Tony D. Smith Jr., Ms, Ctp Email & Phone Number

Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Utilizing a trauma-informed and healing approach, the social work practitioner urgently engages with families and community partners to address the barriers to relational permanency for children in the foster care system. The social worker restlessly works to build relationships through family finding and kinship relationships to ensure that no child ages out of foster care without a community of support behind them. Specializing in clinical case management, the social worker coordinates and delivers support to children and families within the community and in the home. The Social Worker is responsible for ensuring the delivery of services to children, youth, young adults, and families who are in, have been involved with, or are at risk of entering the child welfare system.The service interventions developed by the Social Worker are a result of collaborative efforts. They center on action planning and goal setting, leading to improved safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes. These outcomes significantly contribute to the reduction of entry into foster care, reduction of length of stay in foster care, and increased exits from foster care. The Social Worker, in close collaboration with public child welfare system staff, multidisciplinary team members, supervisors, and court personnel, identifies and mitigates barriers to timely permanency.

Phoenix, Arizona, United States

Provides information on Arizona's criminal justice system and victims' legal rights and protections according to the Arizona Constitution: Article II, Section 2.1, the Arizona Revised Statutes (A.R.S.) § 13-4400 through 13-4439 and (A.R.S.) § 8-381 through 8-421.Serves as a court accompaniment and attends court proceedings with or on behalf of a victim.Identifies resources for victims and makes referrals to various social service agencies andProvides crisis intervention/short-term counseling.Researches case status using numerous computer databases, in person or by phone.Manages large caseloads, documents and prepares reports, and presents findings effectively.Works in the presence of or with a trained canine that comforts victimsCarries out the mission and vision of the division under the direction of the Division Chief.

Chandler, Arizona, United States

Provided intense crisis intervention services to clients experiencing or exposed to severe traumatic situations. These experiences are often inclusive of behavioral health and serious medical emergencies (e.g., drownings, suicide), adult, child, and or infant deaths, providing death notifications, assisting victims of fires, traffic collisions, child or elder abuse, neglect or exploitation, violent crimes (e.g., sexual assault, domestic violence) and assisting persons experiencing homelessness.

Detroit, Michigan

Provide child-centered, culturally relevant assistance to non-offending families and caregivers and offer support during the forensic interview process. Provide crisis intervention for victims and families. Educate non-offending families about the role of the CAC, the court, and the legal process, including the victim’s rights. Provide information to families about child abuse, trauma, and victim recovery. Provide information and link families to resources based on client needs. Provide advocacy support for families outside the CAC, including attending court hearings and filing PPOs.Facilitate monthly case reviews for challenging child welfare cases with multidisciplinary team members (MDT), including the Wayne County prosecutor’s office, the Department of Health and Human Services, Local Law Enforcement Officers, etc. Participate in monthly Regional Advisory Council (RAC) meetings. Members of the RAC are community organizations that educate and share information about their specific community-based programs; the intent is that resource sharing will help populations served by each organization.

Phoenix, Arizona Area

Conduct Intake interview assessments with new families interested in providing licensed foster care and adoption. These assessment interviews focus on identifying if families can provide licensed foster care for children and if they should provide this type of care. These meetings are also used for educating families about becoming licensed. These meetings also focus on identifying the amount of knowledge families have regarding trauma and understanding trauma-related behaviors in children from foster care, and interviewing families about their backgrounds and experiences they have overcome in life. Write intake briefs identifying the strengths and concerns of new families interested in becoming licensed foster and adoptive parents—present intake briefs for new families to the intake committee for the family selection process. Conduct file reviews with other licensing agencies for families interested in transferring agencies. The file review aims to discuss any concerns of the family's current licensing agency, including CPS investigations, licensing inquiries and investigations, corrective action plans, and the family’s ability to partner with agencies and maintain transparency.Complete PS-MAPP new foster parent training, which focuses on providing new prospective families with education regarding the needs of children in foster care. This training focuses on educating families about trauma-related behavior and understanding the condition of children who have endured abuse and neglect.

Detroit, Mi

Investigate allegations of child abuse and neglect in family homes. Services specialists are required to visually verify the well-being of all the children in the home, including victims and other household members. Conduct forensic interviews (interviewing each child separately and identifying that they understand the difference between the truth and lie). Contact all parents and interview parents and observe the family home and the safety of the children in the home. Investigations can last up to 30 days; during these 30 days, collateral contacts are made, the source of the complaint, law enforcement, medical personnel, school officials, etc. At the end of the 30 days, a determination must be made to determine whether a preponderance of evidence has been found to substantiate or deny the complaint.Conduct joint investigations with law enforcement for sexual abuse allegations. Upon receiving complaints alleging sexual abuse allegations, law enforcement notifications have to be sent to the police department of the city where the allegations took place. All sexual abuse complaints have to be jointly investigated with the assigned detective on the complaint. Refer families to in-home prevention services to preserve the family and prevent removal. Families with Category II and III cases are referred to in-home prevention services based on the category of the abuse and the results of the completed safety and risk assessment. Service providers and the services specialist monitor and service the families for 90 days.Write legal petitions to the juvenile court for court-ordered removal. For cases substantiated in category I, a petition must be written and filed with the juvenile court for court-ordered removal. Services specialists are expected to find suitable placements for children beginning with relatives and then licensed Foster homes. Services specialists must also testify at preliminary hearings, pre-trial and trial dates.

Bachelor’S Degree, Sociology

Master’S Degree, Master Of Science In Psychology

High School, High School/Secondary Diplomas And Certificates

Activities and Societies: National Honors Society 2003-2004, Member of the Journalism Team 2003-2004, Member of the power teams community.

Master Of Social Work - Msw, Social Work, 4.0

The professional program leading to the MSW degree prepares social workers with knowledge, skills and values needed to practice.