Protective Services Specialist 1/2/3 Nome

Job Description

Come join the State of Alaska!

This job class uses Competency Based minimum qualifications (MQs). Please read the

Competency Based MQ instructions below to learn more.

The Department of Family and Community Services,

Office of Children's Services (OCS) is

recruiting for full-time

Protective Service Specialist 1/2/3

in Nome, Alaska

This position is open to All Applicants

.

What you will be doing

: As a Protective Service Specialist (PSS), you will be responsible for all aspects of Child Protection Services in the Family Services Unit, the Investigations & Assessment Unit, or as a Generalist covering both. This position has a wide range of duties, including investigating reports of abuse and/or neglect, preparing plans for intervention by soliciting the cooperation of the family and others, gathering information about family dynamics/functionality, developing plans to ensure child safety while assisting parents in addressing their diminished protective factors, placing children out of the home with a relative or licensed foster home when necessary, provide ongoing and/or in-home services to families, coordinating referrals to other service providers and agencies, writing and submitting reports to Court, working closely with Tribal/Community Partners, frequent face-to-face and telephonic contact with parents and caregivers of children in custody, with travel as required dependent on the client location, and making referrals to other service providers and agencies.

For more information:

OCS Practice Model

Mission and Values/Culture:

The Mission of the Office of Children's Services is: Ensuring the safety, permanency and well-being of children by strengthening families, engaging communities, and partnering with Tribes.

The

Office of Children's Services

is dedicated to a diverse and inclusive workforce where safety and wellbeing are paramount. Employees all contribute to building a culture where everyone is valued, treated equitably, and treated respectfully.

Everything we do is underpinned by our

Core Values

.

Benefits of Joining Our Team

:

The Office of Children's Services is committed to an organizational culture that values each team member. We are committed to building and sustaining a diverse, equitable, and inclusive work environment. We celebrate and value the diversity of our employees, partners, and families we serve.

Your first twelve months in the agency are probationary and considered a training period, with formal virtual training, on-the-job training with your supervisor, and with other colleagues.

While this is a field-based position that involves working in the community, part-time teleworking within the duty station may be an option upon eligibility.

Full-time benefits of this position include but are not limited to: Insurance Benefits; Retirement Benefits; Paid Leave; and twelve paid holidays per year. Please see the benefits tab on this posting for more information.

The Working Environment You Can Expect:

This position is based out of the Nome office. This requires the incumbent to travel in small aircraft, all-terrain vehicles, or small boats to remote villages, communities, or rural locations in Alaska. Some of the communities are not equipped with modern conveniences, hotels, or bed and breakfasts thus the employee must be prepared to sleep in offices, schools, tribal community buildings, or other accomodation if overnight visit is required. Frequency of travel is expected to be 4+ times a month. There may be day trips and occasional overnight stays in rustic conditions with some exposure to extreme weather conditions in the winter. You may also have the opportunity to assist other field offices within the Northern Region for a few days on an as-needed basis.

This position provides the opportunity to serve communities throughout the region while experiencing the unique and diverse landscapes of Alaska. Staff work in partnership with village Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) workers, Village Public Safety Officers’s (VPSO), and local schools, to support the safety and well-being of children and families. There is strong leadership, and a genuine commitment to staff support and professional growth. The team is mission-driven, collaborative, and deeply committed to supporting one another in fullfilling this important work. This role is ideal for those who enjoy adventure, value cultural humility, and are motivated by meaningful public service in a dynamic and unique environment.

The work performed is critical and significantly impacts the communities we serve. As a result, Office of Children’s services works on evenings, and weekends as well as weekdays, so overtime and working on-call on a rotational basis are expectations of our workers.

Our teams are based around having a strong work ethic and high ethical standards, believing in treating all people with dignity and respect, as well as being self-motivated, organized and honest. We are all about getting the job done while still contributing to a positive, upbeat work environment.

Office of Children’s Services Staff are considered essential, so are expected to work during pandemic and other natural disasters.

For information on the Nome community (including schools, hospitals, housing) please review the

Alaska Community Profiles

.

Who We Are Looking For:

We are interested in candidates who possess some or all of the following position specific competencies:

Stress Tolerance

: Deals calmly and effectively with high stress situations (for example, tight deadlines, hostile individuals, emergency situations, dangerous situations).

Self-Management:

Sets well-defined and realistic personal goals; displays a high level of initiative, effort, and commitment towards completing assignments in a timely manner; works with minimal supervision; is motivated to achieve; demonstrates responsible behavior.

Teamwork

: Encourages and facilitates cooperation, pride, trust, and group identity; fosters commitment and team spirit; works with others to achieve goals.

Please ensure your application (through work history, volunteer work, training, education, licenses, certifications, etc.) supports/demonstrates how you possess the minimum required competencies for this position and be sure to thoroughly document it in your application.

A cover letter is NOT required for this position

. Your complete application, including supplemental questions, will be used to determine which applicants will advance to the interview phase of the recruitment and selection process.

To view the general description and example of duties for the position please go to the following link:

https://www.governmentjobs.com/careers/Alaska/classspecs

If you can imagine yourself in this role, we encourage you to apply!

Minimum Qualifications

Competency Based Minimum Qualifications Instructions

This job class uses competency based minimum qualifications.

Please ensure your application

(through work history, volunteer experience (duties summary), training, education, licenses, certifications, etc.) supports how you have gained the knowledge, skills, abilities, and behaviors (competencies) and that you possess the minimum required competencies for the job class.

Competency Description

The competency description(s) listed below have been designed to promote a common understanding of the essential elements of the job class. They highlight the more general and customary knowledge, skills, abilities (KSAs), tasks, and behaviors used to describe the competency. They typically list expectations, as opposed to specific tasks, and are to be used only as parameters and guidelines. A competency’s description is not intended to exclusively define every KSA, task, and behavior needed to successfully meet the competency, but rather to provide the manager/agency with a broad reference of options as to how an applicant can meet the job expectation.Any combination of education and/or experience that provides the applicant with competencies in