Children’s Home & Aid invites you to join our team of mission-driven staff who share a common vision: an equitable world where all children and families thrive in strong communities. As a leading child and family service agency with more than 20 locations across Illinois, our mission is to advance the well-being of children by investing in families to disrupt the systemic and multi-generational cycle of racial, social and economic inequality.

Our full-time staff receive competitive salaries and a generous benefits package, including a paid leave accrual rate that starts at two weeks annually and grows to more than five weeks of paid time off each year, as well as a paid winter break that occurs the week between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. We strive to hold ourselves and each other accountable for fostering an inclusive work culture where we can be our authentic selves, where we create and have equitable opportunities, and where our voices are supported and encouraged.

The Foster Care Specialist is a critical member of the region’s child welfare team, working collaboratively within and across programs to ensure a relentless focus on keeping children safe and supporting families, consistent with our agency's Blueprint for Impact, which includes replacing what we currently think of as child welfare services with what we know to be child, family, and community well-being solutions. As a Foster Care Specialist, you will gain experience in collaborating with families who have an indicated report of abuse or neglect to work towards a safe reunification or an alternative permanency plan to ensure the wellbeing of every child. Your daily routine will involve providing comprehensive and trauma-informed case management services to a reduced case load of families involved in the child welfare system, and providing supplemental services to families assigned to Advanced and Lead Specialists. With support from your supervisor and the Lead Specialist on your team, you will be supported in developing the required competencies to be promoted into an Advanced Specialist position within 6-12 months of hire.

What you’ll do:

• Provide case management services to a reduced case load of children and families involved in the child welfare system, as well as supplemental services to families assigned to an Advanced or Lead Specialist on your team.
• Work closely with your supervisor and Lead Specialist to develop the competencies required to be promoted into an Advanced Specialist position.
• Actively participate in and successfully complete all modules of the agency's Foster Care Training series.
• Assess the safety and needs of children and families and help to plan services.
• Engage biological families to assist them in strengthening their parenting skills and knowledge.
• Provide support to foster families to ensure the needs of the foster children are consistently and appropriately met.
• Establish collaborative relationships with service providers and institutions that play a role in the family’s situation.
• Monitor biological families’ efforts and progress towards goals aimed at family reunification and document this progress in regular case notes and court reports.
• Provide testimony in the Juvenile Court System regarding the best interest of children and families.

Who you are:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work or a closely related field required.
• You have a Child Welfare Employee License (CWEL), Child Endangerment Risk Assessment Protocol (CERAP), and Child Abuse and Neglect (CANS) certification, or you’re able to obtain within 90 days of hire.
• You are an effective communicator, both verbally and in writing; the ability to communicate in both English and Spanish desirable but not required.
• You have experience providing collaborative, strength-based services to kids and families, and you’re looking for an opportunity to partner with families to help them thrive.
• You believe all families should be afforded the opportunity to work towards reunification.
• You are excited to collaborate with all the important people in a child’s life including their parents, relatives, foster parents, teachers, and service providers.
• You believe every child has the right to a safe and permanent home where they are loved and well cared for.
• You are willing and passionate to learn how systems and biases impact the Child Welfare system and you are excited to work for an agency who recognizes the need to be antiracist and address systemic barriers.
• You enjoy working autonomously but also value working with a team to reach shared goals.
• You are able to attend in-person meetings and events as needed, and you have a valid driver's license, insurance, and a reliable vehicle.

The Details:

• Location: Hybrid (remote/in office); majority of your time will be spent in Cook County completing home visits to foster homes or meeting with clients in an agency office or community setting, with other opportunities to complete service documentation and other case coordination from your preferred location (in office, or remotely). Home office is 100 N. Western Ave.
• Schedule: Full-time, salaried; general business hours with some flexibility required for accommodating client’s schedules and special projects. On call responsibilities on a shared rotation.
• Staff are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and to submit proof of their vaccination status before their start date unless they have an agency approved medical or religious exemption.

Compensation & Benefits:

• Salary: $43,225/annual ($45,325/annual for qualified English/Spanish bilingual candidates).

• Opportunity for Promotion: Eligibility for promotion into an Advanced Specialist role within 6-12 months of hire which includes a $5,400 salary increase.

• Additional compensation: One-time $3,000 CWEL recognition payment (issued 60 days after hire or 60 days after issue date).
• Noncash benefits: Medical/dental/vision insurance, paid time off plus 11 paid holidays, supplemental insurance options, 401(k) with match (more benefits details here).
• Winter Break: The agency is closed between Christmas Day and New Year’s Day. This paid break allows staff to spend time with their families around the holidays without using their accrued time off balances.
• Student Loan Forgiveness: Children's Home & Aid is an approved agency for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).

Where you work matters.

You’re considering a new position, so no one knows better than you that where you work matters. We believe that by building diverse teams of passionate advocates for youth and families, we can continue to show up for Illinois families, putting those families at the center of every decision, and strengthening the communities where we all work, play, and live together. (More about who we are here.)

We invite you to become an active member of a team that supports, inspires, and challenges each other, and grow your career in an organization that celebrates emerging leaders and provides development and training opportunities aligned with your individual goals and aspirations. If you are looking for an opportunity to do meaningful work, including raising your voice to disrupt the status quo, we encourage you to apply today.

Review our agency’s blueprint for impact:

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)