Home-Based Family Advocate

Center for Transforming Lives•Fort Worth, TX

7d•Remote

About The Position

The Home-Based Family Advocate provides intensive, home-based early childhood education, parenting education, and family support services to voluntary participants in accordance with Head Start Program Performance Standards. The Home-Based Family Advocate focuses on the four cornerstones of Early Head Start, child development, family development, community building, and staff development, to empower families in parenting, child development, health, nutrition, mental health, and self-sufficiency by using outcome-based interventions. The Home-Base Family Advocate teaches problem-solving skills and refers families to community resources and existing service systems to promote independence.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education, Child and Family Development, or a closely related area. An associate degree in a related field, along with two years of relevant experience, may be substituted for a bachelor’s degree.
Experience delivering home-based services
Successful experience teaching child development and parenting skills to adults and children ages birth to three.
Efficient experience delivering family support services.
Ability to assist individuals in enhancing problem-solving skills and accessing community resources and writing family goals or Individualized Family Partnership Agreements.
Ability to establish and maintain productive communication and working relationships with families, co-workers, and community members to develop and maintain quality client-centered services.
Ability to deliver year-round home-based services on a flexible schedule to meet the needs of families.
Excellent organizational skills; strong computer skills.
Two or more years of successful experience using a strengths-based family support approach in teaching and/or delivering services in the following areas: prenatal education, early childhood education, and parenting education.
Knowledge and skills in completing comprehensive assessments covering all areas affecting family functioning and assessing individual and family dynamics.
Knowledge of resources in Tarrant County or the ability to locate and identify family resources within the service area.

Nice To Haves

Bilingual in English/Spanish preferred

Responsibilities

Provide structured child-focused home visiting that promotes the parents’ ability to support the child’s cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development, beginning prenatally through age three.
Use an effective strengths-based approach to parenting education, encouraging parents as their child’s first and most important teacher through modeling, coaching, and guidance. Promote emergent literacy using research-based methods and strategies to support the development of literacy and language skills for all children. Develop and implement weekly prenatal care lesson plans that support the health and well-being of pregnant women.
Develop and implement weekly early childhood education lesson plans that support each child’s development using the specified curriculum or other curricula approved by the program. Complete developmental assessments on all children less than four years of age according to Head Start Performance Standards, as well as track developmental screenings related to health: health exams, vision, hearing, lead, and hemoglobin.
Develop and maintain current Individual Family Partnership Agreements for all caseload families, establish goals, report outcomes, refer for services, and document progress. Approach difficult family and individual issues positively that leads to growth to promotes effective strategies that can be used to cope with crises. Teach adults how to effectively communicate with and utilize support services within the community, to meet their goals regarding early education, healthcare, education, and employment, through role modeling and supported experiences.
Promptly document all interventions according to program procedures and notify Supervisor and appropriate Coordinator immediately of any unusual or at-risk situations. Complete weekly paperwork accurately and on time as required by program guidelines, including lesson plans, home visit tracking records, contact notes, checklists, and forms. Maintain organized and confidential, working, and permanent files for each family on caseload.
Participate in and support the involvement of families in the Policy Council and parent/child socialization and community groups.