Early Childhood Job Center

Status: Full-Time/ Non-Exempt 

Schedule: Monday-Friday; 9:00am to 5:00pm

Reports To: ERSEA Coordinator

Mission Statement:  

The mission of the Committee for Hispanic Children and Families (CHCF) is to bring a relentless focus on positive child and family outcomes to close the achievement gap and build a better future for children, families, and communities served by the Head Start program. 

Job Summary: 

The Family Advocate will work as a member of a team whose primary role is to engage all families to partner with us to promote children’s healthy development and school readiness. The Family Advocate uses knowledge of the principles of family engagement to support families in their roles as their child’s primary educator, encourage parent/child interactions that promote children’s school readiness and healthy development, and enhance family well-being. In this role, the Family Advocate will provide more intensive and targeted support to vulnerable families and families of children with chronic health conditions and special needs in order to assure that our engagement strategies meet their specialized needs.  

The Family Advocate will work as part of the program’s broader team to expand family engagement strategies that will create a sense of belonging and shared community among families, with the goal of enhancing the relationships and support that families provide to one another in their shared aspirations for their children and themselves. The position may involve reassignment of caseload and/or center location as deemed necessary for program operations.  

Duties and Responsibilities: 

Family Advocate Advocate’s responsibility primarily fall within the following core functions, although s/he may perform other tasks based upon program needs: 

1. Promote Family Environments that Enhance Children’s Development 
2. Support Families to Meet Self-Identified Goals and Needs 
3. Engage Families to Support One Another 
4. Enhance Program Collaboration 
5. Maintain Accurate and Timely Record Keeping and Reporting 

A. Promote Family Environments that Enhance Children’s Development 

Engage families as partners in their children’s healthy development and school readiness.  

1. Participate in outreach, recruitment and attendance follow up activities to engage families in our program; and to motivate their active participation. 
2. Engage families in the Family Engagement Contract process in order to build relationships and shared accountability for promoting children’s development. 
3. Individualize family engagement and relationship-building to be appropriate to families’ cultural context, as well as respectful of family circumstances. 
4. Engage families in individualized, in home and group experiences to enhance parent/child interactions that research shows foster school readiness through consistent family routines, positive guidance and discipline, experience rich home environments and literacy activities 
5. Utilize in-classroom time and home visits to build deeper understanding of the relationship between children’s development and their home environments; as well as to model and coach families in positive parent/child interactions 

B. Support Families to Meet Self-Identified Goals and Needs 

Engage in a process of collaborative partnership building with families of children receiving center-based (Early) Head Start services. 

6. Utilize family self-assessment information to assist families with self-identified goals to enhance self-sufficiency in areas such as education, employment, housing, and access to community resources 
7. Provide more intensive weekly face to face or phone contact with vulnerable families on caseload as identified through their self-assessment or family interactions/communication. Assure that families receive immediate support during times of crisis, and assist with referrals to community based resources to meet counseling, treatment, entitlement or other needs. 
8. Identify and access services and resources responsive to family interests and goals and follow-up with parents to ensure that services meet their expectations and needs. 
9. Analyze self sufficiency data and utilize data/results to plan and coordinate a variety of parent cohort groups that allow families to support one another to achieve self-sufficiency goals.  
10. Coordinate or refer families to opportunities for continuing education, employment training and other employment services through formal or informal networking in the community. 

C. Engage Families to Support One Another 

Foster a sense of community and sense of belonging among families in order to strengthen social capital 

11. Conduct group and center-based workshops and activities designed to build social capital and create a welcoming program community committed to family engagement in children’s learning and development. 
12. Cultivate family leadership and support their advocacy efforts through participation in program governance bodies such as delegate Policy Committee and grantee Policy Council, as well as neighborhood and community based advisory groups 
13. Work in conjunction with Center staff and families to plan and conduct a wide variety of family engagement activities that provide opportunities for families to support one another, including, but not limited to the following:  

• Closing the Achievement Gap workshop series, activities, and campaigns that promote children’s school readiness 
• Self-Sufficiency Sector Groups 
• Monthly Family Engagement Networking Meetings 

D. Enhance Program Collaboration 

Building relationships that will enhance communication and collaboration among internal and external stakeholders 

14. Work side by side with health, early learning and disabilities and other members of the family engagement team to support families to be fully engaged in all aspects of our program. 
15. Establish regular coordination and communication with Health, Nutrition and Disabilities team members in order to provide more intensive support to families of children with chronic health conditions and special needs, including targeted goals setting, and assistance with building family advocacy skills to navigate community systems of care for their children. 
16. Work in coordination with Health and Nutrition team members to assure that all children on caseload are up to date on EPSDT requirements, including receiving timely evaluation and treatment for identified concerns. 
17. Develop effective communication and collaborative strategies with teaming teams to encourage family engagement in home learning activities, including individualizing activities based upon family interests and children’s developmental status. 
18. Establish and maintain working relationships with community partners to strengthen access to resources and training identified as priority goal areas by families. 

E. Maintain Accurate and Timely Record Keeping and Reporting 

Effectively manage workload and ensure accurate record-keeping and documentation 

19. Maintain accurate electronic and hard copy records and case notes to support positive child and family outcomes. 
20. Assure that all ERSEA (Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment and Attendance) information is accurately captured and documented in electronic and hard copy records. 
21. Document efforts to assist families to identify their strengths, needs and self sufficiency goals through completion of Family Self-Assessment, Family Partnership Agreement, and case notes. 
22. Record, monitor and follow up on referrals for support services for reporting requirements.  
23. Submit reports as needed and requested, such as monthly summary tracking reports, etc. 

Non-Essential Duties:  

• Performs any and all other duties as assigned.