Job Title: Foster Care Case Manager
Department & Division: Foster Care; Child Welfare Division
Reports To: Foster Care Supervisor
Beginning Pay Range: $43,888-$48,000
Classification: Full Time, Salaried, Exempt
D.A. Blodgett- St. John’s
D.A. Blodgett - St. John's is a nonprofit organization dedicated to strengthening children and families through a comprehensive continuum of care, including, but not limited to; counseling, family preservation, foster care, adoption, and residential treatment. Guided by the belief that children thrive best with their families whenever safety can be ensured, the organization delivers compassionate, evidence-based services designed to promote healing, stability, and long-term success. Primarily serving children, youth, and families in the greater Grand Rapids area, with select programs reaching communities across Michigan, D.A. Blodgett - St. John's is committed to creating brighter futures through prevention, intervention, and lifelong support. Rooted in dignity, equity, and belonging, the organization is dedicated to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment where all children, all families, and all individuals are valued, supported, and empowered.
Mission Statement: To help children and empower families by providing safety, advocacy, and support.
Vision: A safe, nurturing home for every child, a supportive community for every family.
Values:
- Exceptional Service: Client-focused and teaming at the center of our work.
- Equity, Diversity, & Inclusion: All are welcomed, valued, and belong.
- Excellence: Ongoing commitment to learning and improvement.
- Integrity: Responsibility and ownership of our actions and results.
- Creativity: Imagination, innovation, and intelligent risk taking.
- Passion: Relentless positive energy toward our mission and vision.
Culture Commitments:
- Nonviolence: Maintaining physical and emotional safety for everyone in our community.?
- Emotional Intelligence: Recognizing and managing emotions in ways that support our well-being and that of others.?
- Democracy: Everyone's voice, perspective, and lived experience?are valued in our process, even when roles differ.?
- Open Communication: We communicate how decisions are made and ensure transparency, consistency, and fairness in our processes.?
- Social Responsibility: Communicate with honesty and kindness, speaking in ways that uphold dignity and respect- even when topics are challenging.?
- Growth & Change: Creating opportunities to learn with and from one another for education, growth, healing, and self-reflection for ourselves and the people we support.?
- Cultural Humility: We approach difference with openness, curiosity, and an ongoing commitment to learning.?
- Trauma-Responsive Practices: We recognize the impact of trauma and work to minimize harm, promote agency and support healing.?
- Identity Safety: We honor and respect the intersecting identities people hold, and we work to prevent identity-harm or discrimination.?
- Anti-Racism: We work actively to recognize and interrupt bias, discrimination, and systemic inequities in our work and interactions.?
Position Summary:
Foster Care Case Managers play a critical role in supporting children and families within the child welfare system. They begin working with children following a court order that removes the child from their home and continue providing support throughout the child’s time in foster care.
In this role, case managers work directly with children, parents, and caregivers while also leading a collaborative, multidisciplinary team focused on ensuring the child’s ongoing safety, well-being, and stability. Their ultimate goal is to help each child achieve permanency—whether through safe reunification with a parent, adoption, guardianship, or preparation for independent living.
This highly impactful position requires a unique combination of skills and personal strengths, including compassion, strong organizational abilities, effective communication, and perseverance. While foster care case managers receive regular supervisory support, they must also be confident in making independent decisions, conducting ongoing assessments, and adapting creatively to a wide range of complex and evolving situations.
Additionally, this role requires flexibility and a strong commitment to meeting the needs of children and families. Case managers often adjust their schedules to connect with clients in community settings at times that are most convenient and supportive for them.
Core Responsibilities of a Foster Care Case Manager include:
- Monthly home visits with foster children: while the frequency can vary by case situation, all foster children on your caseload must be visited at least monthly in their residence (e.g. foster home).
- Monthly visits with parents of foster children: since the goal for all foster children is reunification (until a judge will order otherwise), this requires monthly visits and additional communication with the child’s parents. You will seek to engage them in treatment plans that help them succeed in reunification with their children.
- Timely report writing: About half of the case manager’s job involves computer-based paperwork, most important of which is the quarterly report on each foster child and their family, written for several key readers including the judge and attorneys assigned to the case. So, it’s critical that case managers can communicate effectively in writing and that they are able to do so in a timely manner.
- Court testimony: Since all foster children are in the foster care system as a result of a judge’s order, that means that the court has an open Abuse/Neglect case on the children and their families; and that means that the court requires regular (normally quarterly) court appearances by the parents and the case manager to update the court on progress.
Essential Responsibilities:
- Commitment to learn and comply with MDHHS foster care policies and procedures as outlined in the Foster Care Online Manual (https://dhhs.michigan.gov/olmweb/ex/html/)
- Commitment to learn and comply with applicable rules and regulations from
- Department of Child Welfare Licensing (DCWL).
- Timely completion of computer-based and paperwork reporting.
- The Foster Care Case Manager should expect a caseload of 13 children.
- Cooperate and assist other agency staff (i.e., licensing, medical and adoption personnel) as well as partner agencies with necessary paperwork requirements.
- Comply with agency expectations related to general forms (i.e., expense vouchers, service area reports, etc.).
- Coordinate and monitor community resources available to clients (i.e., school conferences, psychological/psychiatric evaluations, parenting classes, substance use disorder, sexual abuse and mental health therapy and medical services, etc.).
- Attend agency and team meetings, case conferences, adoption planning conferences and in- service training, etc.
- Develop and implement initial and updated service plans, parent-agency agreements, aftercare treatment plans, and counsel parents in the completion of these plans.
- Participate in required case-related activities such as testifying at court hearings, pre- hearing conferences and Family Team Meetings (FTM), and Foster Care Review Board meetings.
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