The NJ Department of Children and Families seeks a catalytic individual with senior level management experience in child welfare to lead work with kinship families, resource families, and adoption, Kinship Legal Guardianship (KLG), and resource home licensing practice. This position, reporting to the Assistant Commissioner and serving in a high performing senior leadership team, will be responsible for innovating with staff and across divisions to increase the use of kinship care, engagement with resource families, and ensure timely and high-quality adoption and legal guardianship practice across the state. The candidate must be passionate about child welfare work, and knowledgeable of adoption, guardianship, licensing, and resource family policy, practices, and regulation; facility with administrative processes; and have a strong track record of growing and developing staff.

NJ DCF is nationally recognized for its advancements in child welfare. Our leadership team knows that the work we do is urgent, and we take bold and strategic steps to produce needed change. Recent examples include:
•        New Jersey has invested in staff training, partnerships, and prevention services to sharply and safely reduce the use of foster care – including operating the nation’s largest supportive housing program for child welfare-involved families; statewide family preservation services; a statewide, universally available children’s behavioral health system; and four statewide evidence-based home visiting models. Today New Jersey resorts to the use of foster care placement as a safety intervention the least of any state in the country.
•        Through policy, practice and regulatory changes, kinship care is now the most common placement type for children in out of home placement.

RESPONSIBILITIES: This Deputy Director is responsible for oversight and management of statewide operations for Adoption Services, Office of Resource Families, and Office of Resource Family Licensing. The Deputy Director will be the leader responsible for driving and sustaining significant practice changes, including increased use of kinship care.

REQUIREMENTS

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s from an accredited college or university; Master’s in Social Work preferred.

EXPERIENCE: Eight (8) years of experience in a public or private organization involved in programs focusing on child welfare and child protective services – at least four (4) years of which shall have involved training, coaching or mentoring focused specifically on improving child welfare case practice, and at least three (3) years of which must have involved management of at least 15 or more staff.

SALARY: Commensurate with education and experience.

TO APPLY: Submit a cover letter and resume as a single PDF document, saving the file by your Last Name, First Name.

Indicate in your cover letter the Posting # and where you found this job opportunity. Send the file to:

Job.Posting@dcf.nj.gov

Equal Opportunity Employer