At JCCA, we believe every child deserves safety, stability, and the opportunity to thrive. Each year, we help more than 17,000 children and families across New York through foster care, residential treatment, mental health services, educational support, and family preservation programs.

We are seeking a passionate, strategic, and experienced Assistant Director of Special Medical Family Foster Care (SFFC) to help lead one of New York City's most impactful foster care programs serving medically fragile children and youth.

This is an exciting leadership opportunity for a child welfare professional who is committed to permanency, family engagement, clinical excellence, and improving outcomes for children with complex medical and developmental needs.

Program Overview

Reporting to the Program Director of Foster Home Services, the Assistant Director serves as a key leader responsible for the oversight, growth, quality, and daily operations of JCCA's Special Medical Family Foster Care Program.

The Assistant Director provides leadership and supervision to Case Planning Supervisors, Case Aides, and the Lead Parent Advocate while ensuring exceptional service delivery, regulatory compliance, permanency planning, and multidisciplinary coordination for children and families served.

The successful candidate will champion family-centered, trauma-informed, and strength-based practices while helping expand the program and achieve positive permanency outcomes.

Supervises

• Bronx and Brooklyn Case Planning Supervisors
• Two (2) Case Aides
• Lead Parent Advocate

Summary of Responsibilities

Program Leadership & Growth

• Provide day-to-day leadership and oversight of the Special Medical Family Foster Care Program.
• Partner with Home Finding staff to support foster home recruitment, intake, placement matching, and program expansion.
• Lead efforts to grow the Special Medical census toward target capacity.
• Ensure high-quality, timely, and family-centered services for children and families.
• Facilitate team meetings, case conferences, treatment reviews, and program planning initiatives.
• Serve as the lead program administrator in the absence of the Program Director.

Permanency Planning & Adoption

• Oversee permanency efforts including reunification, KinGAP, adoption, and other permanency pathways.
• Monitor permanency milestones and ensure timely movement toward permanency goals.
• Collaborate with case planning teams, legal partners, foster parents, birth families, and external stakeholders to remove barriers to permanency.
• Ensure all permanency planning remains youth-centered, family-focused, and compliant with ACS, OCFS, and federal requirements.

Staff Supervision & Development

• Provide reflective supervision, coaching, and performance management to supervisory and support staff.
• Support employee development, training, and succession planning.
• Monitor documentation quality, service delivery, compliance, and staff productivity.
• Review schedules, attendance, vacation requests, and coverage plans.
• Foster a culture of accountability, collaboration, responsiveness, and excellence.

Clinical & Medical Coordination

• Ensure effective coordination among social work, nursing, medical, psychiatric, and behavioral health providers.
• Oversee monthly Special Medical treatment reviews and case consultations.
• Support referrals and service coordination for youth and families.
• Promote individualized, trauma-informed, developmentally appropriate care planning.
• Partner with foster parents, birth families, schools, healthcare providers, and community-based organizations.

Compliance & Quality Improvement

• Maintain expertise in ACS, OCFS, Article 29-I, and federal foster care regulations.
• Ensure compliance with all required casework contacts, Family Team Conferences, permanency reports, treatment plans, and documentation standards.
• Monitor program performance indicators and compliance deadlines.
• Utilize data, audits, and case reviews to improve practice and outcomes.
• Support corrective action planning and quality improvement initiatives.
• Oversee client record management and retention processes.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Represent JCCA at ACS, OCFS, provider meetings, and community stakeholder forums.
• Participate in divisional and senior leadership meetings.
• Collaborate with Home Finding, Health Services, Behavioral Health, Legal, Education, Fiscal, and Quality Improvement teams.
• Build strong partnerships with families, foster parents, medical providers, and community organizations.

On-Call & Emergency Response

• Participate in after-hours, weekend, and emergency coverage as needed.
• Serve as Administrator on Duty on a rotating basis for Foster Home Services.

• Respond to critical incidents, placement disruptions, and urgent child welfare concerns.

Qualifications

Required

• Master's Degree in Social Work, Human Services, Public Administration, Psychology, Counseling, or a related field.
• Minimum five (5) years of progressively responsible experience in child welfare, foster care, permanency services, clinical services, or a related field.
• Prior supervisory or management experience.
• Strong leadership, organizational, communication, and problem-solving skills.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and virtual collaboration platforms.
• Ability to participate in evening, weekend, and on-call responsibilities.

Preferred

• LMSW or LCSW.
• Experience working with medically fragile children and youth.
• Knowledge of ACS, OCFS, Article 29-I, and federal foster care regulations.
• Experience supporting foster parents, biological families, and multidisciplinary teams.
• Demonstrated success in permanency planning, compliance oversight, and program leadership.

Salary: $80K - $83K