Summary
Date Posted: Friday, February 28 2025, Base Salary: Not Disclosed

JOB DETAILS:
About the job Social Services Officer – Assessment and Placement Officer
The overall responsibility of the A&P Officer is to conduct intake and reintegration assessments and facilitate admissions and reintegration of children.

Core Capabilities
1. Spiritual formation capabilities
This capability must be read and applied in accordance with FLMZ Statement of Faith. It includes living out a positive and compassionate service as a follower of Jesus Christ. This includes seeking to develop spiritual maturity, supporting corporate spirituality and reaching out to students with the Gospel of peace.
Indicators:
• Links personal mission and work to spirituality.
• Affirms and articulates the plan of salvation.
• Reflects Christ-like values in work and life.
• Seeks spiritual growth for self and others.
• Respects and relates appropriately to people of other cultures and churches.
2. Achieving Capability
This capability is about keeping the end in mind and getting things done to ensure the quality of the program or activity. It involves being proactive and taking personal responsibility for action. It means that work has the desired impact and staff demonstrate a desire to achieve excellence.
Indicators:
• Clarifies the goals and purpose of work tasks.
• Completes tasks in a timely, cost-effective way.
• Responds promptly in a professional manner.
• Stays committed to outcomes despite obstacles.
• Achieves predefined results and outcomes using ethical, best practice methods.
3. Thinking Capability
This capability is about thinking through what is important to the role, task or issue at hand. It involves analytical, conceptual, and critical thinking in order to bring greater clarity. It helps people to see underlying assumptions and make sense out of ambiguous information or situation.
Indicators:
• Asks key questions and gathers relevant information.
• Sees relationship between cause, effects, and big picture.
• Breaks down complex information into simple language.
• Identifies gaps, trends, priorities and key issues.
4. Relational Capability
This capability is about being able to formally and informally assert opinions, influence others, build bridges between dissenting views and attract people toward a shared understanding. It means influence that causes others to willingly alter their perspective.
Indicators:
• Seeks to understand and respect differing perspectives and viewpoints.
• Takes a stand on behalf of issues and groups.
• Interprets and presents information with influence and impact.
• Uses different styles to impact different individuals or group.
5. Self-Managing Capabilities
This capability is about prioritising a wide range of personal and organisational responsibilities and demands. It involves the flexibility, resilience and assertiveness to hold commitments in balance and in perspective as well as maintaining self-control under pressure. It is also about seeking out personal and professional excellence as well as supporting the development of others.
Indicators:
• Maintains balance in work, life and relationships (especially family and friendship relationships and support networks).
• Prioritises many demands without losing focus.
• Has realistic self-awareness of abilities and development needs.
• Successfully manages personal emotions and their effects.
• Pursues learning both formally and informally.
• Encourages and supports others to grow and develop.
Dimensions of the Role
• The A&P Officer may occasionally stand-in for the coordinator.
• The A&P Officer reports regularly to the Coordinator to provide updates on urgent assessment cases, Social welfare requests/recommendations.
• The A&P Officer has the responsibility for managing and ensuring good stewardship of ministry resources whenever conducting duties outside the office.
• Any other responsibility as assigned by the supervisor.

