In Home Outreach Counselor

This position provides intensive services to families in the Family Preservation (FP) Program in-home or wherever it is most beneficial for the family. The In-Home Outreach Counselor provides a full range of services, including family assessments within scope of practice, service planning, case management, crisis intervention, linkage/referral and advocacy.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Supports and promotes the mission of the Agency: Foothill Family empowers children and families on their journey to achieve personal success.
• Provides services to Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and Probation referred families who meet the Family Preservation Alternative Response Services - Emergency Response Referrals, Open DCFS/Probation Open case, and Intensive Family Preservation target population criteria.
• Encompasses Engaging, Teaming, Assessment, Planning & Intervention, and Tracking & Adapting into services delivered as guided by the values and principles of the Core Practice Model.
• Provides strengths-based, trauma-informed care within scope of practice and focuses on building Protective Factors of Parental Resilience, Social Connections, Knowledge of Parenting and Child Development, Concrete Support in Times of Need, and Social and Emotional Competence of Children.
• Facilitates and updates the Family Assessment Form (FAF), Protective Factors Survey, and other tools to assess and monitor family strengths and needs.
• Works collaboratively with the family, DCFS and Probation staff, as an active member of the Multidisciplinary Case Planning Committee (MCPC), as well as Team Decision Making/Child and Family Team (TDM/CFT) meetings.
• Develops comprehensive treatment plans, monitors progress toward court ordered and non-court ordered treatments/case plan goals.
• Drives or arranges transportation for clients, parents and children as appropriate and necessary to ensure that service needs are met.
• Drives to clients' home, school, community or Agency offices to provide field-based services to clients and families as assigned and based on the families' needs and availability.
• Provides in-home case management services at a minimum of 4 times per month for each assigned family.
• Provides services in alternative locations of the family's choice and may be more frequent at the beginning of services or during critical times in the family's life.
• Maintains a minimum of 10-15 family case load.
• Assists families to develop the skills necessary in improving, maintaining or restoring their functioning.
• Engages families to develop service plans collaboratively.
• Works collaboratively with therapists, county staff, school personnel and parents/guardians to ensure progress.
• Reinforces positive parenting skills to increase parent's ability to meet their child's needs for healthy physical, social and emotional development.
• Arranges for/links families to Supplemental Services and resources needed to support achievement of their goals.
• Provides services including but not limited to: teaching and demonstrating homemaking, budgeting, case management, assisting parents in accessing translation, tutoring, help access respite care, educational support, parenting support, crisis counseling, domestic violence services, behavioral management, medication education, stress management, mentoring/role model for the parent, psychosocial skills training.
• Provides services that are flexible and in tune with the needs of individual families, while maintaining open communication among the team.
• Provides care or services to minors or comes into contact with minors as part of their job duties.
• Provides services relating to the administration of public funds or benefits, including eligibility for public funds or public benefits.
• Assists in monitoring the children and families to ensure child safety.
• Identifies risk factors for child abuse or neglect, develops treatment plans to lower the risk to children and report any cases of suspected child abuse or neglect as required by California child abuse reporting law.
• Documents all interventions and assessments and submits all required documents within deadlines.
• Assists accounting in the collection of complete and accurate information necessary for invoicing.
• Effectively represents the Agency at community meetings; effectively consults with other agencies, Department of Children and Family Services, other county departments, and schools.
• Provides on-call emergency response to clients.
• Attends weekly supervision and team meetings.
• Prepares for supervision and incorporates supervisor's input into service provision.
• Works effectively and cooperatively with other Agency staff, collaborating when appropriate.
• Attends in-person meetings and events at various locations within the Los Angeles County and surrounding areas.
• Displays sensitivity to the service population's cultural and socioeconomics characteristics.
• Performs work in a safe manner at all times and ensures that other individuals do not put themselves or others at risk.
• Follows all policies, procedures and legal mandates including HIPAA, client releases of information, protected health information (PHI) and client files.
• Ensures performance and behaviors support the Agency's performance quality improvement (PQI) goals and objectives.
• Reports to work on time and maintains reliable and regular attendance.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

POSITION REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor of Arts from an accredited school in social work, psychology, marriage and family therapy or a closely related field.
• Minimum 6 months Case Management or in-home experience
• Must be available to work primarily in the afternoons and evenings and available to provide after-hours on-call coverage.
• Experience providing culturally competent services to diverse populations.
• Experience in providing direct service to individuals, families and groups.
• Experience in providing child abuse treatment.
• Experience working with at risk families such as pregnant/parenting teens, families with children 0 to 3, youth/adolescents involved in juvenile justice/probation system.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Demonstrated effectiveness at navigating and using Foothill Family's Electronic Health Records System (EHRS).
• Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to work cooperatively as a team member.
• Ability to be an excellent representative of the Agency to the community.
• Knowledge and sensitivity to cultural differences.
• Valid CA Driver's License and maintains insurability on the Agency's auto liability policy (including a minimum of 2 years driving experience) and maintains the California state required auto insurance liability limits.
• Bilingual English/Spanish skills preferred.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.