Under assigned supervisor the Adoption Specialist 1 meets with families in their homes at various hours of the day including evenings, nights, and weekends, in potentially high risk neighborhoods; focuses on the prevention of inappropriate out-of-home placement, strengthening and improving family functioning, and ensuring child safety, and assists the prospective adoptive family in achieving adoption of children in their care.
• Arranges match staffing’s for prospective adoptive families
• Assist individuals and families in crisis in a way that promotes positive change, growth development and safety for all families
• Attends all recruitment and match events
• Attends and is prepared for internal TPR cases with supervisors and case management at least once a month
• Attends court hearings, prepares, and files all court documents within required timeframes
• Completes adopt only home studies, child studies, OTI and ICPC adoption home studies and subsidy files
• Conducts full disclosures for potential adoptive families
• Conducts visits with children and prospective adoptive families that include the ongoing assessment of child safety, permanency, and well-being
• Continually assesses risk of abuse, neglect, and threatened harm by gathering appropriate information
• Engages and assesses families from a strengths-based perspective
• Ensures children are registered on the adoption exchange within 10 days of termination of parental rights
• Ensures that post placement supervision is completed within one week of the child being placed in the identified prospective adoptive family’s home
• Facilitates placement and delivery services in collaboration with biological, foster, and adoptive families, including appropriate referrals
• Maintains a working knowledge of the Adoption Program Administrative Rule (Chapter 65C-16)
• Meets with the Adoption team on a regular basis and as required by the Adoption Supervisor
• Completes home visits with children in the home at least twice a month upon a matched placement
• Performs adoption related responsibilities in accordance with state and federal laws, Department of Children and Families Administrative Codes and Operating Procedures, funding source policies, and internal policies on child abuse, abandonment, and neglect within
required time frames
• Prepares staffing packets for the adoption review committee upon a denial of an adoption home study
• Serves as a conduit of information between all parties to the case and identified stakeholders including medical, educational, and mental health providers
• Utilizes empowerment approaches to provide case plan development with children and families
• Performs other related duties as assigned
Special Placement Information:
The agency is accepting MSW 1st year students