Child Welfare Caseworker

RESPONSIBILITIES:

This posting is for Jeffco Division of Children, Youth, and Families and Adult Protection Child Welfare Caseworkers on the Intake and Permanency Teams 

All Child Welfare Caseworkers:  

• Are responsible forextensive case documentation, which includes preparing court reports, social histories and more within specific state-mandated timeframes.  
• Utilize family engagement skills to mitigate risk and enhance safety while working in the office, client homes, and in the community.  
• Assessing safety of a child/youth and making decisions based on available information, including removing a child from their home.   
• Advocating for families and children, testifying in court, and de-escalating potentially volatile situations.  
• Potential for late evening hours to address crisis situations and participation in emergency coverage schedule.  The hours of this position can be unpredictable. 
• Daily travel around the Denver Metro area and periodic travel throughout Colorado. A caseworker may travel occasionally outside of Colorado.  
• Discuss in detail and work with families experiencing substance use disorder, mental health concerns, domestic violence, multi-generational poverty, child abuse, child neglect and sexual abuse.   
• Collaboration with outside agencies to assess and maintain safety of children including but not limited to law enforcement, courts, schools, treatment providersand medical professionals. 
• Participation in committee workrelated to practice and work culture recommendations after one year of employment.  

In addition to theduties listed above, Caseworkers will be responsible for the following based on the team for which they are selected. Please note we may not currently have vacancies in each team listed.  

 Intake Caseworker (Day Shift or Swing Shift):   

• Assessing allegations of abuse/neglect through announced and unannounced home visits and referring clients to appropriate services.  

• Determining if safety of the child/youth can be maintainedthrough an assessment or if a court case needs to be opened. 

• Swing Shift Caseworker: 12:00to 10:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday OR Tuesday through Friday.  Eligible for shift differential of $2,000.00 over base starting salary. 

 Permanency Caseworker: 

• Coordinating resources for child protection, family and adolescent crisis response, delinquency and parent/child conflict, emancipation planning, and facilitating adoptions.  

• At a minimum, monthly face-to-face contact with children, youth, parents, kin providers and out-of-home providers. These contacts may be announced or unannounced.   

• Through collective decision making, ensuring permanency for children and youth with parents, kin or adoptive parents. 

• Participate in court hearings at minimum a couple times a month.  

Specialized Permanency Teams Include: 

The Family Integrated Treatment (FIT) Court Permanency Caseworker: 

• Working with parents with substance-use disorder who are high risk and high needs 

• Working under the FIT Court model with weekly court hearings 

The Sex Abuse Permanency Caseworker:  

• Managing cases in which sex abuse by either a parent, sibling or relative is a primary issue. 

• Working under the Sex Offense Management Board guidelines. 

QUALIFICATIONS: 

Research shows women and other underrepresented and historically marginalized groups tend to apply only when they check every box in the posting. If you are reading this and hesitating to click “apply,” we encourage you to go for it! A true passion and excitement for making an impact is just as important as work experience. 

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS  

To qualify, a candidate must meet the bullets listed below:  

• Any bachelor’s degree from a college or university with some course work such as development of human behavior, child development, family intervention techniques, diagnostic measures, or therapeutic techniques, AND:   

• Professional, internship, or volunteer work experience in a human-services related agency.  Examples of relevant experience could include: clinical experience, residential childcare experience, milieu experience, domestic violence case manager, victim's advocate, paralegal or legal clerk, probation officer, law enforcement, corrections work, shelter experience, arbitration, forensic interviewing, para-professional work, educational work, and/or other case management experience. 

Offer of employment contingent on criminal history andchild welfare background check,motor vehicle records checksand education verification. 

• Must not have one of the following convictions: child abuse, crime of violence or unlawful sexual behavior. 

• Must not have a felony conviction for domestic violence.  

• Must not have a felony conviction involving physical assault, battery, or drug-related offense within the past five years.  

• Must not have a pattern of misdemeanor convictions within the past 10 years.  

• Must have valid driver's license without any major violations, including driving under the influence (DUI), driving while intoxicated (DWI) and/or driving while ability impaired (DWAI) conviction(s) in the past three years. If you are from out of state, you must obtain a valid Colorado driver's license within 30 days of hire date.  

  
Please note supplemental questions will serve as a writing sample. We will review the experience and education fields on your application and a resume is not required. During this process you will be asked to provide a copy of your college transcripts.  

If you have questions about this position, please reach out to the hiring managers:  

Bryan Moats - bmoats@co.jefferson.co.us; (303) 271-4033   

Liz Huffman - ehuffman@co.jefferson.co.us; (303) 271-4674   

Alice Teslow - ateslow@co.jefferson.co.us (303) 271-4086