Family Support Specialist

Wyoming Citizen Review Panel – Parents as Teachers Affiliate

Family Support Specialist-Home Visitor

Mission

Parents as Teachers promotes the optimal early development, learning and health of young children by supporting and engaging their parents and caregivers. We advance the delivery of high-quality services for families through a comprehensive system of support and innovative solutions.

Job Description

The Family Support Specialist is responsible for delivering all components of the Parents as Teachers Home Visiting model; using the PAT curriculum, implementing the Essential Requirements and Quality Assurance Guidelines with fidelity, and collecting data required by the Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visitation (MIECHV) and Parents as Teachers. Utilizing the PAT Foundational Curricula, the Family Support Specialist partners, facilitates, and reflects with families to provide comprehensive visits that meet each family’s need.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree in education/early childhood, social services, family consumer science and/or related field. Experience working with young children and/or caregivers is also preferred.
• Excellent organizational, written, and verbal communication skills; ability to perform comfortably in a fast-paced environment; and ability to work as a team member, as well as independently.
• Ability to communicate effectively in both English and Spanish is preferred, but not required.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to establish rapport with families.  
• Thorough knowledge of methods, techniques, and procedures used in child development and family-based practices.
• Sincere desire to partner, facilitate and reflect with families of diverse cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds
• Available occasionally to work flexible hours to include evenings and some weekends to meet the needs of families' schedules, program outreach and program activities
• Valid driver’s license/auto insurance and reliable transportation

Functions/Responsibilities (Include but not limited to)

• The staff member will be trained and certified as a Family Support Specialist through the Parents as Teachers National Center to provide home visits to the priority population set forth by MIECHV
• Develop a family recruitment plan, demonstrate positive interpersonal relations with outside agencies, and regularly attend monthly community partner meetings
• Maintain a caseload of minimum of 18 families
• Plan, provide and document personal visits for families, using the Parents as Teachers curriculum on a weekly or bi-weekly basis with each enrolled family. These visits focus on parent-child interaction, development-centered parenting, and family well-being
• Complete developmental, health, and family screenings as required
• Clearly document details of each visit, assessment, screening, follow-up resources, etc., and maintains organized records of all family data
• Work with families to establish and achieve goals pertaining to parenting behaviors, child development and family well-being
• Connect families to resources in their communities, helping to transition parents and children to other services as needed
• Meet twice monthly with supervisor for reflective and administration support
• Assist parents and children transition to other services as needed using the program Transition Plan
• Provide family Group Connections in conjunction with other staff members
• Complete annual competency-based professional development hours to retain certification
• Attend the annual Parent as Teacher Conference and other required professional development
• Other duties as assigned by affiliate supervisor

Job Type: Full-time

Salary: $43,500 /year