Overview
About Children’s Aid: For more than 160 years, Children’s Aid has been able to help families change their lives by adapting to the ever evolving nature of poverty and constantly seeking improvement. We are on a mission to connect young people and their families with the tools they need to learn, grow, and become leaders of their own lives.
The mission of CWFS – Continuous Quality Improvement Department is to provide a robust continuous quality improvement system that consistently improves services and supports for children and families, and ensures that the division is making the most effective use of available resources.
Position Summary: The Quality Assurance Specialist is responsible for implementing continuous quality improvement measures that promote best practice and compliance with Federal, State and City regulations, policies and procedures in support of achieving positive child welfare outcomes. The Quality Assurance Specialist employs the Continuous Quality Improvement learning cycle of identifying, describing, and analyzing strengths and problems, then testing, implementing, learning from, and revising solutions. The Quality Assurance Specialist supports and executes all methods of qualitative and quantitative data collection, analysis, visualization and reporting to program leadership. In addition, the Quality Assurance Specialist will support efforts to engage and encourage stakeholder participation that includes evaluating outcome metrics.
Overall Responsibilities:
- Identify and evaluate key performance indicators of performance and practice in child welfare.
- Support the design of dashboards using Microsoft Excel and/or other programs to monitor compliance and practice in key performance indicators.
- Support the Director of Quality Improvement to develop internal policy and procedure to improve programmatic practice, performance and operations.
- Conduct and analyze data from random reviews of case records to evaluate the timeliness and quality of documentation, assessments of safety, risk, well-being and services, supervision and guidance as well as timely and effective decision-making on cases.
- Produce monthly and quarterly reports that includes but is not limited to, performance data, Indicated SCR, Clients Served, CSEC, Supervisory Case Reviews, Casework Contacts, FASP Timeliness, Family Engagement and Family Team Conferencing.
- Support the implementation mechanisms of client and employee feedback by collecting and analyzing data from, survey tools, facilitation of focus groups, grievance investigations and post-services follow up.
- Analyze data from city, state and federal audits and provide program leadership with reports of findings that include trends and targeted areas for improvement.
- Participate in the ACS Agency Program Assistance Collaborative Quality Improvement cycle and support program staff in the collection and analysis of data in targeted areas for improvement.
- Continually engage and support programs by participating in staff meetings, sharing information, attending COFCCA meetings, troubleshooting database issues and building sustainable child welfare practice.
- Complete system reviews of cases involving high-risk issues, critical incidents and fatalities and provides written report of findings that include recommendations.
- Quality Assurance Specialists must visit and support all Children’s Aid Child Welfare Family Services sites and programs as directed by the Director of Continuous Quality Improvement.
Teamwork and Collaboration Responsibilities:
- Support the role of the Director of Continuous Quality Improvement by taking on additional tasks and participating in meetings as needed.
- Provide support with various division objectives including, but not limited to, implementation of new contracts and models, monitor and collect outcome data for grant funded programs and initiatives.
- Continually collaborate and support fellow Quality Assurance Specialists to provide adequate coverage and support for all preventive programs, meet deadlines and project deliverables.
- Engage in continuous learning and professional development that furthers the department’s continuous quality improvement mission and goals.
In addition to the tasks listed above, the Quality Assurance Specialists will accept all other tasks as assigned and necessary to support the success of program(s).
Skills and Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in social work or in a related field required, Master’s degree, preferred.
- Minimum of 5 years’ experience working in an ACS Child Welfare/Human Services setting with in-depth knowledge of and familiarity with ACS and OCFS child welfare policies, procedures and best practices preferred.
- Advanced skills in using agency and child welfare systems such as, Connections and PROMIS systems.
- Advanced skills in using MS Excel and statistical analysis and concepts.
- Must be a creative thinker and problem solver.
- Must be self-motivated and self-directed to manage and complete projects within structured timeframes.
- Strong interpersonal skills as well as excellent verbal and written communication skills.
- Flexibility, and ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines.