What are the responsibilities and job description for the C-Kin Kinship Navigator position at Family and Children s Agency Inc?
Family & Children’s Agency (FCA) is a nonprofit human service organization that is committed to increasing the social and emotional well-being of our clients – people throughout Fairfield County. Our Agency builds better lives by offering more than 30 programs that meet needs across all ages, delivering services to more than 13,000 people each year. Our clients reside primarily in Norwalk, Wilton, Darien, Westport, Weston, New Canaan, Stamford, and Greenwich. Our Home Care and Foster Care programs provide assistance to residents throughout Fairfield County, and the Adoption program is both nationwide and international.
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Our Mission is to partner with individuals, families, organizations and communities to build better lives.
We are searching for a C-Kin Kinship Navigator to join our team:
The ConnectiKIN (C-KIN) program is an innovative statewide Kinship Navigator Program that partners with kinship caregivers to provide the connections, supports, and resources needed
to raise resilient children who thrive. C-KIN also aims to provide opportunities for community outreach, connections, and collaboration so that equitable and consistent support is provided to build the confidence, connections, and self-reliance of kinship families.
Under the supervision and direction of the Program Supervisor, the C-Kin Kinship Navigator will provide kinship, foster or pre-adoptive families with in-home and related community services for up to 6 months. The Kinship Navigator will help stabilize families, permanency plan and prevent disruption of placement when possible.
- Responsible for assessment, support planning, transition planning and maintaining case records and summaries.
- Respond to referrals about participation in C-KIN and follow up on the needs of families in a timely manner
- Collaborate with kin families with an empathetic strengths-based orientation that prioritizes dignity and respect
- Partner with diverse kin families to assess their needs, identify their goals, and provide individualized care plans to support achieving their goals
- Partner with other colleagues and experts such as, benefits coordinators, legal aid specialists, and others if needed
- Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of available services and resources (including clinical) for kinship caregivers and provide support in accessing those services
- Follow-up with all families at 3/6/9 months post-discharge
- Maintain a caseload of 12 families
- Meet with C-Kin Supervisor for consultation as needed
Requirements:
- Kinship Navigator will have lived kin caregiving experience for a minimum of 2 years as defined below:
"Kinship care in definition is the raising of children by grandparents and other extended family members in addition to fictive kin defined as unrelated adults with whom they have a close family-like relationship such as godparents, neighbors and close family friends."
- A Bachelor’s degree is preferred, but not required depending on experience.
- Experience in the social service (or related) field is preferred.
- Bilingual (English-Spanish) candidates are preferred
- Family engagement and empowerment skills
- An understanding of the impact of substance abuse, domestic violence, mental illness and intergenerational trauma on family functioning
- Proficiency in making sustainable connections with families to local community agencies
- Knowledge of the service system for children & adults in Bridgeport, Norwalk and Stamford region (ad surrounding town)
- Care Coordination plan development
- Must have awareness of the cultural and socioeconomic characteristics of clients served
- Must be able to work with diverse populations and be willing to provide community-based and/or home-based services.
- Demonstrate maturity, professionalism and self-awareness, a non-judgmental attitude, cultural competency and the ability to work independently and under challenging conditions
FCA is proud to currently offer a hybrid working model to our employees. Employees enjoy a wide array of benefits that make up our competitive compensation package. We are proud to offer generous employer contributions to our medical plans, continued education credits offered at no cost, annual tuition reimbursement stipend, employer paid Life & LTD policies, FSA and Dependent Care, 401K with a match and safe harbor contribution and a generous vacation and time off policy to include Martin Luther King Jr Day and Juneteenth! We also offer employee discounts to multiple organizations, events and your cell phone plan.
Our benefits don't stop there - we offer an EAP program, summer Fridays, employee appreciation events along with wellness incentives and challenges! If you are interested in learning more about how you can join our talented group of diverse employees, please visit our website to view our job postings and apply. We look forward to sharing with you why we’ve been named a Top Workplace in Southern Connecticut. To learn more, visit our website and check out our opportunities!
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