Adoption Achievement Specialist

Adoption Achievement Specialist (AAS)

**REPORTS TO**:Permanency Achievement Supervisor

**STATUS**:Full Time, Exempt

**WHAT WE DO**

Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois improves the well-being of people across the state by protecting children, strengthening families and building futures for those who have experienced trauma. We do this as a leading provider of a variety of child welfare services. LCFS is a welcoming organization serving children, individuals, families and communities of all faiths, races, ethnic backgrounds, sexual orientations, gender expressions and gender-identifications.

**WHO WE ARE**
- Champions in supporting children, youth and families throughout Illinois so they are able to reach their full potential
- Dynamic and innovative leaders who believe in collaboration with their team of professionals and are revolutionizing the

impact on services to families
- A community which embraces and is committed to being WIDE (welcoming, inclusive, diverse and equitable)
- Impactors of the child welfare community by addressing institutional racism and implicit bias to increase positive outcomes for

children and families of color
- Creators of a culture focused on supporting families and ensuring all children find safe, loving permanent homes, particularly by

reuniting them with their families

**OBJECTIVES OF THE POSITION**

Under the direction of IL child welfare licensed leadership, the Adoption Achievement Specialist is part of the child welfare team that achieves the LCFS vision for all children and families having the opportunity for safe, healthy and meaningful lives. This role is a non-case carrying member focused on the achievement of permanency for youth involved in the IL child welfare system waiting on a foster care conversion adoption or guardianship.

Additional goals of the role are to ensure:

- Identify and remove barriers to the timely achievement of permanency through adoption and/or guardianship
- Successful and sustainable life-long connections and stability
- Supportive youth and family led strength building, positive development, pro-social life skill opportunities, behavior and medical

adaptability, skills & empowerment

**ESSENTIAL ROLES & RESPONSIBILITIES (NON-EXHAUSTIVE LIST)**
- Serves as a non-case carrying member of multidisciplinary team of foster parents, youth, supervisors, direct service child welfare professionals and other identified supports to achieve permanency for youth involved in the IL child welfare system waiting on a foster care conversion adoption or guardianship
- Receives training in strengths based, trauma informed, family centered practice and incorporates knowledge in day-to-day practice, oral and written reports
- Work in collaboration with a team of child welfare and multidisciplinary professionals to gather information for thorough assessment, recommendations, updates and evaluation for permanency achievements
- Provides linkages between child welfare specialist, family and resource engagement specialists, licensing and other internal or external stakeholders to ensure an informed team on the permanency process
- Drafts social histories for children and families pursuing an adoption or guardianship permanency pathway
- Participates in relative, kin and other family searches to identify resources for adoptive and guardianship placement
- Complete adoption and guardianship subsidy writing, finalization, and post finalization paperwork and processes.
- Identifies and makes linkages to children and families regarding moves, grief, separation and loss issues related to adoption or guardianship
- Undergoes on-the-job training of processes, services and resources to achieve the pathway of foster care conversion adoptions.
- Collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams and partners for continuous quality improvement, interventions, service delivery and the achievement of program outcomes
- Participate in regular supervision, mediation, problem resolution, and crisis response by effectively responding to parent, child, provider and other stakeholder concerns and demonstrating the ability to effectively manage crisis and difficult case situations
- Maintains knowledge of changing regulations, policies and rules from agency, DCFS, legal and accrediting bodies. Attends and participates in all required agency and DCFS training in time frame required.
- Achieve organizational performance outcomes on Key Performance Indicators metrics/dashboard towards safety, permanency, wellbeing, and overall Agency performance outcomes
- Exercise discretion and judgment (under supervision) in performance of duties in conformance with applicable policies, procedures, statutes, rules and regulations
- Provides a welcoming and receptive environment to all contacts, clients, agency staff and collateral contacts. Develops understanding and continuously develops self-awareness related to diversity, inclusion and equity issues.
- Performs other duties as required or