Family Support Specialist Hamilton County Bilingual Preferred

Nurture the Next

Apply

Job Summary

Family Support Specialists (FSS) Bilingual Preferred in the Healthy Families TN and Nurturing Parenting programs are responsible for building trusting relationships with families and utilizing this connection to support families in identifying strengths and barriers, accessing resources, and obtaining the knowledge and skills to achieve their goals. Family Support Specialists are focused on the health and well-being of parents and their children. Family Support Specialists serve families individually in their homes and in group settings.  The Family Support Specialist will be serving families in the Hamilton County area.

Job Responsibilities

• Provide intensive, long-term home visiting services to parents according to HFTN guidelines
• Conduct family assessments and screenings, develop individual family service plans, and provide brief interventions, community referrals, advocacy, and follow-up to participants
• Prepare and implement individualized curriculum for home visits from available materials focusing on parent health and wellness, child health and development, positive parenting skills, educational and vocational achievement, and life skills
• Provide supportive services to participants, while also increasingly encouraging families to utilize more informal and community resources
• Maintain flexibility in order to schedule home visits at times that are convenient for the family
• Conduct outreach and engagement activities as necessary and assigned while promoting the Healthy Families program and appropriately representing the agency at large
• Maintain an overall home visiting caseload as determined by Healthy Families TN guidelines as assigned
• Facilitate individual or small group Nurturing Parenting sessions
• Keep all documentation up-to-date and accurate, including electronic web-based records and paper records
• As a member of the team, plan, develop, and implement groups/activities/events at times that work best for participants, as assigned
• Participate in weekly reflective supervision, staff meetings, trainings, program evaluation activities, and workshops
• Assist with child abuse prevention month activities.
• Participate in major fundraising and development events benefitting NTN, community awareness events that promote the agency and programs, and program activities of the organization no matter the individual role
• Represents the agency at community, civic, or other public functions
• Attend quarterly site visits in the appropriate region
• Follow organizational policies
• Participate in agency ad-hoc committees as appropriate and needed
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

Graduation from an accredited college or university with a bachelor’s degree in social work or a related field. Associate’s degree in the social services field or early childhood education or high school diploma with equivalent experience will be considered. Infant mental health endorsement preferred.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in working with or providing supportive services to young children and families
• Experience and humility to work with a culturally diverse population; Demonstrated acceptance of individual differences and practice of inclusion
• Ability to establish trusting relationships and utilize basic supportive skills
• Ability to approach families from a strengths-based and family-centered service model
• Knowledge of infant and child development and parent-child attachment principles
• Awareness of particular needs of low-income families and multi-stressed families
• Ability to learn and integrate into teaching/ coaching, material related to service delivery
• Willingness to engage in building reflective capacity (e.g., capacity for introspection, communicating awareness of self in relation to others, recognizing the value of supervision, etc.)
• Ability to maintain professional boundaries while providing supportive services
• Willingness to work non-standard business hours as needed and scheduled
• Ability to self-direct daily work tasks and practice effective time management
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to collaborate as part of a team
• Microsoft Office, email, internet; Must be able to meet documentation requirements
• Reliable transportation and a valid driver’s license
• Minimum of a high school diploma or equivalent, college coursework preferred

PHYSICAL DEMANDS & WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical demands and work environment described are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit, talk, and/or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand, use hands to finger, handle, or feel and reach with hands and arms. The employee is frequently required to keyboard and do data entry at a computer. The employee is frequently required to drive, walk, and climb stairs in the office and in a variety of community-based and home settings. The employee must lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include vision and the ability to adjust focus. The employee must have access to reliable transportation. The work environment includes indoor office environments or comparable spaces, families’ homes, and community spaces, with frequent exposure to outdoor weather when traveling to home visits and meetings. The noise level varies by sites, home visits, and meetings.

Additional Information

Benefits

How to Apply

Apply online at https://www.nurturethenext.org/careers-internships

Details

• Date Posted: September 19, 2023
• Type: Full-Time
• Job Function: Educator
• Service Area: Children / Youth
• Start Date: 10/09/2023
• Salary Range: $37,000-$40,000
• Working Hours: 40 hrs/week