SUMMARY
The 3 Yr. Old GSRP grant (Strong Beginnings) Family Liaison will deliver high quality support services to enrolled children, families and teaching staff as delineated in the Head Start Performance standards,
Candidates will have a Masters in Social work or a related field with 5 years of experience working with young children and families.
Work with teachers and families to provide information about the benefits of regular attendance for children, and support teacher and families to promote regular attendance
Make direct contact with a child's parent or conduct a home visit if a child has unexplained consecutive absences.
Use individual child attendance patterns ongoing to identify children with patterns of absence that puts them at risk for missing 10%of program days per year, and develop strategies to improve attendance among identified children, such as direct contactor intensive case management as necessary.
Monitor the monthly average daily attendance and if attendance falls below 85% analyz the cause of absenteeism to identify and systematic issues that contribute to the programs absentee rate.
If a child experiencing homelessness is unable to attend school regularly due to lack of ,or no transportation, the program will utilize community resources where available to provide transportation for the child
EDUCATION AND EARLY CHILDHOOD DEVELOPMENT
Serve as the transition liaison between program and families for transitioning between program options.
Plan and provide a minimum of two center based family engagement activities or workshops for enrolled and waitlisted families
Collaborate with teacher, other program staff, and community partners to conduct Family engagement activities that support child development and strengthening the relationship between parent, child and family.
CHILD HEALTH AND SAFETY
Provide health/dental education through the NMCAA resources page.
Collaboratively maintain health and safety guidelines at all family engagement activities that are the responsibility of the center staff.
FAMILY AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SERVICES AND PARTNERSHIPS
Provide resources and referral information to educate staff. Support collaboration with Head Start when requested.
Update and maintain community resource directories. Contact and partner with community partners for input on updates.
Link families as appropriate with community resources, and provide appropriate assistance, guidance, and support for community resources and referrals, service providers, and ongoing health care systems in an effort to problem solve barriers and address family's needs.
Complete a minimum of 2 home visits or site contacts per year with families.
Complete family partnership goals with each family and follow up and update goals.
Implement a family partnership process by collaborating with teacher and each family to support family wellbeing, and offer individualized family partnership services based on family interests, needs and aspirations.
Using designated program tools, assess family's strength and needs related to the family engagement outcomes as described by the Parent, Family and community engagement frameworks.
The family engagement specialist has the responsibility to plan, implement and promote family engagement activities and/or parent workshops in partnership with teachers. When appropriate waitlisted families will be invited.
Build partnerships with community based health, social services, child care and education/job training opportunities to support the needs and goals for enrolled families.
Promote program supported events and trainings, and act as a program liaison to the professional community.
Represent MHC, and strong beginnings. Serve as a collaborative member of local early childhood or community services work groups or committees as assigned.
MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AND PROCEDURES
Secure collaborative agreements with partners.
Ongoing recaps with teachers
Attend staff trainings and community meetings and participate in professional development opportunities as specified.
Establish an ongoing communication system with supervisor to ensure supervisory support when any concerns arise around family or staff safety.
Attend designated team or county based meetings to discuss trends in families and communities, share resource information and/or coordinate other shared roles such as newsletter or workshops.
Adhere to work schedule as required, family engagement activities may require evenings and weekend hours. Staff must adjust weekly schedule when this occurs to not exceed allotted weekly hours.
Perform all other duties as assigned.