Child, Youth

The Catholic Children’s Aid Society of Toronto is seeking

two full-time permanent Child, Youth & Family Access and Support Worker

s

to co-ordinate and provide a range of social service support functions to the Access Program, to help support, empower families in their relationships. To promote healthy children and strong families, the Access Support Worker will work with parents to build positive family relationships, assist with supporting transitions for children/youth to sustainable permanency and reunification, build on striving communities, and provide support to the Society’s access sites as needed.

**Duties Include**:
Maintain an up-to-date schedule for access visits in SharePoint as determined by the service team and family to ensure continuity and reliability of this service.

Monitor and mentoring to help build healthy, loving child-parent relationships in access visits.

Gather information on the family from the family/child, child protection worker and case file.

Coordinate the access visit process, both on-site, and in the home or community, including driving children to and from access when required.

Attend and initiate Access Conferences and other service meetings as required

Develop written assessments, parenting plans, affidavits and ensuring documentation is completed in CPIN within 24 hours for contact logs;
Provide the service team updates of any observations/behaviour/comments that impact service of access goals.

Observe parent/child interaction, where necessary, promote positive interactions, and provide relationship repair work to build on healthy parent child relationships and strengthen connections.

Use strong engagement skills with the family from an ARAO and TIP Lens when providing service to the family

Support assessments of families referred by Child Protection Staff

Determining child management needs and making recommendations for access goal planning in collaboration with Service Team;
Coaching, mentoring and supporting service recipients on parenting and child management techniques;
Assisting parents in gaining increased awareness of the individual child’s behavioural developmental and emotional needs;
Coordinate the site and ensure that all toys/furniture, etc. are tidied up and cleaned at the end of each day and identifying any needs for age-appropriate toys.

Review with families the purpose and expectations of the Child Access Program and the access agreement as identified in the access conference.

Provide support and resolutions to situations that arise (e.g. child drives, late parents/children, and behaviour issues), diffuse volatile situations as required;
Provide advocacy and empowerment for families to promote healthy children, strong families and striving communities.

Participate in quality assurance and quality improvement projects and activities.

Assist clients in accessing community resources.

Provide backup support, if required, for the Saturday Access Program for access visits.

Perform other related duties as assigned.

Qualifications Required

College Diploma in Social Services or equivalent post-secondary diploma/certificate or a combination of education and experience related to assessment and crisis intervention.

Knowledge of child development, human growth and behaviour and family dynamics.

Excellent verbal, written and listening communication skills and interpersonal skills to work effectively with individuals and groups from a variety of diverse communities

with clients who may be distressed and/or upset and discernment in assessing the need for intervention.

Knowledge of crisis intervention techniques, mediation skills to facilitate challenging situations/conflicts and first aid to respond to crisis situations.

Working knowledge of the Child, Youth and Family Services Act.

Sound organizational skills and time management skills to manage and prioritize workload.

Strong Assessment skills.

Experience with computer software, CPIN, Microsoft Office, Oracle and Lotus Notes.

Preferably, the ability to provide service in a second language.

Flexibility in work hours to accommodate the schedules of the children and families.

First Aid Certified.

Demonstrated understanding of Society's Health and Safety Policies and Procedures and relevant legislation.

Demonstrated understanding of, and commitment to, integrating the values in the CCAS Mission Statement, the principles of equity, justice, non-discrimination and accessibility into practice, service delivery and team relationships; a good understanding of the CCAS values, for service delivery

Use of Strong Clinical skills

Ability to facilitate group process and work effectively as a team.

Coach families and children to transfer knowledge, build skills and foster growth and development.

Valid Ontario Driver’s License.

Assets

Familiarity working with diverse communities;
Experience in clinical models and training

**Note**:
Two Permanent Full Time Positions

**External Closin