Educare Family Advocate

POSITION SUMMARY

The Family Advocate has a primary role on Educare New Orleans interdisciplinary team for engaging and involving families of children at Educare through activities, practices and services that support parents as the primary nurturers, experts and teachers of their child in order to promote and sustain their child’s learning, development and academic and life success. The Family Advocate has a specific and intentional role in the following three areas of work with families:

1. Activities/strategies that promote and enhance the parent-child relationship.
2. Activities/strategies that engage parents in discussions about their child’s growth and development and provide parents information and opportunities to learn about concrete things they can do to promote their child’s learning.
3. Activities/strategies that encourage parents’ involvement in the education of their child and in their child’s school both at Educar e a nd in the K -12 system. This includes helping parents recognize and expect “quality education;” know how to access quality elementary schools; and learn how to advocate for a quality education for their child.

The primary focus for the work of the Family Advocate is the parent/child relationship and to engage around that relationship at every opportunity with parents, and with other members of the Educare interdisciplinary team.

REPORTING RELATIONSHIPS

The Family Advocate reports to the Family Support Supervisor.

MAJOR RESPONSIBILITIES AND KEY TASKS

Promote and enhance the parent-child relationship

• Develop and sustain collaborative relationships with an assigned caseload of families and serve as their primary point of contact on behalf of their child’s and their own involvement in Educare. Utilize all informal and formal opportunities to build and maintain the relationships.
• Collaborate with the Educare interdisciplinary team to promote families’ understanding and management of their child’s behaviors, including positive approaches to discipline, as well as management of their own emotional responses.
• Lead work with families to identify child and family strengths and areas of need, i.e., the Family Assessment, and to develop goals to promote and enhance the three goals of Family Support as part of the Family Partnership Agreement process.

Promote parents’ involvement in supporting their child’s growth and development

• Access and disseminate resources for families that pertain to children’s healthy growth and development.
• Contribute to the planning and facilitation of classroom family meetings, parent education activities, and family home activities that focus on child development and support the classroom learning activities.
• Implement protocols to follow up on absenteeism (including excessive tardiness) in order to identify and address barriers to children’s regular attendance.
• Support and assist families in addressing their own emotional, physical, educational, and employment needs in order to support their child’s development.

Encourage parents’ involvement in the education of their child and in their child’s school

• Participate in the recruitment, enrollment, and orientation of families entering Educare.
• Communicate the Educare model to parents during recruitment, enrollment, & shared governance platforms
• Develop strategies with families that help them appreciate and contribute to the educational activities of Educare and successfully use their own voices to advocate on behalf of their children and themselves. Promote parents’ overall participation in program governance.
• In collaboration with the Family Support Supervisor and Educare School Director, facilitate Parent Committee meetings.
• Provide parents of children who have disabilities and/or behavioral concerns with information about special education procedural safeguards and due process rights.
• Mentor parents of children who have disabilities and/or behavioral concerns in building relationships and developing effective communication skills within the education system.
• Lead the internal planning and subsequent involvement of parents in all of their children’s program transitions, i.e., into the program, from EHS to HS and from HS to kindergarten.
• Develop working relationships with local schools to help coordinate the successful transition of children and families from Educare to their next quality school of choice.
• In collaboration with fiscal clerks/staff, support families to initiate and maintain eligibility for childcare subsidies and/or private pay agreements.

Participate in the interdisciplinary work of Educare New Orleans

• Observe and participate in the classroom, as a strategy for supporting the goals of Family Support, as well as to support colleagues on the interdisciplinary team.
• Participate in staff meetings, trainings, Family Child Reviews, case consultations and other collaborative planning meetings.
• Collaborate with teaching staff to conduct home visits, parent-staff conferences, and classroom parent meetings.
• Collaborate with the Educare interdisciplinary team to plan, coordinate, facilitate and market parent activities and services.
• Maintain records/files and document services, including entries into the agency’s management information system.
• Participate in the program’s self-evaluation and continuous improvement processes, and ensure compliance with Head Start Performance Standards.
• Support and promote Educare’s mission and values.
• Perform other duties as assigned, within the scope of the job description.

Community Involvement

• Make referrals and link children and families to needed community services; follow-up on referrals made and outcomes to help ensure family’s needs are met.
• Cultivate relationships with appropriate and effective referral agencies and individuals to enable referrals for families to receive needed services not provided by the program.
• Recruit volunteers from the community to assist in the program.

ESSENTIAL SKILLS AND ABILITIES

• Ability to establish supportive, positive relationships with children and families from diverse backgrounds, including those living in poverty; understanding of the important role staff play as ‘change agents’ to promote and enhance the parent-child relationship
• Cultural sensitivity and competency in all interactions with both families and colleagues
• Demonstrated sense of responsibility, through good attendance, effective time management, dependability, accountability, and maintenance of strong ethical standards
• Ability to utilize and participate in Reflective Practice and Supervision
• Flexibility regarding the location and schedule of family support activities, being willing to work in community settings as well as home environments, and on during evenings and weekends, as the needs of the service population requires
• Knowledge of Head Start Performance Standards
• Demonstrated desire to learn and keep current with new and best practices in the field, including child development and family systems/dynamics
• Ability to work within an interdisciplinary team as a cooperative and supportive team member
• Knowledge of state-specific regulations, such as Child Care Assistance Program and TANF, and the role and responsibility of a Mandated Reporter
• Knowledge of and ability to utilize interpersonal skills such as conflict resolution and/or mediation, and group facilitation
• Good written and verbal communication skills
• Intermediate computer skills, including word-processing software, and the ability to learn and master other computer technology /software programs as needed.
• Ability to manually operate a computer and other office/ equipment
• Ability to travel within the community, e.g., to conduct home visits and collaborate with community agencies, which may require climbing stairs

EDUCATIONAL REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor’s degree in Social Work or related field
• Minimum of two years of experience working with families in a community-based Head Start or other family support/family-centered program