Alternative Care Worker

KEY JOB FUNCTIONS

**Supporting Children**:
Provide day-to-day case management services for children placed in the care and custody of the Agency and in Alternative Care settings.
- Conduct assessments of physical, mental, emotional and social needs of children in Alternative Care settings
- Develop a thorough knowledge of the stages, processes and milestones of normal development of children from birth to adolescence
- Demonstrate effective, age-appropriate interviewing skills for children who range from school-aged to adolescence
- Coordinate services and supports to meet the child’s physical, social, emotional, cultural, spiritual and recreational needs
- Identify a strength-based approach to preparing a child and the child’s immediate family for the child’s placement in an Alternative Care setting either short-term or permanently
- Identify and assess the effects of separation on children and their parents or caregivers and strategize effective responses
- Identify and differentiate healthy attachment and behavior-related problems and outline appropriate services to address the specified needs
- Identify and strengthen connections between a child and those who are identified as meaningful and beneficial caregivers while the child is in an Alternative Care setting
- Train caregivers how to establish realistic expectations of children and how to adjust their parenting skills accordingly
- Responsible for coordinating travel or transport of a child in care for medical treatment when an alternative care giver is not able or willing to attend
- Support Alternative Care Providers to work with biological families in support of reunification
- Assess the child’s readiness and preparedness for reunification
- Utilize visitation and access visits for reassurance, ongoing assessment, planning and modeling of interventions
- Identify and ensure timely, concurrent and permanent placement options are available for children
- Complete all pertinent data for case records and reports, including case management notes, plans of care, ONLAC and AAR, case assessments and reviews, case histories, legal reports and correspondence
- Ensure Agency compliance with Ministry of Child and Youth Services Serious Occurrence directive and reporting requirements

**Supporting Alternative Care Homes**:
To recruit, assess and support the ongoing efforts of Alternative Care homes, including kinship services.
- Identify policies and procedures for recruitment, assessment, training, approval, and ongoing support to Alternative Care and kinship caregivers
- Identify a plan and complete recruitment opportunities for Alternative and kinship caregivers, utilizing current caregivers as role models and educators
- Utilize public relations, marketing, media, community awareness, social networking and community development strategies to support recruitment efforts
- Ensure Alternative Care Providers are active participants of the team servicing the needs of children in care
- Ensure compliance with Agency policies and procedures that are compatible with legal requirements, best practice standards and ongoing requirements in working with children in Alternative Care
- Prepare kinship and Alternative Caregivers to develop supportive relationships with Natural Caregiver families to facilitate communication, enhance visitation and sustain children’s attachments
- Support and train Alternative Care Providers in problem solving and crisis intervention strategies
- Identify and support Alternative Care Providers in responding to the issues and challenges associated with caring for children with physical or developmental disabilities, mental illness, emotional disturbance, behavior problems, chronic health issues or who have experienced trauma
- Identify linkages for Alternative Care Providers to appropriate community services and providers to address the needs of children in care
- Develop, coordinate, and conduct pre-service orientation and training for Alternative Care Provider families
- Implement and monitor training strategies to prevent burnout, maintain positive morale and increase retention of skilled Alternative Care Provider
- Identify and encourage members of a child’s extended family and social network to consider becoming a placement resource for the child
- Decrease the anxieties and emotional conflicts of Alternative Care Provider families in order to maintain stable placements for children in care
- Develop case plans and provide supportive services that can strengthen and stabilize kinship placements
- Identify linkages to appropriate community services and providers to address the needs of children in care for Alternative Caregivers
- Intervene at the first indicators of placement stress to help stabilize Alternative Care Provider families and prevent placement disruption
- Complete all pertinent data for case records and reports, including case management notes, case assessments and reviews, case histories, legal reports, SAFE (Structur