration.
16. Assist in the preparation of program budgets, contracts and reports.
17. Compile statistical information and prepare reports.
18. Prepare RFPs.
19. Develop plans for specialized program grants.
20. Design, recommend, implement and evaluate designated programs, policies and procedures.
21. Make recommendations for changes to make current practices more efficient.
22. Analyze and interpret state/federal rules and regulations.
23. Promote culturally competent social work practices.
24. Raise Community awareness and support of social work issues.
25. Design and facilitate specialized training and orientation to the community.
26. Represent the department in the community, at policy forums and at inter-agency meetings.
27. Coordinate and/or lead various task forces, committees and multi-disciplinary teams at the local and state level.
28. Perform all duties of a Social Worker II and may include management of a complex caseload.

Performs other duties as assigned. Essential functions: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, and 28.

WORK ENVIRONMENT

Semi-sedentary involving office and outside field work. Lifting requirement may include lifting up to 20 pounds. Exposures may include but not be limited to disagreeable odors, communicable diseases, bodily fluids and behavior challenges. Use of general office equipment to include telephone, cell phone, pager, personal computer, laptop computer, electronic recorder, calculator, etc. Additional physical/mental requirements that occur may not be listed above but are inherent in performing the position's essential functions.

This job description is intended to describe the kinds of tasks and level of work difficulty being performed by people assigned to this classification. The list of responsibilities is not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. The County retains the discretion to add or change the contents of this job description at any time.