Foster Care Support Specialist

NAYA Family Center seeks a community oriented and experienced foster care or social services professional to help serve our community as our Foster Care, Support Specialist. The Foster Care Support Specialist is responsible for case management of Native American youth in foster care in both state and tribal out of care systems. Duties center on case management and include advocacy and attention to the multiple needs of youth in foster care, as well as providing family support to relative and foster families raising non-birth children. This position is primarily a direct service position (80%), with the balance of the time (20%) spent performing administrative tasks. 

NAYA recognizes 14 paid holidays per fiscal year. Additional paid time off includes accruals of sick and vacation hours; vacation time is based on tenure with the agency. NAYA also provides medical, dental, and vision insurance, a Flexible Spending Account, and Life Insurance. Employees may enroll in a 401K retirement plan after 3 months of employment and NAYA will match employee contribution to their 401K, up to 6%.  

This is a full-time role with work hours of 9 am to 6 pm with a one hour unpaid lunch. Once training and onboarding are complete, there may be flexibility to work from home 1-2 days / week. 

 What you'll do: 

•  Provide a full range of case management services onsite of the main NAYA Campus or one of the NAYA properties with approved preplanning to foster care youth and their families, including: 
•  Implementing thorough, accurate, and timely client file management techniques (both electronic and paper records management) in compliance with funding sources, strength-based interventions, and priorities of the Family Services Director and Executive Director. 
• Develop and implement a full range of enrichment and cultural arts programs (such as workshops and group classes, one-on-one enrichment and cultural arts activities, and monthly events for families involved in the child welfare system). 
• Maintain ongoing contact with youth and foster families on caseload (which may include youth in state and tribal Foster Care and Independent Living Programs, as well as youth emancipated from foster care). 
• Acquire and utilize resources made available through collaboration with other agencies to meet additional needs of clients and their families (such as local and state public, private and tribal social services agencies). 
• Develop curriculum and facilitate group work for onsite service delivery. 
• Disburse client assistance funds including family grants, support services, youth bus tickets and school supplies in compliance with funding sources and Family Services Department priorities. 
• Lead client data on a weekly basis, assisting and/or preparing periodic reports.

Who you are:

• Bachelor’s degree in social work or related field required or a combination of equivalent education and lived experience may be an acceptable substitute. 
• Knowledge and understanding of the Indian Child Welfare Act required. 
• Knowledge and understanding of the services provided by DHS (Department of Human Services) Child Welfare required.
• Knowledge of local community resources, emergency services, and social service agencies, especially with low-income and ethnic minority clientele required. 
• Ability to meet multiple, sometimes conflicting deadlines or workload demands by applying strong organizational systems and efficiently managing time.
• Ability to stay composed and exercise good judgment in stressful situations, such as dealing with distressed and/or demanding clients.
• Ability to consistently apply sound decision-making procedures and a thorough analysis of the situation  when solving problems 

Read the full job description.

Questions? Want to chat about this role before you decide to apply? Contact Elisha Big Back, Foster Care Services Manager or NAYA HR at jobs@nayapdx.org.