Director of Residential Care

The Director of Residential Care provides strategic, clinical, and operational leadership for an adolescent residential care program. This position is responsible for ensuring the delivery of safe, trauma-informed, evidence-based care within a therapeutic residential setting.

The Director oversees daily residential operations, regulatory compliance, staffing, quality improvement, fiscal stewardship, and interdisciplinary coordination to promote positive clinical outcomes and provide a safe, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate environment for youth.

The successful candidate will be a mission-driven leader who combines strong residential care expertise with sound judgment, compassion, accountability, staff development skills, and a commitment to the organization's Christian mission.

Key Objectives

• Maintain safe, compliant, stable, and well-run residential homes.
• Ensure high-quality, trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and evidence-based care.
• Recruit, develop, retain, and effectively lead a strong residential workforce.
• Maintain a culture of regulatory and operational excellence.
• Exercise sound financial and resource stewardship.
• Promote youth stabilization, treatment progress, family engagement, and positive long-term outcomes.
• Actively embrace and model the organization's spiritual commitments and responsibilities.

Essential Responsibilities

Clinical Oversight & Service Integration

• Partner with the Clinical Director and interdisciplinary treatment teams to ensure high-quality, trauma-informed, culturally responsive care.
• Monitor admissions, treatment planning, behavioral interventions, crisis management, and discharge planning.
• Review and approve Individualized Service Plans (ISPs) for residents.
• Ensure evidence-based behavioral interventions and residential best practices are consistently implemented.
• Review critical incidents, restraints/seclusions when applicable, and other safety events to identify trends, ensure compliance, and drive continuous quality improvement.
• Lead multidisciplinary decision-making regarding youth admissions, continued placement, discharge, or removal from placement.
• Ensure proactive residential staff participation in weekly resident care/clinical services staffings and monthly QRTP service team meetings.
• Ensure consistent programming, enrichment opportunities, and structured activities across the residential campus.
• Support the implementation of therapy groups and other interventions aligned with residents' treatment needs.
• Promote coordination between residential, clinical, educational, medical, and support services.

Staff Leadership & Development

• Recruit, hire, train, supervise, and evaluate residential supervisors and direct-care staff.
• Establish clear expectations for performance, professionalism, accountability, and youth-centered care.
• Foster a positive, collaborative, accountable, and mission-driven team culture.
• Provide coaching and professional development to strengthen staff competency in de-escalation, trauma-informed care, youth engagement, crisis response, and other evidence-based practices.
• Ensure all required staff training and certifications are completed and maintained in accordance with regulatory and organizational standards.
• Monitor staffing needs, coverage, performance, morale, and retention.
• Conduct annual job-description reviews and establish performance goals for each fiscal year.
• Develop leadership capacity among residential supervisors and other key staff.

Regulatory Compliance & Quality Assurance

• Maintain compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local regulations governing residential services for minors, including applicable DCY, CARF, HIPAA, QRTP, and ODBH requirements.
• Serve as the primary residential liaison during licensing, accreditation, monitoring, and compliance reviews.
• Implement and monitor quality assurance and performance improvement initiatives.
• Ensure timely and accurate completion of youth and personnel documentation, client records, critical incident reports, data collection, and safety documentation.
• Monitor residential practices and documentation for compliance with organizational, contractual, legal, ethical, and regulatory standards.
• Partner with the Quality Assurance Coordinator to ensure contractual obligations for residential placements are fulfilled, including participation in required provider meetings.
• Identify compliance risks and implement corrective actions when needed.
• Use program data, incident trends, staffing information, and youth outcomes to guide continuous improvement.

Fiscal & Administrative Management

• Assist with annual residential program budget development.
• Manage program expenses within approved budget parameters.
• Review financial reports monthly and address budget variances proactively.
• Review and submit required expense reports.
• Monitor staffing patterns, overtime, scheduling, and resource utilization.
• Oversee residential census management and referral review processes.
• Support responsible allocation of program resources while maintaining quality and safety.
• Collaborate with the Development Team regarding donor tours, fundraising activities, and opportunities to communicate program impact.
• Collaborate with the Grant Manager to identify funding opportunities for residential programming.
• Oversee programmatic implementation and compliance related to residential-service-specific grant awards.

Family & Community Engagement

• Promote meaningful family engagement and participation in treatment planning and discharge planning.
• Develop and maintain collaborative relationships with community providers, first responders, local hospitals, schools, child welfare agencies, juvenile justice entities, and referral sources.
• Represent the residential program professionally in community meetings, provider meetings, and stakeholder collaborations.
• Strengthen referral relationships and community partnerships that support positive outcomes for youth.
• Promote effective coordination of services before, during, and after residential placement.

Organizational & Management Leadership

• Participate actively in Director Team meetings and annual organizational planning retreats.
• Identify opportunities to improve residential services, organizational effectiveness, and youth outcomes.
• Provide leadership and recommendations regarding residential program development and strategic priorities.
• Support and advance the mission, vision, and strategic objectives of Gracehaven and COYFC.
• Promote a culture of collaboration, unity, accountability, and effectiveness.
• Serve as a positive organizational representative to staff, youth, families, community partners, funders, and other stakeholders.

Spiritual Responsibilities

• Fully embrace and model the organization's statement of faith and code of conduct.
• Demonstrate Christian character, integrity, compassion, humility, and servant leadership in professional responsibilities.
• Participate appropriately in staff prayer meetings and other organizational spiritual activities.
• Pray consistently for youth in care, staff, families, and the ministry.
• Represent the organization's faith values respectfully and appropriately when interacting with partners, families, youth, and the broader community.
• Ensure that all faith-based activities involving youth remain voluntary and that no youth experiences pressure or coercion to participate.

Leadership Competencies

The ideal candidate will demonstrate:

• Strong leadership and decision-making skills.
• Experience leading residential, behavioral health, child welfare, or youth-serving programs.
• Knowledge of trauma-informed and evidence-based approaches to youth care.
• Strong understanding of regulatory compliance and quality assurance.
• Ability to lead through crisis while maintaining safety, professionalism, and sound judgment.
• Demonstrated ability to recruit, develop, motivate, and retain staff.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and conflict-resolution skills.
• Ability to balance clinical priorities, operational demands, financial considerations, and regulatory requirements.
• Commitment to youth-centered, culturally responsive, and developmentally appropriate care.
• Strong organizational, analytical, and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to build effective relationships with families, community partners, referral sources, and multidisciplinary professionals.
• Commitment to the Christian mission and values of Gracehaven and COYFC.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Youth For Christ (YFC) provides equal employment opportunities to employees and applicants without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, age, disability, marital status, or other unlawful discriminatory characteristics in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.

YFC is classified as an Association of Churches, and its hiring practices reflect that designation. As a religious nonprofit organization, YFC incorporates within each leadership role the expectation that leaders model, teach, share, and live the Christian faith. The relationship between YFC's mission and its leaders is foundational to the organization and, consistent with applicable law, YFC reserves the right to make employment decisions based upon religious beliefs, personal character, lifestyle, and alignment with its understanding of the Bible and the goals and requirements of Christian ministry.

YFC seeks to create a workplace intentional about Kingdom Inspired Diversity and is committed to providing employees with opportunities for growth, development, advancement, training, and equitable compensation.

YFC will provide reasonable accommodation to qualified individuals with known disabilities unless doing so would result in an undue hardship to the organization.