Director of Health Programs

About the role

The Selected Candidate Will Be Offered a Salary Between $130,000.00-$140,000.00:

The Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) protects and promotes the safety and well-being of children and families through child welfare and juvenile justice services and community supports. ACS manages community-based supports and foster care services, and provides subsidized child care vouchers. ACS child protection staff respond to allegations of child maltreatment. In juvenile justice, ACS oversees detention, placement and programs for youth in the community.

The Division of Youth and Family Justice (DYFJ) provides a wide range of services and programs for youth at every stage of the juvenile justice process.

Our goals are to (a) build stronger and safer communities and advance public safety by preventing juveniles from entering the New York City's juvenile justice system, (b) provide therapeutic treatment and services to youth in our custodial care, and (c) help juveniles access the tools they need to leave the justice system for good.

We strive to help families and young people by providing supportive services that are responsive to the needs of individual youth and families. Nurture, Engage, Support, Treat (NEST) Unit ensures that youth served by DYFJ (from detention to placement) are receiving comprehensive and consistent medical, mental health, case management, social and educational services throughout their involvement with our system.

In addition, NEST organizes family engagement and parent support work, and provides staff training on mental health, trauma, LGBTQ issues and Commercially Sexually Exploited Children.

The Director of Health Programs and Services will work across the DYFJ continuum to ensure that youth in the care and/or custody of ACS receive the best possible medical care. In doing so, the Director will work closely with the operation and oversight staff across DYFJ’s program areas to conduct auditing, monitoring and provide technical assistance to ensure quality standards of clinical practice across the juvenile justice continuum.

Specific duties will include, but are not limited to

• Perform audits of health services (e.g., collectively, medical, dental, mental health) charts of youth in the care and/or custody of ACS at the Juvenile Justice Detention and Placement residential sites, using agency-developed tools and scoring methods to determine compliance with federal, state, and city regulatory mandates and ACS-approved health standards.
• Perform random case reviews to monitor and assess triage and referrals for acute care and chronic conditions of all youth including initial screening, comprehensive assessment, care coordination, and discharge.
• Perform field visits to DYFJ facilities to observe health care delivery and provide targeted technical assistance to troubleshoot operational issues.
• Work collaboratively and in consultation with the DYFJ Health Services and Programs and the ACS Office of Child and Family Health to analyze data and reports and identify practice trends and policies affecting health service delivery, coordination, and continuity of care in juvenile justice settings.
• Collaborate with DYFJ program area staff to dissect health-related incidents involving juvenile justice youth to ensure ACS-contracted/partner health services staff meet their contractual obligations.
• Actively participate in the development of performance improvement plans for ACS-contracted health services staff, and coordinate with other units within DYFJ and the Office of Child and Family Health to provide consultation and technical assistance to contracted providers on health-related practice, standards of health care, and policy issues.
• Prepare and maintain related documentation and reports by utilizing information obtained from forms, case files, site visits, youth surveys, databases, and other sources.
• In collaboration with Senior Executive staff, organize in-service training programs for DYFJ and ACS-contracted health services staff.
• Attend meetings on behalf of leadership in furtherance of divisional and agency-wide goals.
• Participate in research, development of proposals for program funding, and execution of other projects in furtherance of improving service delivery and promoting quality standards of health care.

Special Note

• Candidate must be willing to travel and attend meetings and events across ACS detention facilities and contracted residential placement programs as well as work some evenings

Additional Information

• This job opening has been reposted. Previous applicants do not need to reapply.
• Section 424-A of the New York Social Services Law requires an authorized agency to inquire whether a candidate for employment with child-caring responsibilities has been the subject of a child abuse and maltreatment report.

To Apply

• No phone calls, faxes or personal inquiries permitted.
• Note: Only candidates under consideration will be contacted

Qualifications & Requirements

• A valid New York state license as a Registered Nurse, a baccalaureate degree in Nursing from an accredited college and a master's degree in Nursing, Public Health or a related field, plus four years of recent experience in public health or hospital nursing or a related field; at least 18 months of which must have been in an administrative, managerial, executive, consultative or educational capacity, or in supervision of professional public health nursing personnel working in any of the above mentioned areas; or
• Education and/or experience equivalent to ""1"" above. However, all candidates must possess a valid New York State license as a Registered Nurse, and a baccalaureate degree in Nursing from an accredited college; and must possess the 18 months of specialized experience as described in ""1"" above.