Child Services Coordinator
Department: Child Services
Supervisor: Director of Child Services
Organization and Mission:
The Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange (MARE) finds adoptive homes for children and teens waiting in foster care. MARE develops public awareness and recruitment programs to inform the public about the children who wait, support families in pursuing adoption from foster care, and facilitate matches of adoptive families. MARE specializes in the recruitment of adoptive families for teens, children of color, sibling groups, LGBTQ+ identified youth, and those with complex medical and developmental needs. MARE’s values of innovation, compassion and collaboration are at the core of our services to children and families, our organizational culture, and our community engagement.
Position Summary:
The Child Services Coordinator (CSC) works as a member of the Child Services team with four other CSCs and is responsible for conducting individual recruitment of interested families for a particular group of MARE registered children, teens and sibling groups who need an adoptive family. The Child Services Coordinator is responsible for ensuring that each child on their caseload has a current and personalized recruitment plan that ensures the youth has the greatest opportunity to achieve permanency through adoption.
Qualifications:
The Child Services Coordinator (CSC) must have a bachelor's degree and some human service experience. Familiarity with the child welfare system and a master’s degree is preferred. The Child Services Coordinator must have strong written and verbal communication skills and be able to maintain strong interpersonal relationships with other staff, social workers, and members of the public. The Child Services coordinator must have strong organizational skills with an ability to track and respond to high volumes of inquiries. Additionally, the Child Services Coordinator must have moderate competence with basic technologies and database utilization. The Child Services Coordinator must be self-motivated and able to work both independently and as a team member.
MARE actively seeks to broaden the diversity of our team to best reflect the populations we serve, and encourages BIPOC individuals, persons with disabilities, and those with lived experience with the child welfare system to consider applying, even if all qualifications are not met. The Child Services Coordinator must be committed to contributing to a workplace culture of diversity, equity, and inclusion, and must share MARE’s urgency for finding permanency for all children and teens in foster care, through innovation, compassion, and collaboration.
MARE has a remote/in-person hybrid model for ongoing work with a minimum of one day per week in-person at MARE's Newton office. A valid driver’s license, periodic access to a car, and the ability to work occasional evening and weekend hours is required.
Major responsibilities of the Child Services Coordinator role include:
Registration of Children, Teens, and Sibling Groups:
The Child Services Coordinator works with Adoption Social Workers from the Department of Children and Families (DCF) from a specific region of the state to identify youth in need of recruitment and register them for MARE services. The Child Services Coordinator monitors the registration of children in the MARE database to ensure collection of necessary information and a photograph to allow for thorough recruitment.
Child Profile:
The Child Services Coordinator will gather information from a child’s social worker(s), from the youth themselves, and from other key adults in the child’s life, to write a profile to be used for the MARE website, media recruitment, adoption events and other recruitment opportunities.
Recruitment:
The Child Services Coordinator conducts recruitment for each child, teenager, or sibling group on their caseload. This includes answering inquiries from interested families, looking for matches in MARE’s database of licensed families, coordinating the youth’s participation in adoption Meet & Greets, and referring them for MARE’s media recruitment activities.
Intensive Recruitment:
The Child Services Coordinator will identify a small number of waiting youth for whom they will provide a higher level of child-focused intensive adoption recruitment. This may include exploring youth’s biological family or community connections, reaching out to relevant community groups to help with recruitment, coordinating media work, etc.
MARE Events:
The Child Services Coordinator oversees the coordination of all MARE events in their assigned region of the state. These events typically bring together youth in need of permanency through adoption, families looking for a match, and social workers, to facilitate adoptive matches. Event work includes finding venues and organizing activities, overseeing event registration, answering questions from attending families, etc. Most of these events are in-person, but some are held virtually.
Relationships with assigned area agencies/staff:
The Child Services Coordinator is responsible for building and maintaining ongoing relationships with the DCF and contract agency staff in their region of the state. The Child Services Coordinator should participate in any relevant area/regional meetings. The Child Services Coordinator is responsible for educating all new social workers in their region, and refreshing experienced ones, in using MARE programs and services. The Child Services Coordinator keeps social workers informed of adoption-related events in their areas and stays abreast of any changes that occur in adoption offices and agencies, including staff changes.
Follow-up:
The Child Services Coordinator is responsible for continual monitoring and updating of assigned youth's statuses. This includes maintaining on-going contact with the social workers in their assigned area. When placement occurs with a child for whom they are responsible, the Child Services Coordinator gathers information, including how the placement was made and MARE’s involvement, if any.
Team Building:
The Child Services Coordinator will be a member of the Child Services team that meets regularly to discuss children and/or families, new recruitment strategies, and to provide peer support and guidance. The Child Services Coordinator will collaborate with Family Support, Specialized Recruitment and Communications staff to ensure the effectiveness of all their recruitment responsibilities.
Other Related Duties:
The Child Services Coordinator answers questions about adoption from the public.
The Child Services Coordinator attends and supports MARE events outside of their region, including evening and weekend commitments.
The Child Services Coordinator gathers ideas for needs and services specific to their assigned region of the state and attempts to find avenues to meet those needs.
The Child Services Coordinator represents MARE at adoption conferences and workshops regarding adoption to promote MARE and to learn more about current adoption practices and issues.
The Child Services Coordinator attends monthly staff meetings at MARE office in Newton.
The Child Services Coordinator also completes other and miscellaneous tasks as assigned by the Director of Child Services, Associate Director, and Executive Director.