Family Services Specialist IV

Hiring Range: $45591 to $58000

Full Time or Part Time: Full Time

Additional Detail

This is the beginning leadership level in the occupational group for Family Services. Employees function as a lead worker for subordinate family services specialists and/or acts as an expert resource specialist. Employees serve as support for the supervisor by performing tasks such as ensuring staff coverage, workload balance, training staff, reviewing case files, and providing back-up supervision of staff. Employees may provide consultation on complex cases and may also work on complex case assignments such as individual and group therapy, crisis intervention, case management, client advocacy, prevention, and education.

Employees work within established policies, procedures and guidelines with a high degree of independence, seeking supervisory assistance only in unusually complicated and difficult cases/situations.
The Family Services Specialists IV class is distinguished from the Family Services Supervisor class by the latter’s spending a majority of time in supervisory activities such as handling personnel issues, problems, and evaluating the work of others.

• Provides persons, families, or vulnerable populations with the psychosocial support needed to cope with chronic, acute, or terminal illnesses, neglect and abuse;
• Ensures that reports of suspected abuse/neglect are assigned to appropriate staff;
• Ensures that the local department has staff on duty 24 hours per day, seven days per week to respond to reports of abuse/neglect;
• Provides guidance, consultation and supervision to other staff in the absence of the supervisor;
• Prepares social histories and psychosocial diagnoses and develops treatment plans which identify problems, clinical methods for dealing with them, and the means by which services will be provided either within the agency or through referral to other community resources;
• Represents the agency in both civil and criminal court proceedings which involves interpreting laws, filing petitions, preparing court records, testifying before the court, preparing witnesses for examination, and compiling evidence;
• Provides direct intervention and service delivery for difficult, complex social work cases, and coordinates casework;
• Develops and conducts training for staff, interns and other professionals in the community;
• Supervises social work interns by guiding them in their service delivery, assessing their strengths and weaknesses, and communicating with the school liaison about their progress;
• Conducts field visits to residential facilities, consults with therapists and residential staff and participates in the staffing and planning of meetings;
• Functions as a lead worker providing guidance and training to other staff;
• May perform same functions described in Family Services Specialist III; and
• Coordinates program functions, develops programs, and evaluates materials.

Comprehensive knowledge of: social work principles and practices; human behavior and motivational theory; laws, policies, and regulations relating to human services program areas; investigating and interviewing techniques; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders; principles and processes for providing customer and personal services to include needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of satisfaction; principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance;

and therapeutic treatment technique. Some knowledge of supervisory practices and principles if required in specific assignment.

Skill in: operating a personal computer and the associated software; and the operation of a motor vehicle.

Demonstrated ability to: provide guidance and training in program areas to other employees if required in specific assignment; write court reports, home studies, evaluations, mediation agreements, letters, committee reports, presentations, and general information; make clinical judgments, assess…