Executive Director

Job Description

THE SELECTED CANDIDATE WILL BE OFFERED A SALARY OF $137,000.00.

THIS POSITION IS ONLY OPEN TO CANDIDATES WHO ARE PERMANENT (NOT PROVISIONAL) IN THE CIVIL SERVICE TITLE OF ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR OF SOCIAL SERVICES.

The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) protects and promotes the safety and well-being of children and families through child welfare and juvenile justice services and community supports. ACS manages community-based supports and foster care services and provides subsidized childcare vouchers. ACS child protection staff respond to allegations of child maltreatment. In juvenile justice, ACS oversees detention, placement and programs for youth in the community.

The Division of Family Permanency Services (FPS) ensures that high quality services are provided to children in foster care by supporting provider agency staff with technical assistance and other services for children in foster care. FPS staff offer guidance to provider agencies on child welfare policies and procedures to improve service delivery and achieve safety, permanency, and well-being for children in foster care.

FPS is seeking a candidate to serve as the Executive Director in the Office of Foster Parent Recruitment and support the Office for Strategic Program Support (OSPS) within the Family Permanency Services Division. The Executive Director will promote and further develop the Home Away from Home framework to increase foster parent recruitment, certification, support, and retention. OSPS provides technical assistance services to ACS’ contracted foster care provider agencies and other key stakeholders to better achieve positive safety, well-being, and permanency outcomes for children in foster care and families. The Executive Director will report directly to the Associate Commissioner of OSPS and serve as a key member of the OSPS leadership team.

The duties and responsibilities of the Executive Director will include, but will not be limited to:

- Respond to macro-level practice challenges and systemic barriers to performance as it pertains to foster parent recruitment, support, and retention
- Enhance skills and capacity of the provider agency’s staff to deliver comprehensive and robust recruitment retention strategies that meet the needs of children and families and align with the
provider agencies’ performance goals.
- Support the development of practices and strategies to identify, engage and certify kinship foster parents.
- Implement key components of the ACS LGBTQIA+ Action Plan that pertains to foster parent recruitment and training

The Executive Director will lead and oversee a team of staff with the following key functions and responsibilities:

- Develop and deliver program-level technical assistance to the foster care agencies pertaining to foster parent recruitment and retention, business process improvement, data analysis and
utilization, and performance management
- Design and implement a collaborative approach for delivering program-level technical assistance that is driven by data, responsive to foster care agencies’ needs, and aligns with the foster care
agencies’ foster home recruitment and certification performance goals
- Partner with foster care agencies to strengthen business process mapping, analysis, and design (e.g., supporting kinship parents, foster parent licensing business process, foster parent support
strategies)
- Enhance program-level technical assistance efforts by developing tools and resources and designing and co-facilitating learning opportunities within and across foster care agencies, such as
workshops and peer-to-peer sessions
- Promote and track the use of the Binti software across foster care providers and develop monitoring reports from Binti
- Facilitate meetings for provider agencies to promote best practices, support continuity of the work, and address system challenges
- Partner with foster care agencies, various ACS Divisions (such as Policy, Planning and Management [PPM]) to identify key areas where technical assistance is necessary and to collaborate in
overall goal achievement and outcomes
- Coordinate with ACS’ Workforce Institute to identify and respond to key training needs to support foster parents effectively care for children
- Collaborate with FPS program areas and ACS PPM to inform existing and proposed policies
- Provide support, guidance and technical assistance to the provider agencies on new policies and guidance related to foster parent recruitment and certification issued by OCFS and ACS.
- Attend meetings with and on behalf of the Associate Commissioner and conduct appropriate follow-up from meetings
- Supervise a staff including directors of technical assistance and support staff
- Research evidence-based and promising practices that inform