Job Description

Work for Indiana

Begin a fulfilling career with the State of Indiana by joining one of the largest employers in the state, offering a diverse range of opportunities across 60+ agencies. At the state, you'll find competitive compensation, a robust benefits package and a commitment to work-life balance. Most importantly, you'll have the chance to make a real and measurable impact on the lives of Hoosiers across Indiana.

At the State of Indiana, we don’t just talk about diversity and inclusion—we make it our goal to create a welcoming, accessible, and equitable workplace with a workforce that is representative of Indiana's population. As a proud equal opportunity employer, reasonable accommodations may be available to enable individuals with disabilities to complete the application and interview process as well as perform the essential functions of a role.

About the Department of Child Services:

Join a team that engages with families and children to improve lives in meaningful and significant ways. DCS engages authentically with children who are victims of abuse or neglect and strengthens families through services that focus on family support and preservation. The Department also administers family preservation and prevention services, foster care, and child support throughout the State of Indiana. You will relentlessly pursue permanency for children and families through reunification, guardianship, adoption or support youth in making a successful transition to adulthood. While this job is difficult and may have long and sometimes unconventional hours, this is more than a job—it is a calling to improve your community and neighbors. Will you join us in supporting our Mission, Vision, and Values?  

Mission: The Indiana Department of Child Services leads the state’s response to allegations of child abuse and neglect and facilitates child support payments. We consider the needs and values of all we serve in our efforts to protect children while keeping families together whenever possible.  

Vision: Children will live in safe, healthy and supportive families and communities.  

Values: We at the Indiana Department of Child Services empower our team, in collaboration with state and local partners, to make decisions in the best interest of every child in our care by embracing:  

• Child Safety  
• Permanency  
• Collaborative partnerships with foster and adoptive families  
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion  
• A culture of safety and transparency  

• A commitment to continuous improvement  

Role Overview:

The Foster Care Case Manager serves as a foster family licensing worker within a Region of the Department of Child Services (DCS). The purpose of the position is to improve the provision of foster care services to children, by providing targeted and timely services related to foster care support, recruitment, licensing, and retention. Incumbent will work to decrease placement moves for children, increase availability and use of local placements, use more appropriate placements resulting from the enhanced ability to understand and match the needs and strengths of children with prospective foster caregivers, expedite the training and licensure of relatives, provide better customer service and support to foster parents, increase the quality and quantity of foster homes through the use of targeted recruitment strategies to meet regional needs, and provide greater support to Family Case Managers (FCM) in making placement determinations for children.

Salary:
This position traditionally starts at an annual salary of $47,320.00. Salary for this position may be commensurate with education and job experience.

A Day in the Life:

The essential functions of this role are as follows:

• Investigate reported incidents of child abuse, neglect, or dependency, makes determination of whether the incident is substantiated and develops recommendations to a Juvenile Court or County Director for disposition.
• Assess level of risk to the child for additional injury or harm, including whether the child is in imminent danger, and may remove the child from the family as the situation warrants, places child in a protected environment.
• Perform needs assessments to determine treatment options for families and children reported to be abused/neglected.
• Testify and prepare pre-dispositional, and progress reports maintains case files and develops briefing reports for the community child protection team. Develops “informal adjustment” plans with families and children to divert children from the juvenile justice system. 
• Develop case plans to assist families and children to become more self-sufficient in a safe and nurturing environment and to ensure a permanent home for the child. 
• Develop discharge/transition programming to assist families and children to attain and maintain self-sufficiency in a safe environment.
• Monitor and assess the service capability treatment programs and providers to ensure consistency with the case plan.
• Accept on-call responsibility as needed to receive and investigate allegations of child abuse/neglect.
• Conduct home studies, family histories and recommends placement for adoption to an adoption team. 
• Visit children in out-of-home placements to coordinate family reunification, adoption, or independent living efforts.
• Maintain data which provides management an opportunity to evaluate family and children needs on a trend analysis basis.

The job profile is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Other duties, responsibilities and activities may change or be assigned at any time with or without notice.

What You'll Need for Success:

You must meet the following requirements to be considered for employment: 

• Fulfill one of the following education/experience requirements:
  • Bachelor’s degree; or 
  • Associate degree with a minimum of two (2) years of human services job experience; or
  • Completion of thirty (30) college credit hours from an accredited institution with a minimum of four (4) years of human services job experience; or
  • A minimum of at least five (5) years of human services job experience
• Advanced knowledge of principles and practices of social work, casework, sociology and group and individual counseling including new methods and theories of treatment.
• Thorough knowledge of state and/or federal laws, regulations, guidelines, and standards affecting child protection services, foster care, family preservation and adoption.
• Thorough knowledge of related social services programs and ability to coordinate work among programs. 
• Specialized knowledge of the interrelationships of the various behavioral sciences as they affect care and treatment of patients/clients and/or objectives of social work projects.
• Ability to investigate and interview alleged victims and perpetrators of child abuse or neglect in an appropriate and effective manner.
• Ability to formulate and monitor project guidelines or treatment plans.
• Ability to prepare clear, accurate reports.
• Ability to work with families of diverse cultural/ethnic backgrounds with sensitivity to differences in child rearing practices, relationships and need.
• Ability to work with children with special needs such as mental or emotional conditions, the foster families, or the home willing to accept those children and the professionals who can appropriately provide services to them.
• Ability to exercise sound judgment while managing crises situations including those involving confrontational, aggressive adults being investigated for child abuse or neglect.

You must satisfy the following requirements to continue employment: 

• Must maintain a valid Driver's license. 

Supervisory Responsibilities/Direct Reports:

This role may be utilized in a supervisory capacity based on agency needs.

Benefits of Employment with the State of Indiana:

The State of Indiana offers a comprehensive benefit package for full-time employees which includes: 

• Three (3) medical plan options (including RX coverage) as well as vision and dental plans
• Wellness Rewards Program: Complete wellness activities to earn gift card rewards
• Health savings account, which includes bi-weekly state contribution
• Flexible work scheduling options, including the potential for hybrid remote work for employees whose work may be performed outside state facilities
• Deferred compensation 457B account (similar to 401k plan) with employer match
• Two (2) fully-funded pension plan options
• A robust, comprehensive program of leave policies covering a variety of employee needs, including but not limited to:
  • 150 hours of paid new parent leave
  • Up to 15 hours of paid community service leave
• Combined 180 hours of paid vacation, personal, and sick leave time off
• 12 paid holidays, 14 on election years
• Education Reimbursement Program
• Group life insurance
• Referral Bonus program
• Employee assistance program that allows for covered behavioral health visits
• Qualified employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program
• Free Parking for most positions
• Free LinkedIn Learning access

   

Equal Employment Opportunity:

The State of Indiana is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to recruiting, selecting, developing, and promoting employees based on individual ability and job performance. Our policy is to provide equal employment opportunity to all people in all aspects of employer-employee relations without discrimination because of race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability, or veteran status. We will comply with the spirit as well as the letter of all applicable state and federal laws. 

If you are a qualified individual with a disability and require reasonable accommodations to complete this application, you can request assistance by contacting the Indiana State Personnel Department at jobs@spd.IN.gov .

The State of Indiana has established a culture that welcomes equity, inclusion, and opportunity for all employees and applicants. We encourage you to apply if you feel you have the transferrable skills to be successful in this position and we look forward to reviewing your application.

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