Job Description

Requisition No: 868016

Agency: Children and Families

Working Title: SENIOR CHILD PROTECTIVE INVESTIGATOR - 60074003

Pay Plan: Career Service

Position Number: 60074003

Salary: AGENCY TO UPDATE

Posting Closing Date: 01/13/2026

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This is work performing in all community, public health and social service specialist occupations not listed separately. Some positions in this occupation may be responsible for coordinating work and supervising employees.

Senior Child Protective Investigator duties and responsibilities are as follows.

• Conducts investigations regarding allegations of abuse, neglect, abandonment and/or special conditions for children;
• Works closely with law enforcement;
• Collects information through observation and interviews with the children, parents, relatives, neighbors, and other parties associated with the case, as well as analysis of criminal, past service history and other records;
• Engages families to understand the family’s perspectives about family dynamics, challenges and solutions, identifies needs and determines the level of intervention needed to include voluntary services or court ordered dependency services;
• Assesses danger threats, child vulnerabilities and caregiver protective capacities in order to determine whether a child is safe or not safe;
• Develops with family and other persons as necessary any required present and/or impending danger plans based on analysis of danger threats in operation;
• Manages and modifies safety plans as necessary during the course of the investigation;
• Arranges emergency placement for any child that cannot safely remain in the home;
• Notifies state attorney, law enforcement, child protection team and other required individuals as appropriate;
• Provides written present and impending danger assessments;
• Completes Risk Assessment on families investigated and explains risk score to family;
• Conduct staffing’s required for families with risk scores that are High and Very High Risk;
• Presents safety plan and impending danger assessment at case management case transfer staffing and participates in discussion as to recommended follow-up actions;
• Provides families with services linkages to agency and community resources based on needs assessment and provides recommendations for development of case plan to Case Manager;
• Conducts initial/ongoing child present and impending danger assessments;
• Develops with the family a signed Present Danger Plan and a signed safety plan for any identified threats and interventions;
• Schedules and gathers information for and participates in case staffings;
• Prepares appropriate reports/documentation in coordination with Children’s Legal Services and provides testimony in court;
• Maintains thorough documentation in the client records/appropriate information system(s) and maintains organized client files;
• Reports indication of abuse, neglect and/or abandonment to the Florida Abuse Hotline;
• Establishes and maintains cooperative and professional working relationships with organizations and other agencies involved with child protective investigations such as community based providers, Children’s Legal Services, law enforcement, medical personnel, schools, and other community/agency resources;

EXAMPLES OF WORK

• Supervise employees by assigning work, reviewing progress and assessing performance.
• Counsel clients and patients, individually and in group sessions, to assist in overcoming dependencies, adjusting to life, and making changes.
• Counsel family members to assist in understanding, dealing with, and supporting clients or patients.
• Interviews clients, reviews records, and confers with other professionals to evaluate mental or physical condition of client or patient.
• Formulate or coordinates program plan for treatment, care, and rehabilitation of client or patient, based on social work experience and knowledge.
• Monitor, evaluate, and record client progress according to measurable goals described in treatment and care plan.
• Modify treatment plan to comply with changes in client's status.
• Refer patient, client, or family to community resources to assist in recovery from mental or physical illness.
• Intervene as advocate for client or patient to resolve emergency problems in crisis situation.
• Plan and conduct programs to prevent substance abuse or improve counseling services.
• Plan and conduct programs to improve health.
• Supervise and direct other workers providing services to client or patient.
• Develop and prepare program manuals, policies, procedures, standards, and rules.
• Analyze data to measure the effectiveness of programs.
• Develop methods to implement and administer policies, procedures, and program activities.
• Develop monitoring, compliance reviews and/or quality assurance techniques for measuring the quality of service delivery to insure maximum efficiency.
• Identify improvements and adjustments needed to insure program effectiveness and efficiency.

EXAMPLES OF JOB CHARACTERISTICS

• Providing consultation and expert advice to management or other groups on technical, systems-related, or process related topics.
• Combining, evaluating, and reasoning with information and data to make decisions and solve problems. These processes involve making decisions about the relative importance of information and choosing the best solution.
• Providing assistance or personal care to others.
• Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others.
• Making judgments about or assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.
• Communicating with persons outside the organization, representing the organization to customers, the public, government, and other external sources. This information can be exchanged face-to-face, in writing, or via telephone/electronic transfer.
• Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
• Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in either written form or by electronic/magnetic recording.
• Identifying underlying principles, reasons, or facts by breaking down information or data into separate parts.
• Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, often to detect problems or to find out when things are finished.
• Identifying information received by making estimates or categorizations, recognizing differences or similarities, or sensing changes in circumstances or events

  EXAMPLES OF KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND ABILITIES

  • Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react the way they do
  • Weighing the relative costs and benefits of a potential action
  • Talking to others to effectively convey information
  • Actively looking for ways to help people
  • Working with new material or information to grasp its implications
  • Identifying the nature of problems
  • Identifying the things that must be changed to achieve a goal
  • Observing and evaluating the outcomes of a problem solution to identify lessons learned or redirect efforts
  • Listening to what other people are saying and asking questions as appropriate
  • Using multiple approaches when learning or teaching new things
  • Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions
  • Motivating, developing, and directing people as they work, identifying the best people for the job
  • Knowledge of information and techniques needed to rehabilitate physical and mental ailments and to provide career guidance including alternative treatments, rehabilitation equipment and its proper use, and methods to evaluate treatment effects
  • Knowledge of methods of compiling, organizing and analyzing data for the purpose of monitoring and evaluating
  • Knowledge of human behavior and performance, mental processes, psychological research methods, and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders
  • Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services including needs assessment techniques, quality service standards, alternative delivery systems, and customer satisfaction evaluation techniques
  • Knowledge of instructional methods and training techniques including curriculum design principles, learning theory, group and individual teaching techniques, design of individual development plans, and test design principles

  • Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar

The State of Florida is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Affirmative Action Employer, and does not tolerate discrimination or violence in the workplace.

Candidates requiring a reasonable accommodation, as defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, must notify the agency hiring authority and/or People First Service Center (1-866-663-4735). Notification to the hiring authority must be made in advance to allow sufficient time to provide the accommodation.

The State of Florida supports a Drug-Free workplace. All employees are subject to reasonable suspicion drug testing in accordance with Section 112.0455, F.S., Drug-Free Workplace Act.

VETERANS’ PREFERENCE. Pursuant to Chapter 295, Florida Statutes, candidates eligible for Veterans’ Preference will receive preference in employment for Career Service vacancies and are encouraged to apply. Certain service members may be eligible to receive waivers for postsecondary educational requirements. Candidates claiming Veterans’ Preference must attach supporting documentation with each submission that includes character of service (for example, DD Form 214 Member Copy #4) along with any other documentation as required by Rule 55A-7, Florida Administrative Code. Veterans’ Preference documentation requirements are available by clicking here All documentation is due by the close of the vacancy announcement.