Social Services Specialist III - Neighborhood Networks

The Department of Family Services (DFS), Division of Children, Youth and Families (CYF), is seeking engaged and dedicated Neighborhood Networks (NN) Social Services Specialist (SSS) III candidates to serve in various locations across Fairfax County's diverse communities.

DFS is committed to strengthening the well-being of its diverse community by protecting and improving the lives of all children, adults, and families through assistance, partnership, advocacy, outreach, and quality services. To learn more about DFS and its Mission, Vision, and Values, please click here.

This position supports the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Services' Neighborhood Networks program.

Neighborhood Networks is a prevention-focused program that partners with select Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) and Head Start programs to provide interventions that prevent child abuse and neglect. This collaboration strengthens connections between families and their communities, enhances protective factors and parental capacities, and promotes self-advocacy and resilience.

This role works in close partnership with families to build protective factors by:

• Building parenting skills,
• Supporting healthy child development and well-being, and
• Helping to create supportive, nurturing environments where children can thrive with the support of case management services.

• Providing voluntary wraparound case management and home visiting services to families referred by Fairfax County Public Schools and community partners.
• Conducting comprehensive assessments - using various tools - of family strengths, needs, and risks; addressing immediate crisis needs when applicable.
• Supporting families in overcoming barriers, accessing resources, and improving overall functioning.
• Assisting families in developing natural support systems, including formal and informal supports.
• Entering and maintaining accurate and timely client records in agency information systems.
• Participating in community meetings, promoting prevention services, and supporting community partners.
• Facilitating and participating in family service planning and multidisciplinary team meetings in partner schools, and implementing service plans with clear, measurable goals and objectives to ensure family needs are addressed.
• Collaborating with schools, other county agencies, community organizations, businesses, and professionals to strengthen family functioning, build natural support networks, and promote children's school success.
• Assisting with training new staff, providing unit trainings, and offering supervisory coverage as needed.
• Working a flexible schedule, including evenings and weekends.
• Performing other duties as assigned to ensure child safety, improve family outcomes, and support other Children, Youth and Families (CYF) program areas as needed.

(The illustrative duties listed in this specification are representative of the class but are not an all-inclusive list. A complete list of position duties and unique physical requirements can be found in the position job description.)

Contributes to the development of protocols, policies, procedures, grants and contracts for a social services program, department, and other entities;
Manages service contracts and provides and directs other contract-related functions;
Assists the supervisor in planning and carrying out training for new staff, providing guidance to staff;
May directly supervise staff, and covers for the supervisor in their absence;
Serves as a policy expert in an area of social work specialization;
Coordinates or oversees the daily activities of a program or project to include staff supervision, oversight of administrative functions/requirements associated with the program or project, evaluation of the program or project for its impact/effectiveness, and making recommendations for changes or improvements;
Conducts comprehensive clinical assessments and prepares and implements service plans;
Works with clients to develop a plan of service to meet social, health, emotional and economic needs;
With the client, formulates objectives and identifies actions to resolve the clients' problems;
Conducts home visits to families for the purpose of monitoring, counseling and supervision;
Works with the community to identify families, children and individuals needing services and to coordinate these services using a wrap-around approach;
Advocates and assists families and individuals in obtaining services (e.g., mental health, intellectual disability, alcohol and drug, housing referrals, home based services, training and medical services);
Communicates and works with colleagues, clients and the community in a manner that supports the agency and program goals and objectives;
Participates as a contributing member on interagency, multi-disciplinary teams, community groups and professional organizations;
Collaborates and contributes to child specific teams on non-agency cases as assigned to assist in identifying community resources and services for families;
Participates, collaborates and contributes to Comprehensive Services Act activities for families on caseload;
Provides training and education on a variety of social work topics;
Uses automated technology and hard copy files to maintain and update case data, notes, documents, records, contacts and summaries of information;
Manages and maintains program data and outcomes.

(The knowledge, skills and abilities listed in this specification are representative of the class but are not an all-inclusive list.)

Thorough knowledge of the principles and practices of social work;
Thorough knowledge of current social service problems and methods/approaches to address issues;
Thorough knowledge of regulations and guidelines relating to the assigned area of social service specialization;
Knowledge of casework supervision practices and procedures;
Ability to analyze case information and to reach sound decisions on the basis of such information;
Ability to communicate clearly and concisely, both orally and in writing;
Ability to use automated technology to establish and maintain case records;
Ability to maintain professional ethics and confidentiality of client information;
Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships with a variety of individuals.;
Ability to schedule and manage workload sufficiently to meet deadlines;
Ability to provide guidance, direction, supervision and coaching to less-experienced staff;
Ability to provide management and oversight of a program or project.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:
Minimum of a bachelor's degree in a human services field ORminimum of a bachelor's degree in any field with a minimum of two years of appropriate and related experience in a suman services area (Section 22VAC40-670-20 of the Administrative Code of Virginia).

In order to be evaluated for positions in the Family Services Occupational Group, individuals who do not meet the degree requirement at the time of application for employment must be in their last semester of a degree program that will meet the requirements listed above.

Contingent upon the area of assignment, some positions within this class may require specific certification(s) or experience prior to employment and/or the ability to acquire necessary certification(s) within a specified time period following employment. The certifications and preferred qualifications are identified in the position description and employment advertisement.

• Master's degree in social work (MSW) or a related human services degree.
• Three years of professional social work.
• Prior experience in child welfare and/or case management. Child welfare is the continuum of services designed to ensure that children are safe and that families have the necessary support to care for their children successfully.
• Experience working in multi-disciplinary teams and networking to access community-based resources.
• Experience with school personnel; either working with or collaborating with them.
• Experience conducting home visits.
• Experience with a diverse multicultural population.