IHOC Assessor

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 IHO Assessor provides a full range of services, including family assessments (i.e., Family Assessment Form (FAF) and Behavioral Severity Assessment Program (BSAP), service planning, case management, crisis intervention, linkage/referral and advocacy. Additionally, the Assessor provides upfront FP Assessments.

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.
• Conducts and completes upfront Emergency Response Referral Assessments with families referred by the Department of Children and Family Services' (DCFS) Regional Office.
• Provides a written assessment report specific to observations and opinions about the referred family's overall functioning, mental health history, substance abuse, and domestic violence history and makes recommendations regarding the impact, if any, such factors have on the parent/caregiver's ability to safety care for child.
• Recommends and links families to services as identified in the initial assessment.
• Provides services to DCFS and Probation referred families who meet the Family Preservation Alternative Response Services - Emergency Response Referrals, Open DCFS/Probation Open case, and Intensive FP 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 service plans and recommendations, 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. Services may be provided in an alternative location of the family's choice and may be more frequent at the beginning of services or during critical times in the family's life.
• 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.
• Maintains a minimum of 10-15 family caseload.
• 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.
• 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 completes and submits all required documents within deadlines.
• Assists accounting in the collection of complete and accurate information necessary for invoicing.
• 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 as needed.
• Attends weekly supervision and team meetings.
• Prepares for supervision and able to incorporate supervisor's input into service provision.
• Follows all legal mandates and agency guidelines on confidentiality, reporting of child abuse and neglect and recording in case records.
• 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

• Master's degree from accredited social work, marriage and family therapy, or psychology program.
• 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.
• Experience in providing treatment to children with serious emotional problems.
• Good computer 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 make sound judgments and follow and give complex directions.
• Ability to define problems, collect data, establish facts, and draw valid conclusions.
• 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.