Foster Care Family Worker

Position Summary

This position plays a critical supportive role for youth and families navigating the child welfare system, often with limited preparation or support. The role engages directly with families to guide them through the foster care licensing process, ensure their needs are addressed, and provide ongoing placement support. It works closely with kinship caregivers, many of whom enter the child welfare system unexpectedly or unwillingly. This position is well suited for individuals with excellent communication and interpersonal skills, the ability to manage complex deadlines, and a strong commitment to maintaining appropriate personal and professional boundaries.

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. BIPOC and diverse candidates are encouraged to apply.

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. Listens to understand meanings; communicates 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

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 in 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. Every 6 months, set 2 personal goals for growth in Diversity Equity Inclusion work, and share progress.

15. Participate in monthly discussions or learnings about Diversity Equity Inclusion topics at team meetings.

These are intended to describe the general nature and level of work for this role. It is not an exhaustive list of all responsibilities, duties and skills required for this job. Additional functions within the same scope are expected.

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.

Work Environment

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 9:00a-5:00p with evening hours required approximately twice per week to meet with families in their homes, an essential function of this role. This role occasionally has weekend hours for training, outreach or events.

The Next Step

Go to https://www.evolvefamilyservices.org/employment to learn more about our benefits, our cause, our culture, and to apply.