Typical Responsibilities – Key End Results of Position
Procedures, processes and applications support
• Systems support: Responsible for carrying out assessments
• Policies and procedures: Provide support towards the implementation of policies, procedures, and systems to support ministry operations and ensure compliance.
Responsibility of the Assessment and Placement Officer
1. Assessments – Responsible for ensuring that at-risk children are assessed for best placement.
2. Admissions – Responsible for coordinating admissions with the Department of Social Welfare, Tree of Life Admin, and transitional Facility Mothers. Facilitate the admission process at the residential facility. Contacting Social Services officers and guardians for admission. Transport for caretakers and children. Information meeting for parent/guardian and children. Ensure caretaker consent is obtained.
3. Reintegration – Responsible for ensuring that all eligible children are informed about Reintegration, participate in the development of the care plan, family tracing and post reintegration visits, Conduct a reintegration assessment on each child periodically at Tree of Life to determine if the child is now eligible to return home with the family. When applicable, collaborate with work with Tree of Life staff to prepare children listed for reintegration. Conduct Reintegration Assessments with Social welfare before the child leaves the Family Legacy Residential facilities. Ensure that the child is reintegrated into a safe home and environment
Care Plan
• Ensuring a care plan is developed for each child admitted to the facility by working in collaboration with the tree of life staff
• Plan, organize, and schedule care plan meetings in collaboration with the TOL team
• Collaborate with the community and Family Strengthening Officers on parent /guardian home assessment and ensure that these assessments are conducted before reintegration.
• Regularly remind the Care Plan committee of deadlines for submissions of child Care Plan assessment forms.
• Entering care plan information for each child upon admission and during forecasting meetings
• Entering social welfare care plan forms for each child at the care facility
• Maintain up to date versions of care plans documents and forms work in collaboration with TOL staff
Family Tracing
• Trace a child’s primary legal guardian or another alternative relative for future placement.
• Collaborate with other departments in helping identify the family
• Assess whether the family are able and willing to take the child
• Confer with the family in instances where willingness and acceptance of the child becomes a problem.
• Strengthen family by encouraging visitations and making regular contact with caretakers
• Compile a comprehensive report after family tracing.
• Find alternative place for the child when tracing is not successful.
Post Reintegration
• Schedule and Conduct a visit on TOL life child three months after being reintegrated and do proper documentation.
• Request and budget for reintegration package quarterly for every reintegrated child
• Distributing reintegration package to each child at the designated LA and ensure that each eligible child receives.
• Ensuring recommended homes for empowerment are visited by CDOs and a report is submitted based on their findings
• Update the Post-Reintegration document regularly
Communication & Reporting
• Communicate to relevant staff and stakeholders when a child is admitted, or is reintegrated; work in collaboration with the MDT Coordinator.
• Report regularly to the immediate department Supervisor and prepare weekly and monthly report.
Networking, project implementation, Collaborating, and Liaising
• Network with other relevant groups, organizations, and agencies.
• Engage partner organizations and relevant stakeholders on resource mobilization for household empowerment.
• Aid Grant Proposal writing for possible partnerships.
• Participate in meetings with relevant stakeholders and partners.
• Monitor, control, and track project progress.
• Generate and review key project documentation in a timely manner to facilitate financial payments to vendors, beneficiaries, cash transfers, etc.
• Generate progress and impact project reports
• Ensure accountability in the utilization of the project budget.
Tree of Life Support
• Responsible for the communication of any information relating to Tree of Life activities and Social Welfare
• Ensure that assessments are carried out on all children who are being reintegrated.
• Attend Tree of Life holiday release day upon request.
Other
• Reporting: Ensure reports are submitted on a weekly or monthly basis.
Communications and Working Relationships
Internal
• Child Protection Staff
• Academic Staff
• Community and Family Strengthening Staff
• Tree of Life Staff
External
• Department of Social Welfare Lusaka/Chongwe
• Other Government departments & NGOs
The A&P Officer must maintain excellent working relationship with other SS staff and FLMZ staff to deliver maximum results for the ministry. Relationships with caretakers, community members, Social Welfare, and other ministry partners are vital for high performance.

Knowledge, Skills, and Behaviors required to achieve roles objectives
• Full Grade 12 certificate
• Diploma and/or Degree in Social Work or relevant social science.
• At least 3 years of work experience in the related field.
• Competency in computer skills (MS Word, Excel, etc)

Skills Specific to Post:
• Demonstrate commitment to FL mission, vision, and values.
• Must have no previous convictions of harm to a child.
• Must have undergone training on Child Protection from Family Legacy.
• Share knowledge and experience.
• Actively work towards continuing personal learning and development and apply newly acquired skills.
• Consistently approaches work with energy and a positive constructive attitude.
• Demonstrates strong oral and written communication skills.
• Remains calm, in control, and good-humored even under pressure.
• Demonstrates openness to change and ability to manage complexities.
• Responds positively to critical feedback and offers points of view.
• Solicits feedback from co-workers about the impact of his/her behavior.
• Ability to network and be relational.
• Ability to work effectively with others on a team and be accountable for any decisions made.
• Adhere to deadlines
• Must have a drivers license
• Exhibits and promotes Christian principles of servant leadership.
• Promotes innovation and learning amongst team members to achieve goals.
• Creates strong direction for own part of the organization to serve the needs in the overall Family Legacy context.
• Contributes effectively to the work of other departments and the ministry.
• Aware of own strengths, and weaknesses and proactive in using feedback for self-development.
• Aware of impact on others and uses impact to create a positive work environment.
• Positive about change and able to cope well with ambiguity and support others in doing so.

Competencies and values
Christian, respectful, servant-hearted, humility, team-orientated, integrity, diversity, commitment to excellence, adaptability, ability to perform under stress, innovation, building and maintaining Biblically-based relationships, communicating effectively, listening well, initiating action, planning and organizing, leading through vision and mission and a personal commitment to children’s development and protection.
Level of Contact with Children:
Medium Contact: Medium frequency of interaction with children.


Work Hours: 8

Experience in Months: 36

Level of Education: Associate Degree

Job application procedure
• To apply for this job please visit www.careers-page.com.

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