Progressive Life Center, Inc. (PLC) is a Black-led organization, providing culturally-sensitivity human services to children, youth and families in the District of Columbia and surrounding Maryland, throughout Greater Philadelphia, and in most of Delaware. PLC’s array of community-based services includes foster care and adoption, independent living for youth aging out of foster care, family preservation, juvenile diversion, and parenting skills training. For more than two decades, PLC has earned accreditation from the prestigious Council on Accreditation (COA) for its demonstration of excellence in the delivery of services and achievement of outcomes. Learn more at ProgressiveLifeCenter.org.

Program Overview:

The Philadelphia NIA Resource Home Care program provides general, and treatment foster care services for children and youth from infancy to 21 years of age. Philadelphia NIA recruits, trains and licenses new resources for foster families/homes and provides support to foster parents, children and youth, and biological parents.

As a result of our efforts, we are proud to report that the Philadelphia Nia Foster Care Program ranked in the top five, treatment foster care, programs in Philadelphia City with the highest permanency rates for fiscal year 2014.

Program Responsibilities:

• Referral liaison between DHS and CYS agencies
• Conduct pre-placement meeting with prospective parent, foster child, biological parent, and placing vendor.
• Monitor all intake referral systems (daily), complete a thorough clinical review of referral summaries and careful matching children/teens adhering to PLC placement protocols.
• Develop presenting behavioral synopsis and recommendations for potential parents.
• Receive, process, and manage CUA child placement and kinship licensing referrals and workload until transferred to Foster Care caseworkers or Resource Parent Support Workers.
• Review, evaluate, & request additional information for intake placement from referrals sources/websites
• Increase intake placements by (3) new child/teen placements a week for foster care programs by developing at least (4) new foster care homes per month.
• Follow COA/DHS/State protocol/mandates for child/teen placements.
• Transition placements/cases from other agencies.
• Select matching of children in need of respite.
• Management of PA Foster Parent Registry and any child placement databases.
• Management of Inquiry, Pipeline, & Alpha List along with the daily call list for foster care placements
• Conduct weekly placement and finance meetings to confirm accurate and appropriate child placements.
• Attend intake workshops with foster parents and staff.
• Weekly submission of movements/discharges/transfers/respites to accounting department & foster care program director.
• Attend and facilitate pre-service training and orientation, when requested.
• Maintain a licensing caseload of 6-10 monthly to contribute to developing new foster homes.
• Enter and maintain accurate data into the FAMCare system.
• Carry, monitor, and report all emergencies or after hour calls to on-call phone at least one week a month.
• Other duties as assigned.

Additional Selection Criteria:

• Sensitivity to and competence in the cultural differences that are present among service population.
• Ability to forge a mutually respectful partnership with persons served and their families in which they are helped to gain the skills and confidence to address any issues and problems they face.
• Conviction about the capacity of people to grow and change.
• Ability to work in partnership with other team members.
• Ability to set limits and maintain the helping role of the practitioner and to intervene appropriately to meet the needs of the persons served or other family members.
• Ability to drive a vehicle to perform several of the essential functions of this position.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in psychology, social work, counseling, education or other human service field from accredited college or university.
• Minimum one (3) year experience licensing foster homes, and working with children, youth and families in foster care settings.
• Experience in human services training.
• Experience utilizing MS Office Suite and databases.
• Exhibit organizational and people skills.
• Evidence of effective professional writing skills.
• Certification in NTU Service Delivery Model within one (1) year of hire.

Physical Demand:

Physical Demands (Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions).

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position 50% of the time.
• The person in this position needs to occasionally move about inside the office to access file cabinets, office machinery, etc.
• Constantly operates a computer and other office productivity machinery (i.e., a calculator, copy machine, and computer printer); Manual dexterity needed for using a calculator and computer keyboard.
• Must be able to position self to stoop, kneel, crouch, or crawl.
• Must have ability to navigate stairwells.
• The person in this position frequently communicates with employees/customers/clients; and must be able to exchange accurate information by perceiving the nature of sound, near and far vision, depth perception, providing oral and written information.
• Frequently move files weighing up to 20 pounds throughout the office space.
• Must be able to participate in fire drills or other drills during an emergency situation.

Work Environment:

• Normal office environment or residential facility, but also may travel locally to visit clients within their homes, meet with service providers, and/or attend meetings:
• Schools, hospitals, mental health clinics, private practices, prisons, corporations, and numerous public and private agencies.
• Specialize in one or more of over 40 practice areas - including Disaster Relief, Child Welfare Services, and Homeless Family Assistance, among many others.

Benefits:

We offer exceptional benefits package with an opportunity for personal and professional growth, which include the following:

• Fringe Benefits – health, dental, vision, retirement fund, and more
• Clinical Training with Continuing Education Units
• Mileage Reimbursement
• Hybrid Work Schedule