Education Consultant

Embark on a fulfilling career with the State of Indiana, one of the largest employers in the state, offering a diverse range of opportunities across 60+ agencies. At the state, you'll find competitive compensation, a robust benefits package, and a commitment to work-life balance. Most importantly, you'll have the chance to make a real and measurable impact on the lives of Hoosiers across Indiana.

At the State of Indiana, we don't just talk about diversity and inclusion—we make it our goal to create a welcoming, accessible, and equitable workplace with a workforce that is representative of Indiana's population. As a proud equal opportunity employer, reasonable accommodations may be available to enable individuals with disabilities to complete the application and interview process as well as perform the essential functions of a role.

About the Department of Child Services:

Join a team that engages with families and children to improve lives in meaningful and significant ways. DCS engages authentically with children who are victims of abuse or neglect and strengthens families through services that focus on family support and preservation. The Department also administers family preservation and prevention services, foster care, and child support throughout the State of Indiana. You will relentlessly pursue permanency for children and families through reunification, guardianship, adoption, or support youth in making a successful transition to adulthood. While this job is difficult and may have long and sometimes unconventional hours, this is more than a job—it is a calling to improve your community and neighbors. Will you join us in supporting our Mission, Vision, and Values?

Mission: The Indiana Department of Child Services leads the state's response to allegations of child abuse and neglect and facilitates child support payments. We consider the needs and values of all we serve in our efforts to protect children while keeping families together whenever possible.

Vision: Children will live in safe, healthy, and supportive families and communities.

Values: We at the Indiana Department of Child Services empower our team, in collaboration with state and local partners, to make decisions in the best interest of every child in our care by embracing:

• Child safety
• Permanency
• Collaborative partnerships with foster and adoptive families
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion
• A culture of safety and transparency
• Continuous improvement

Role Overview:

The Education Consultant advises, supports, and provides expert guidance to DCS field staff and external stakeholders by ensuring the educational needs of children in care are met. Education Consultants promote educational stability for children when possible and collaborate with members of the child's team to improve educational outcomes. Children in the welfare system face significant disadvantages and barriers to success in school. Education Consultants navigate complex state and federal legislation as it pertains to children in care and ensure equitable access to services, evaluations, etc. for eligible youth, i.e., special education, medical accommodations, transportation, tutoring services, free and reduced lunch, and textbook/class fees and tuition. Each Education Consultant is assigned to multiple DCS local offices or regions and requires extensive traveling.

Salary Statement:

The salary for this position traditionally starts at $59,800.00 but may be commensurate with education or work experience.

The essential functions of this role are as follows:

• Serve as a subject matter expert and resource to DCS staff and external stakeholders, including school districts, biological parents, relatives, foster parents, and service providers.
• Provide guidance and recommendations to DCS caseworkers regarding working with parents and families to navigate education issues and develop a sustainable plan for how to address such issues in the future.
• Emphasize the importance of community collaboration by communicating and advocating to agency staff and school districts about the importance of working together to identify and address the educational needs, including the need for special education services, of youth in DCS care.
• Manage the development and implementation of education initiatives for agency regions and local offices.
• Develop trainings for parents, relatives, and foster parents, including staff providing consultation in building their capacity to support the educational success of children in DCS' care.
• Develop methods of collecting educational outcome data and provide analysis and trending information to the agency executive and senior management.
• Develop systems and processes to ensure timely transfer of information between DCS, school districts, and the Indiana Department of Education, such as timely transfer of education records, notice of medical needs, and prompt scheduling of conferences.
• Partner with and serve as a liaison between DCS, school districts, and the Indiana Department of Education to develop and implement strategies for addressing the educational needs of youth in DCS' care, ensuring a seamless transition for students transferring to a new school.
• Collaborate with the agency local offices, school districts, and Indiana Department of Education to develop processes and communication strategies to ensure individual children are quickly enrolled after moving to a new placement and that appropriate educational services are provided.
• Work closely with agency staff and service providers to ensure the agency is complying with policies regarding post-secondary education and older youth obtaining financial aid, scholarships, and other funding to support their transition to post-secondary education.
• Prepare and disperse resources that can assist agency caseworkers and school districts in assessing and meeting the educational needs of youth in DCS' care.
• Follow-up with caseworkers, clients, and school districts regularly; when barriers are identified, advise, and refer clients as appropriate.
• Maintain comprehensive records in the case management system to ensure children receive ongoing follow-up.
• Identify and build capacity of educational services and resources available in the agency local offices and educate caseworkers on such programs.
• Assist agency caseworkers with developing plans to identify and resolve a child's unmet educational needs, such as participating with families, case staffing/planning sessions, and school conferences.

The job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties, or responsibilities that are required of the employee. Other duties, responsibilities, and activities may change or be assigned at any time.

You must meet the following requirements to be considered for employment:

• Broad understanding of the child welfare, education, mental health, and juvenile court systems so as to understand the common educational challenges facing youth and how they might be resolved.
• Advanced knowledge of educational institution programs and offerings.
• Advanced knowledge of youth development, education, child welfare, and juvenile justice.
• Extensive knowledge and skills related to navigating the complex network of education and special education-related services.
• Ability to establish cooperative relationships with internal and external organizations, individuals, and groups of highly divergent political, social, and economic viewpoints, diverse professional and occupational skills, and interests, or greatly divergent ethnic, cultural, religious, and nationality backgrounds.
• Ability to reconcile competing and contradictory interests and obligations.
• Knowledge of program planning and evaluation.
• Strong development and networking abilities.
• Ability to counsel and give academic advice.
• Ability to work effectively in both one-on-one and group settings.
• Effectively communicate, both orally and in writing.

Benefits of Employment with the State of Indiana:

The State of Indiana offers a comprehensive benefit package for full-time employees, which includes:

• Three (3) medical plan options (including RX coverage) as well as vision and dental plans.
• Wellness Rewards Program: Complete wellness activities to earn gift card rewards.
• Health savings account, which includes bi-weekly state contribution.
• Flexible work scheduling options, including the potential for hybrid remote work for employees whose work may be performed outside state facilities.
• Deferred compensation 457B account (similar to 401k plan) with employer match.
• Two (2) fully-funded pension plan options.
• A robust, comprehensive program of leave policies covering a variety of employee needs, including but not limited to:

• 150 hours of paid new parent leave.
• Up to 15 hours of paid community service leave.

• Combined 180 hours of paid vacation, personal, and sick leave time off.
• 12 paid holidays, 14 on election years.
• Education Reimbursement Program.
• Group life insurance.
• Referral Bonus program.
• Employee assistance program that allows for covered behavioral health visits.
• Qualified employer for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program.
• Free parking for most positions.
• Free LinkedIn Learning access.

Equal Employment Opportunity:

The State of Indiana is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to recruiting, selecting, developing, and promoting employees based on individual ability and job performance. Our policy is to provide equal employment opportunity to all people in all aspects of employer-employee relations without discrimination because of race, color, creed, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, physical or mental disability, or veteran status. We will comply with the spirit as well as the letter of all applicable state and federal laws.

If you are a qualified individual with a disability and require reasonable accommodations to complete this application, you can request assistance by contacting the Indiana State Personnel Department at jobs@spd.IN.gov.

The State of Indiana has established a culture that welcomes equity, inclusion, and opportunity for all employees and applicants. We encourage you to apply if you feel you have the transferrable skills to be successful in this position and we look forward to reviewing your application.