Adoption and Kinship Coordinator - Bronx, NY, United States - Children's Aid Society

Description

Job ID: 006626

Description:

Next Generation Center (1522 Southern Boulevard)

50,000-65,000

Sign-On Bonus Eligible

Position Summary: Kinship Guardianship (KinGap) is a program for youth in care where they can achieve permanent placement with a relative who has been their certified foster parent for at least six months. The Adoption/Kinship Coordinator works in the Adoption & KinGap Unit of the Foster Care Program in the Child Welfare and Family Services Division of Children's Aid. The Coordinator's role is to help prepare Kinship foster parents and children for Kinship Guardianship.

Responsibilities:

• The Coordinator works in collaboration with agency case planners and supervisors to identify areas where support may be required, to identify and prepare potential kinship/Relative resources and to support placements while guardianship petition is pending in the Family Court.
• The Adoption/Kinship Coordinator works with Administration for Children Services and the Office of Children and Families and attorneys retained by the kinship foster to prepare, update and maintain agency documents needed for the filing of the kinship guardianship petition.
• The Kinship Coordinator also assists the case planner engaging the birth and kinship family in a dialogue to discuss the KinGap program and the ability for the child to achieve permanency.
• The Coordinator collects the information needed from the different case records and guides the kinship foster parent in retrieving documents from court or other sources to file a kinship guardianship (KinGap) petition in a timely manner.
• Meet with potential families to discuss the KinGap process and assist is completing their application. Coordinate the collection of CAS documents for KinGap in order to submit the applications to ACS and OCFS.
• Work closely with CAS Planner and IOC staff to identify cases where Kin Guardianship can facilitate permanency.
• Work closely with CAS Homefinding in retrieving documents needed to prepare the KinGap application.
• Work closely with ACS Kin Gap unit in submitting the Kin Gap packet for approval and work closely with the foster parent attorney to submit the Guardianship petition once the Kin Gap application and expense agreement are approved.
• Troubleshoot retrieval of foster parents' original marriage, divorce and/or spousal death certificates, especially if from a foreign country, arrest disposition paperwork and manage KinGap information gathering to assure complete packets for ACS approval as necessary.
• Coordinate notary and fingerprinting appointments as necessary for adults over 18 in pre-adoptive foster homes.
• Participate in adoptive foster parent and CAS foster care staff and any additional adoption training. Work with ACS to obtain Kinship Guardianship training and provide expert assistance to case planning staff to expedite KinGap Applications and filings. Contribute to the development of future trainings/support groups as directed by administrative supervisor
• Other duties as necessary.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree required, preferably in Social Work.
• Must have knowledge of the foster care, adoption and KinGap field.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Word and Excel expertise.
• Must be detail-oriented and flexible
• Bi-lingual English/Spanish preferred

Requirements: