Job Opportunities

The Rockland County Department of Social Services is seeking a candidate to perform paraprofessional work of a moderately complex nature involving a responsibility for providing support in the delivery of services to clients within a variety of Social Services programs (e.g., Adult Protective Services, Medicaid, Children & Family Services, SNAP). 

Duties include gathering appropriate information and documents, verifying data, entering information into case records and providing preliminary determinations regarding eligibility; responding to inquiries from clients with respect to eligibility status and program guidelines; providing assistance in completing applications; staffing the call center to respond to inquiries and resolve concerns including providing replacement SNAP cards, advising of case status, and scheduling appointments; preparing observation reports for evidence in court to be utilized for determining custody or visitation, and may be called to testify as to the information recorded; transporting clients to visitation, health care and other service provider appointments, school, court, etc. and assuming direct responsibility for the physical and mental well-being of children and vulnerable adults; performing direct observation drug test collection to ensure specimen integrity, completing required documentation and securing urine specimen to maintain chain of custody; performing routine and moderately complex clerical functions including data entry and the development and maintenance of electronic files within appropriate software and programs; assessing the basic safety of vulnerable adults and providing direct client support (e.g., may take client grocery shopping after determining inadequate food is available); supervising court ordered visitation between biological parents and children in foster care to ensure each child’s safety; assessing the appropriateness of parents to participate in visitation; may conduct home visits to explain available services and gather documents and information from home bound clients; arranging for the transfer and conducting the transfer of children between biological parents and foster parents; may assist in assessing the safety of children and report findings; may act for and in place of foster parent under certain circumstances (i.e., medical visits).

Minimum Qualifications:

Graduation from high school or possession of an equivalency diploma and four years of paid work experience which must have substantially involved performing direct customer service activities (e.g., explaining services, providing information, resolving complaints), one year of which must have involved the provision of services in a social assistance setting (i.e. health, mental health, social services, education).

1. An Associate’s degree or equivalent college credits (minimum of sixty credit hours) may be substituted for two years of the required work experience involving direct customer service activities.
2. A Bachelor’s degree or higher shall be deemed fully qualifying.

Other Requirements and Information:

Incumbents are expected to possess a Level II proficiency in Spanish (as defined by the Local Examinations Division of the State of New York Department of Civil Service) which requires that the incumbent: be able to speak the language with sufficient structural accuracy and vocabulary to participate effectively in most formal and informal conversations on practical, social and professional topics not requiring specialized vocabulary (e.g. technical engineering, medicine, etc.); can discuss particular interests and special fields of competence in general terms with reasonable ease; possesses adequate comprehension to normal rate of speech; has good control of grammar and errors do not interfere with understanding; can read with understanding standard newspaper, correspondence and official documents.

Possession of a valid driver’s license is required at the time of appointment and must be maintained throughout the course of employment in this title.

Applicants for designated positions with DSS that may have regular or substantial unsupervised or unrestricted contact with children shall be subject to background checks according to the New York State Justice Center’s Staff Exclusion List (SEL) and New York State Office of Children and Family Services Sitewide Central Register of Abuse and Maltreatment (SCR). Inquiries on current employees shall be made annually and prior to promotion but no more often than once in any six-month period (N.Y. Social Services Law 424-A). Candidates/applicants with conditional offers of employment may be required to submit the necessary fee(s) for background screening and inquiries shall be completed prior to employment hiring/start date. Refusal to sign the necessary clearance forms, submit the required associated fees and/or participate in the review process shall be cause for an automatic non- selection. In addition, inquiry responses are subject to evaluation and may result in disqualification pursuant to Section 50 of New York State Civil Service Law.

For positions within the Child Support Enforcement Unit at DSS: Per Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Security Guidelines for Federal, State and Local Agencies (IRS Publication 1075, Section 5.1.1), employees with access to Federal Tax Information (FTI) must complete a background check which is favorably adjudicated. The background check will include FBI fingerprinting; a check of local law enforcement agencies where the employee has lived, worked and/or attended school within the last 5 years, and if applicable, of the appropriate agency for any identified results and verification of citizenship/residency. You will be required to pay for a processing fee for the fingerprinting. A criminal record does not necessarily disqualify you from employment or access to FTI. An individualized determination will be made as to how a conviction would impact suitability to handle FTI. Federal guidelines require that a reinvestigation will be conducted within ten years of the date of the previous background investigation for each employee requiring access to FTI. NY law does not currently permit reinvestigation but may be changed at any time to permit reinvestigation pursuant to the federal guidelines. 

Candidate must be a legal resident of New York, New Jersey or Connecticut.

This is a New York State Civil Service approved non-competitive title in the NY HELPS Program.

Salary and Benefits:

Salary and benefits are competitive with the public sector market including but not limited to the following:

• $29.06 per hour for a 35-hour work week
• Medical, dental and vision available
• Paid time off including vacation, personal and holiday time
• This position is New York State Pension eligible
• Other benefits, including, but not limited to deferred compensation, tuition reimbursement, leadership and other professional development training

How to Apply:

Interested candidates should email a completed Rockland County application to:

RocklandDSSPersonnel@dfa.state.ny.us

Click here to access the online application.

Position open until filled.