Overview:

The Foster Care Program is an intensive, in-home program providing services for children placed in foster care that are referred by the two Monmouth County DCP&P offices. Services are delivered by a multi-service team and are designed to facilitate positive resolutions and closure for referred DCP&P cases involving substantiated or suspected abuse or neglect of the children. The Foster Care clinician provides support and guidance for the foster parents who are caring for these struggling youth. They act as the child's advocate and resource broker in ways such as serving as a liaison with the child's school system. When there are more than one child placed in a home clinicians can provide group counseling to improve the interaction within the environment. Play therapy, sand tray therapy, and traditional therapeutic models of treatment are combined in order to remove barriers to success. The Foster Care Clinician is expected to maintain the belief that a family is the primary nurturing environment of a child and work to establish a partnership with the referred families to empower them toward solving their own problems.

Responsibilities:

Maintain active caseload of clients (mainly children) with DCP&P involvement, assuming primary case responsibility

Provide counseling/play therapy/support/advocacy/referral to assigned clients

Responsible for conducting and developing clinical evaluations when assuming primary case responsibility

Provide clinical guidance to the multidisciplinary court/DCP&P/family team in determining what the children’s needs

Maintain level of service and case files including timely documentation on all assigned cases

Make clinical recommendations for services and case direction

Establish and maintain positive relationships with referent, DCPP caseworkers, colleagues and community agencies to ensure coordination of care and promote positive program functioning

Provide on-call after hours emergency response for active clients

Qualifications:

The clinician must possess Master’s Degree in Social Work or related field and be license eligible in New Jersey to practice counseling.

Ability to relate to and engage multi-problem families.

Must possess a valid New Jersey driver’s license with vehicle availability, an acceptable driving record and valid NJ Motor Vehicle Insurance.

Must demonstrate a high level of cultural competence, sensitivity and responsiveness.

Must possess strong communication, writing and time management skills.