Child Welfare Strategic Planning and Implementation Lead (Senior Consultant)

Role: Child Welfare Strategic Planning and Implementation Lead (Senior Consultant)

Location: Remote with occasional onsite at Pierre SD

Duration: 12 months Contract with possibility to extension

Background: Stronger Families Together (SFT) is a state initiative focused on strengthening families including foster/adoptive family recruitment and support. The State is seeking a consultant to assess the current SFT structure and processes recommend improvements develop a new 3-year strategic plan and support implementation.

Scope of Work: Stronger Families Together is a call to action to recruit prepare and support foster and adoptive families based on the following principles:

• All children deserve to grow up in a family where they are loved and protected.
• Foster families are needed to care for children and support their families when they are experiencing challenges that cause the children to be unsafe.
• Encouragement support and services are needed for parents kinship families foster families and adoptive families to provide the best care possible for children.
• Families are needed to provide children with a safe stable and permanent forever family if they cannot return home.

Client is seeking an experienced and qualified consultant to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the processes and advisory structure in place within the Department that has been erected to inform and ensure fulfillment of the call to action. Experienced consultant would provide recommendations for closing communication gaps streamlining the implementation of ideas generated by the SFT advisory body increasing engagement with stakeholders and promoting accountability to the calls stated objectives. Examination to include the foster care adoption recruitment training and ongoing support addition to recommendations an expected outcome of the work order is a new three-year strategic plan for the initiative that includes clear goals measurable outcomes and actionable implementation strategies.

Activities include but are not limited to:

1. Define the Stronger Families Together (SFT) initiative and assess its efficacy to date.

2. Assess the SFT initiative to identify strengths gaps and opportunities for improvement. Key materials to review include:

• Diligent Recruitment Plan (APSR)
• Stronger Families Together SFY 2026 Strategic Plan
• SFT Steering Committee Quarterly Reports and Data

• Subgroup reports (membership goals strategies activities)
• Input from the SFT Steering Committee members
• Solicit input and feedback from stakeholder groups and ministries whose focus is aligned to the child welfare delivery systems mission.

3. Develop Strategic Plan. Create a 3-year plan that includes:

• Vision and strategic priorities

• Clear goals and objectives
• Measurable outcomes and performance indicators

4. Implementation strategies and timelines Support Strategic Plan Implementation

• Identify resources that will need to be created or procured in order to implement the plan.

• Develop an implementation plan for the new 3-year strategic plan. Create milestones so that progress toward full implementation can be measured.
• Assist in facilitating meetings to launch the strategic plan.
• Provide guidance and technical assistance to agency leadership and stakeholders during the rollout of a new 3-year strategic plan.

Project Overview: The selected consultant is expected to:

• assess current SFT processes governance/advisory structure and communication flows
• identify gaps (communication implementation streamlining accountability stakeholder engagement)
• provide recommendations to improve execution and engagement
• develop a new 3-year strategic plan with goals and measurable outcomes
• support implementation with a roadmap milestones facilitation and ongoing guidance

Type of Project: Management consulting / organizational assessment / strategic planning / implementation support

Required Experience:

• 8 years of overall consulting / program strategy / public-sector program support experience
• 5 years of direct child welfare experience (CPS foster care/adoption family strengthening or closely related services)
• 5 years leading strategic planning efforts including multi-year plans with measurable goals and outcomes
• 5 years of stakeholder engagement and facilitation (steering/advisory groups cross-functional/community partners)
• 3 years supporting implementation planning and change enablement (roadmaps milestones rollout support)
• 3 years defining outcomes/KPIs/performance measures for accountability and tracking

Required Skills:

• Program/process assessment and governance/advisory structure review
• Gap analysis and improvement recommendations (communication gaps accountability implementation streamlining)
• Strategic plan development (3-year plan goals measurable outcomes/indicators implementation strategies)
• Stakeholder engagement facilitation and consensus-building
• Implementation planning (milestone-based roadmap rollout support meeting cadence)
• Strong writing and presentation skills (executive-ready deliverables and briefings)

Required Education:

• Minimum: Bachelors degree in a relevant field (Social Work Human Services Public Administration/Policy Psychology Sociology Organizational Development or similar)
• Preferred: MSW MPA MPH or related advanced degree