Description Job Title: Child Welfare Supervisor Department & Division: Child Welfare Reports To: Child Welfare Program Manager Beginning Pay Range: $53,363- $56,920 Classification: Full Time, Salaried, Exempt
D.A. Blodgett- St. John’s
D.A. Blodgett- St. John’s provides a continuum of care with comprehensive services, including counseling, foster care, adoption, mentoring and residential care. These programs are built on our core belief, backed by research, that as long as children can be safe, they do best when they are with their families. D.A. Blodgett- St. John’s primarily serves children, youth and families in the greater Grand Rapids area, and some programming throughout the State of Michigan. D.A. Blodgett- St. John’s is dedicated to providing an inclusive and welcoming experience for all children, all families and all individuals.
MISSION STATEMENT: To help children and empower families by providing safety, advocacy, and support.
VISION: A safe, nurturing home for every child, a supportive community for every family.
VALUES:
- Exceptional Service: Client-focused and teaming at the center of our work.
- Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion: All are welcomed, valued, and belong.
- Excellence: Ongoing commitment to learning and improvement.
- Integrity: Responsibility and ownership of our actions and results.
- Creativity: Imagination, innovation, and intelligent risk taking.
- Passion: Relentless positive energy toward our mission and vision.
SANCTUARY COMMITMENTS:
- Nonviolence: Maintaining safety for all members of the community.
- Emotional Intelligence: Managing emotions so we don’t hurt ourselves or others.
- Social Learning: Together we accomplish more, we care for one another.
- Democracy: Everyone has a voice, not necessarily a vote.
- Open Communication: Respecting and sharing ideas of our team.
- Social Responsibility: Say what you mean, don’t be mean when you say it.
- Growth & Change: Creating hope for ourselves and the people we serve.
POSITION SUMMARY:
This full-time leadership position is responsible for the day-to-day operations, supervision and oversight of Foster Care, Licensing and Adoption programs. The position provides direction, coaching and support to a team of child welfare employees, ensuring high-quality services are delivered to children and families throughout the foster care, kinship, and adoption continuum. Through collaborative leadership and a commitment to best practices in child welfare, this position promotes safe, permanent, and nurturing family connections for children while supporting positive outcomes for caregivers, adoptive families, and the communities they serve.
ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES
- Assist and oversee recruitment, screening, evaluating, training, licensing, and maintaining foster care homes to meet the needs of youth we serve.
- Ensure compliance with MDHHS, BCAL, COA and agency policies and procedures.
- Ensure all required documentation is accurate, comprehensive, and timely.
- Promote and ensure relative engagement, placements, and licensure.
- Hire, train, supervise, and develop staff including initial and annual evaluations.
- Assist child welfare staff to identify placements or replacement with specific matching criteria (sibling ties, relatives, geographic location, racial identity, and best interests).
- Partner with the Program Manager on department PQI goals and measurements.
- Communicate and collaborate with the foster child's team to ensure child's needs are met.
- Establish and model cross departmental teaming to ensure the effective exchange of essential information and permanency planning.
- Work in collaboration with Supervisors and Managers within the Child Welfare Division to provide leadership and support.
- Respond to emergency calls and crisis situations.
- Participate regularly in Child Welfare Division’s on call responsibilities.
Supervision Received: General Direction- Plans and arranges own work. Uses a wide range of procedures to accomplish assigned objectives.
Supervisory Responsibilities: Advance supervision- determines work assignments, priorities, and procedures for subordinates; ensuring quality and quantity of work. Holds decision making authority for employee life-cycle activities including hiring, training, promotions, compensation.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s degree in a Human Behavioral Science field required. Master’s degree in human behavioral science filed preferred.
- Licensed by the State of Michigan as a social worker preferred.
- Three years’ work experience in a child welfare agency, a child caring institution, or an agency performing a child welfare function preferred.
- Foster care experience preferred.
- Valid driver’s license, access to reliable transportation with adequate insurance.
- Ability to maintain flexible schedule, including evenings and weekends.
- Commitment to the Agency’s mission, philosophy, and values.
- DCWL Certification preferred or must obtain certification.
CORE COMPETENCIES
- Leadership: Ability to motivate and guide others to ensure performance in accordance with clear expectations and goals; providing timely guidance and feedback.
- Integrity: Ability to adhere to organization policies and procedures, acting in a fair and just manner while maintaining confidentiality.
- Team Work: Effectively interacts with people by being able to share and receive information that supports team goals.
- Adaptability: Ability to fit into a changing work environment, priorities or organization needs by staying open-minded and being able to change based on new information.
- Accountability: Acceptance of responsibility and one's own actions.
- Communication: Ability to effectively receive and express ideas, both written and verbal; using clear and concise vocabulary and active listening skills. Ability to communicate with small and large groups and ability to communicate with a wide variety of audiences.
- Decision Making: Ability to select and commit to an effective course of action by understanding issues, comparing solutions, and drawing conclusions to resolve problems.
- Motivation: Ability to inspire and encourage others to reach a goal; maintaining a high level of productivity and self-direction.
- Resource Management: Ability to decern appropriate use of company resources to accomplish goals, considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Planning and Organizing: Ability to set priorities and allocate resources properly to effectively achieve work responsibilities and objectives.
PHYSICAL/ENVIRONMENTAL REQUIREMENTS:
- Work Environment: Ability to work in a variety of settings, including office environments, meeting spaces, community locations, and virtual platforms.
- Mobility and Movement: Ability to move throughout office spaces, attend meetings across agency sites, and participate in community-based activities or collaborative events as needed.
- Technology Use: Ability to use computers, phones, and other standard office technology for extended periods to review data, prepare reports, participate in virtual meetings, and complete administrative tasks.
- Communication: Ability to engage in clear, respectful communication in diverse environments, including in-person meetings, virtual settings, and community discussions.
- Travel: Ability to travel locally for meetings, community collaborations, staff support, and on-call responsibilities, using personal or agency transportation.
- Environmental Conditions: Ability to work in environments with varying levels of noise, activity, or interruptions, and to adapt to changing priorities or urgent situations.
- On-Call Responsibilities: Ability to respond to urgent program needs during on-call rotations, which may require flexible scheduling and occasional after-hours communication.
- Documentation and Review: Ability to read, analyze, and interpret program data, financial information, regulatory standards, and written reports in both digital and printed formats.
- Reasonable Accommodations: All physical and environmental requirements may be met with or without reasonable accommodation.
DABSJ strives to be a fully inclusive organization as we support a diverse group of children and families. We are building a diverse team that represents our customers and our community and recognize that each of us brings a unique perspective to the organization. We welcome differing thoughts, faiths, beliefs, groups, and lived experiences. The diversity and differences of each team member, foster parent, adoptive parent, child, and family make us #DABSJstrongertogether for children and families.
DABSJ is an equal opportunity, at-will employer, and will not discriminate against employees or applicants for employment. DABSJ does not discriminate on the basis of race, including but not limited to hair texture and protective hairstyles such as braids, locks and twists; culture, ethnicity, religion, national origin, age, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, height, weight, marital status, veteran status, socio-economic status, disability, or other legally-protected characteristics as required by law. This job description does not list all duties of the job. Employees may be asked by management to perform other duties as needed. The Company reserves the right to revise this job description at any time. This job description is not a contract for employment and does not infringe upon the Company’s at will employment status.