FAMILY ADVOCATE

INDIANHEAD COMMUNITY ACTION AGENCY•Ladysmith, WI

5d•Onsite

About The Position

Responsible for engaging and involving families of children enrolled in Head Start, Early Head Start, and/or Child Care Partnership through activities, practices, and services that support parents as the primary nurturers, experts, and teachers of their child to promote and sustain their child’s development and life success. Supports compliance with the Family/Community Partnership and Program Governance Performance Standards. To act as an Ambassador to the Agency and to reflect on all Agency matters positively.

Requirements

A.A. Degree in Human Services, Social Work, Psychology, or a related field preferred. Minimum of a credential or certification in social work, human services, family services, counseling, or a related field.
Demonstrates clear and complete oral and written communication skills, appropriate respect, and good listening skills. Maintain confidentiality and professionalism of all family, volunteer, and staff information. Communicates optimistically, positively, and with honesty and openness.
Manages time effectively and uses program resources wisely. Must have computer skills.
Demonstrates effective leadership, teaming, and conflict resolution skills and demonstrates knowledge of appropriate child management strategies. Ability to interpret a variety of instructions furnished in written, oral, diagram, or schedule form.
Ability to serve as a productive team member on an interdisciplinary team of professionals, respect and respond competently to the culture, traditions, lifestyle, language, and values of each family and community, and maintain professional boundaries and confidentiality.
Valid driver’s license.
Documentation of a degree.

Nice To Haves

A.A. Degree in Human Services, Social Work, Psychology, or a related field

Responsibilities

Collaborate with classroom and administrative staff to promote families’ understanding and management of their child’s behaviors, including positive approaches to discipline, as well as management of their emotional responses.
Participate in all child/family staffings.
Promote Family Literacy.
Actively participate in staff meetings, trainings, and other collaborative planning meetings.
Assist in follow-up of health screenings, immunization verifications, and outside agency referrals to promote needed treatment and compliance with licensing and program requirements.
Develop and sustain collaborative relationships with an assigned caseload of families and serve as their primary point of contact on behalf of their children and their involvement in ICAA Head Start/Early Head Start/Child Care Partnership. Utilize all formal and informal opportunities to build and maintain relationships.
Lead work with families to identify family strengths, and areas of need, and to develop goals through Family Assessments, including the use of Family Maps, Surveys, and the Needs Assessment. Conduct regular follow-ups on family goals and objectives.
Support and assist families in crisis.
Conduct regular home visits and face-to-face interactions with families.
Make referrals and link families to needed community services; follow up on referrals made and outcomes to help ensure families’ needs are met.
Coordinate the planning and facilitation of family meetings, family activities, and parent education.
Attend parent meetings and functions.
Conduct follow-up on absenteeism (including excessive tardiness) to identify and address barriers to children’s regular attendance.
Develop strategies with families that help them appreciate and contribute to the educational activities of the agency and successfully use their voices to advocate on behalf of their children and themselves.
Promote parents’ participation in program governance including Policy Council and their local parent committee.
Provide opportunities and promote the participation of fathers.
Collaborate with the Teacher in the child’s current setting (HSP, EHS, CCP) to involve parents in all transitions, i.e., into the program, from EHS to HSP, and from HSP to 4K/Kindergarten or to another setting.
Develop working relationships with the local schools and Birth to Three Programs to help coordinate the successful transition of children and families from Early Head Start/Child Care Partnership to Head Start Preschool and then to their school of choice.
Participate in the recruitment, enrollment, and orientation of families. including completing paperwork with families.
Provide content for parent newsletter as needed.
Cultivate relationships with appropriate and effective referral agencies and individuals to enable referrals for families to receive needed services not provided by the program.
Responsible for active supervision of all children during Head Start Preschool/EHS/CCP activities.
Maintain up-to-date records in ChildPlus, track monthly statistics, and generate reports as needed for enrollment, attendance, meal service, class lists, transportation needs, and parent volunteer hours.
Document in ChildPlus all significant correspondence or contact with parents/caregivers including but not limited to in-person visits, phone calls, texts or emails, invitations sent for family night, education given at family night, and resources given to families (individual or sent home in backpacks).
Complete Family Needs Assessment twice per program year in ChildPlus. PIR and family contact information should be updated as necessary.
Understand the role of a Mandated Reporter. Monitor and report child abuse and neglect as per policy and procedures.
Participate in self-assessment and program monitoring and continuous improvement of services and ensure compliance with Head Start Performance Standards.
Responsible for supporting the program in collecting in-kind to meet federal requirements.
Keep and submit records and reports as required.
Attend meetings, trainings, and appropriate professional development activities.
Must follow the agency’s Standards of Conduct, Code of Ethics, and Child Abuse and Neglect reporting policies.
To the extent possible, employees will not provide direct services to their family members. However, when this is not possible, to minimize potential conflicts of interest, employees should avoid providing direct services to their family members. If an employee is responsible for the care and guidance of closely related children, they should make every effort to transfer these responsibilities to another caregiver within the classroom. This approach helps maintain professional boundaries and ensures im-partiality in service delivery.