Income Maintenance Caseworker I - Food and Nutrition at Caldwell County, NC – Lenoir, North Carolina

Caldwell County Department of Social Services envisions a community where every person feels included, supported, and valued and every action we take intentionally contributes to the ongoing improvement and strengthening of our community. We strive to create a positive impact and are committed to ensuring the safety and improving the welfare of every citizen we serve.

If you are committed to supporting our mission and want to be a part of our dynamic workforce driven by teamwork and support to improve the lives of every person we encounter, we would love for you to come join our team!

Caldwell County offers competitive salary along with a benefit package that can be tailored to suit your family’s needs.

Employees in this class are responsible for determining and/or redetermining applicants'/clients' eligibility for one or two of the income maintenance programs in a County Department of Social Services and/or performing all functions in the AFDC-Foster Care and AFDC-EA Programs. Work at this level reflects the performance of one or two functions within the eligibility process such as interviewing the client, obtaining the required information, completing initial applications, verifying the information obtained, determining eligibility; or completing scheduled program reviews. Employees explain program(s) requirements and options and advise or refer clients to other program services as appropriate. Employees usually report to an Income Maintenance Supervisor.

Complexity - Work involves one or two functions such as intake, processing, or review in one or two of the following programs: Food Stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), Medicaid, or County Special Assistance. In the intake process, employees are responsible for obtaining all pertinent data concerning the clients' family composition, financial, employment, and health status. Employees may also be involved in processing clients' applications through the verification of all information obtained during intake. Work may involve the redetermination or review of the clients' cases on a periodic basis in order to reverify the clients eligibility for continued participation in the program. The employees' responsibility for determining the clients' initial or continuing eligibility for any given program will depend upon the function or combination of functions performed.

Guidelines - Employees refer to the Food Stamps, AFDC, Medicaid, and/or County Special Assistance Manuals in performing all functions required to complete the eligibility determination process. Guidelines are subject to periodic and frequent changes. Employees also utilize agency procedural guides in accomplishing the work. Correspondence and memoranda from State regulatory agencies are also used in interpreting policy directives.

Accountability - Work involves direct contact with the client and direct or indirect contact with the clients' family or representative and collaterals in order to gather and verify information necessary to determine clients' eligibility for the program(s). Employees' decisions are usually subject to a second party review. Employees are seen as representatives of the agency and eligibility decisions commit the agency to providing clients with public assistance.

Consequence of Action - Employees' decisions impact upon the well-being of the clients who are the recipients of program benefits. The employees' decisions, if incorrect, can also have a negative impact upon the agency error rate and ultimately the State, if incorrect decisions place the State out of compliance with pre-established Federal tolerance levels for errors. Management review procedures limit the consequence of the employees' decisions.

Review - Work is reviewed periodically by a lead worker or first line supervisor usually through a random evaluation of processed cases. The frequency of these second party reviews will vary from agency to agency. Federal and State guidelines require regional quality reviews which ensure that the procedures and processes used to reach the eligibility decision(s) are correct.

Subject Matter - Employees provide information to clients on program requirements based upon the information provided in the Food Stamp, AFDC, Medicaid, and County Special Assistance Manuals. Information contained in these manuals is detailed and must be explained to clients with varying levels of understanding. Employees may be required to explain information regarding clients' status to other agency staff.

Purpose - Work with clients includes the gathering of information through the interview process for the purpose of determining applicant/client eligibility as well as to inform the client of their rights and obligations as prescribed under program policies.

Nature of Working Conditions - Employees are periodically subject to working with agitated clients, and are frequently subject to heavy workloads, and compressed time frames.

Nature and Potential of Personal Hazards - Clients may at times be verbally abusive due to their extreme situations or their emotional problem, but generally physical harm is unlikely on an ongoing basis.

Knowledges, Skills, and Abilities - Good mathematical reasoning and computational skills. Ability to communicate with clients, applicants, and the public to obtain data, and to explain and interpret rules, policies, and procedures. Ability to understand the needs and problems of clients/applicants. Ability to learn the program area of assignment and all agency programs and services which could affect the client/applicant.

Minimum Training and Experience Requirements - Graduation from an accredited associate degree program in Human Services Technology, Social Services Associate, Paralegal Technology, Business Administration, Secretarial Science, or a closely related curriculum; or graduation from high school and two years of paraprofessional, clerical, or other public contact experience which included negotiating, interviewing, explaining information, gathering and compiling of data, analysis of data and/or performance of mathematical or legal tasks with at least one year of such experience being in an income maintenance program; or graduation from high school and three years of paraprofessional, clerical or other public contact experience which included negotiating, interviewing, explaining information, the gathering and compiling of data, the analysis of data and/or the performance of mathematical or legal tasks; or an equivalent combination of training and experience.

Administering the Class - Course work at a Community College, Business or Technical School or course work at a four-year college or university may be substituted for general experience on a year for year basis for this class, but not for experience in an Income Maintenance Program.