Child Welfare Workforce Development Specialist

The Children’s Alliance works to improve the lives and work of the children, families, and professionals involved in the child welfare and family wellbeing system. Through professional support of child welfare member agencies, public policy advocacy, and nationally recognized training programs, we drive system-level change for children and families. As a small, member-driven association working in an ever-changing social service field, the Children’s Alliance and all team members must remain adaptive to changing member needs, changing grantor/contract demands, and changing advocacy and training priorities.

A key initiative of the Alliance is to develop supports for child welfare professionals working in the child welfare continuum of care. One way we intend to accomplish this is through implementation of the KanCoach and Resilience Alliance programs. The KanCoach program focuses on improving organizational practices by enhancing supervisory capacity and skills through a strengths-based coaching model. Priority topics for KanCoach include safety/risk assessment and case planning, parent and youth engagement, relative/kin connections, and secondary traumatic stress. Resilience Alliance is designed to educate child welfare leaders and workers about secondary traumatic stress (STS) and train them in techniques to mitigate and cope with symptoms.

The Workforce Development Specialist will coordinate and deliver program objectives to child welfare supervisors working in public and private agencies. In addition to providing coaching and training to child welfare supervisors, this position will actively assist with the promotion, evaluation, and enhancement of the program. This position requires a strong understanding of the child welfare system, a commitment to building a learning culture within the child welfare workforce, and demonstrated success in teaching, training, and/or coaching. Additionally, this position requires flexibility, creativity, team-building skills, ability to provide strengths-based feedback, and strong communication and interpersonal skills.

This is primarily a full-time, hybrid position, with required in-state and limited out-of-state travel required. Applicants should expect to be at Children’s Alliance office in Topeka, Kansas at least once per month, with additional statewide travel required to perform coaching duties as we expand the program to additional organizations.

Essential Duties:

• Conduct the KanCoach coaching program and Resilience Alliance programs with supervisors in Kansas child welfare agencies
• Conduct initial and ongoing training for supervisors and other program staff to support KanCoach implementation
• Support efforts to promote and establish buy-in for the vision and planning related to building a learning culture and implementing the coaching program
• Participate actively in training, meetings, and coaching sessions
• Advocate, promote, and practice cultural sensitivity and responsiveness in all interactions
• Work collaboratively with team to develop and modify coaching curriculum and related transfer of learning supports
• Conduct ongoing fidelity assessments to ensure coaching is provided with fidelity
• Work collaboratively with the Director of Workforce Innovation & Development, fellow coaches, Children’s Alliance team and member agencies to support the expansion of KanCoach into supervisory practices within all Kansas child welfare agencies
• Ensure evaluation data is documented and reported regularly and accurately according to established protocols

Additional duties may include:

• Monitoring national and Kansas state developments in child welfare systems
• Staying up to date on innovative learning strategies and best practice in child welfare workforce development
• Collaborating with Alliance instructional design staff to ensure curriculum and instructional design and support is high quality, relevant to the current practice environment and implemented with fidelity
• Coordinating with team members, partners and stakeholders to ensure project task implementation on schedule and to address and remove any barriers to project implementation
• Overseeing and support program fidelity, quality and efficient implementation
• Ensuring program curriculum, support and delivery methods meaningfully impact child and family wellbeing
• Proficient use of Children’s Alliance learning management system, communications and data management processes and platforms to support project implementation
• Ensuring compliance and reporting processes for assigned projects
• Developing and maintaining effective policies and guidelines for program implementation and ongoing evaluation
• Committee monitoring or special projects as assigned during Kansas legislative session

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in social work or related human services field and five (5) or more years of professional experience in child welfare with a deep understanding of the Kansas child welfare system.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Strong emotional intelligence and self-regulation skills and demonstrated ability to work productively as part of a team
• Demonstrated project management and program implementation skills
• Comfort with and ability to learn and manage new technology platforms and tools

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's degree in social work, Master's degree in counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy, Human Services or related field
• Two (2) years of experience in child welfare supervision
• Knowledge of KanCoach program and coaching principles, as well as prior training/instruction/teaching experience.