Family Support Specialists

Children's Hope Alliance•Morganton, NC

1d•$36,984•Onsite

About The Position

Catawba Valley Healthy Families (CVHF), a program of Children’s Hope Alliance, uses the evidence-based Healthy Families America model to provide in-home visitation services to families who are pregnant or parenting children from birth to age five in Burke, Caldwell, McDowell, Catawba, and Iredell counties. The program supports families over three to five years by reducing stress factors and increasing protective factors. The Family Support Specialist initiates and maintains intensive, long-term, family-centered home-visitation services, beginning during pregnancy or within three months of a child’s birth. The specialist builds trusting relationships that honor diverse family structures and parenting practices; identifies family strengths and concerns; and develops individualized service plans. Through goal-setting support, parent education, activities, referrals, and connections to community resources, the specialist helps strengthen parent-child relationships, promote healthy child development, and enhance family well-being. The primary focus is serving families in Iredell and Catawba counties, though travel throughout the broader CVHF service area may be required. The role includes regular home visits of at least one hour, 24/7 on-call availability to families, assessments and screenings, documentation, team participation, and required training. The work takes place in family homes and an office, with frequent driving and physical activity during visits.

Requirements

Minimum of a high school diploma or equivalent.
Knowledge of infant and child development.
Experience working with or providing services to children and families.
Ability to diffuse difficult situations or confrontations and establish trusting relationships.
Knowledge of the dynamics of child abuse and neglect.
Ability to work with individuals and professionals from varied disciplines and embrace family-centered, strength-based services.
Acceptance of individual differences and experience and humility working with culturally diverse families.
Willingness to build reflective capacity, including introspection, awareness of self in relation to others, and recognition of the value of supervision.
Proficient computer skills for communication, participant-record documentation, and accessing and interpreting information.
Valid North Carolina driver’s license and maintenance of insurance coverage.
Must submit to and pass pre-employment drug screening, criminal, HCPR, and driving checks.
Ability to travel frequently to home visits, sometimes in outlying areas.
Ability to lift and/or move up to 30 pounds.
Ability to kneel, bend, reach, sit on the floor, read, type, write, speak, use a telephone, sit for extended periods, and work on a computer.
Ability to perform duties in active home environments with changing climate and noise levels.

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s degree in Child Development, Early Childhood, B-K, Human Services, Social Work, or a related child and family field.
At least one year of experience related to the program, or an equivalent combination of training and experience.
Bilingual Spanish/English abilities.
Infant Mental Health Endorsement.

Responsibilities

Engage referred families by scheduling, administering, documenting, and scoring the Family Resilience and Opportunities for Growth (FROG) initial assessment.
Initiate and maintain regular, long-term contact and support for assigned families through home visits lasting at least one hour and 24/7 on-call availability.
Build trusting relationships with families while honoring diverse family structures and parenting practices.
Develop and regularly update individualized Family Service Plans addressing needs and strengths identified through the FROG assessment and ongoing service.
Assist families in setting and achieving meaningful goals, including helping parents create a goal plan within 45 days of enrollment and update it every six months.
Support parents in learning problem-solving and coping skills and effectively advocating for their families.
Provide parent education using Partners for a Healthy Baby, Nurturing Program, Growing Great Kids, and supplemental curricula.
Use targeted activities, observation, and the parallel process to strengthen parent-child interactions and promote healthy childhood growth and development.
Administer family screenings, including intimate partner violence, depression, and child-development screenings (ASQ-3 / ASQ-SE), and make appropriate referrals.
Connect families with community agencies and maintain awareness of local resources that may enhance family well-being.
Assist families with scheduling and attending prenatal and postnatal care, well-child checkups, immunizations, and other appropriate appointments.
Attend CVHF staff meetings, weekly individual supervision meetings, group parent trainings, community outreach events, and other required meetings and trainings.
Attend training upon hire and throughout employment; some training may require travel and overnight stays.
Document all family contact in the Family Wise Database and maintain required paperwork, screenings, family data, referrals, and other information in the database and/or family file.
Perform other duties as assigned by the supervisor.
Meet organization-wide expectations for mission contribution, organization, professional development, timeliness and accuracy, professionalism, teamwork, communication, leadership, and cultural competence.