Child Care Specialist (Village)

JOB TITLE: Village Child Care Specialist 

REPORTS TO: Deputy Child Care Manager

JOB GRADE: 4, DOE

DIVISION: Family Services Division Youth & Child Unit 

POSITION STATUS: Full-time, Non-exempt APPROVED: January 2024 

Summary Job Goal: The main responsibility of this position is to ensure the quality of care in the Youth & Child Unit’s in-home child care provider program, by providing training support, conducting monitoring through regular home visits, and assisting providers and families to reach health and safety goals, training and advancement goals, and goals to improve the quality of care provided to the children. This is a child contact position and subject to PL 101-30.

Performance Responsibilities: include the following. Other duties may be assigned.

• Know the Health & Safety standards, and available AVCP and community resources in the Specialist’s assigned villages
• Create a training plan for new, or untrained providers, track the provider’s progress on the plan and certify when the provider has completed sufficient training to begin or continue providing services.
• Arrange for training materials to be available at local TWD Job Center, provide training in person during the initial home visit, and make arrangements to provide First Aid/CPR and other needed training off-site in other locations.
• Travel regularly to assigned villages and as needed in other locations, to conduct home visits. Conducts annual/bi-annual home inspections for each approved child care home to ensure the minimum health and safety standards are met. Reviews emergency procedure plans and monitor to assure continued compliance.
• Complete a monitoring checklist, document observations, set goals for improvement, make recommendations and referrals as needed, and provide list of supplies needed in the home to the Bethel Office staff.
• Follow-up on the phone or in person on a bi-weekly basis with the provider and family to provide technical assistance and support needed to meet the goals they set.
• Work directly with the families and providers to improve quality of care by:
• Provide training or assist them in getting training in health, safety, hygiene, nutrition, and developmentally appropriate practices in a family child care setting.
• Conduct vision, hearing and developmental milestone assessments and provide referrals to YKHC and the YKHC FIT program as needed.
• Work with YKHC FIT program if a provider or family suspects a child is developmentally delayed. 
• Provide referrals to other AVCP programs as needed such as Benefits Division, Tribal Workforce Job Centers and the Prevention Unit.
• Acts as a resource for parents that need child care, review program policies and requirements provide applications, direct them to the local TWD Job Center, and connect them with a Bethel Child Care Specialist.
• Work with the TWD Navigators as requested in the application process, and collect applications or other required documents from parents and providers and submit to the Bethel Office.
• Maintain strict client confidentiality.
• Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS: To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. Must have strong written, verbal and analytical skills. Fluency in Yup’ik and English strongly preferred. Regular travel in region is required including riding on 4-wheelers, walking distances around a community. Must be able to lift 20 lbs.

EDUCATION and EXPERIENCE: High school diploma or GED is required. 

Preferred experience in Child Care Programs, early childhood development or elementary education, monitoring and evaluating compliance with health and safety standards and nutritional regulations, developmentally appropriate activities, and monitoring and training child care providers. 

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES, REGISTRATIONS: None.