Bilingual Family Development Advocate - PACE
Los Angeles, CA 90017
About the Job
To apply via text, text the word "BFDA" to 213-513-7223
Position Compensation: 21.23/hr- $24.62/hr plus excellent benefits.
Pace offers a Total Rewards Package to its employees:
- 401k
- Vacation
- Sick pay
- 14 Paid Holidays
- Pet Insurance
- FSA - Flexible Spending Accounts and Dependent Care
- Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
- Affordable Medical, Dental, and Vision packages extended to your family as well.
- Supplemental Insurance Plans
- Opportunity to promote within, just to name a few.
JOB PURPOSE:
Conducts basic social casework and coordinates related parent involvement services, including guiding parents in their children’s education and development, coordinating health, nutrition, mental health, disability and parent involvement related services for families, and being the point person for family case management.
POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES:
Under the Head Start Center Based Option, the Family Development Advocate (FDA) will provide the required family and community engagement services related to health, nutrition, mental health, disability, social services and parent involvement. The FDA will interact with the public and provides customer service by phone, email and in person, maintains program databases and recordkeeping files, prepares correspondence, reports, records and other paperwork, provides written translation or spoken interpretation for non-English clients, provides case management services to families and children, and supports outreach, recruitment, selection and enrollment activities.
ESSENTIAL DUTIES OF THE POSITION INCLUDE:
- Obtain child and family information and complete service area forms accurately and completely in their entirety upon acceptance of the child and family into the program.
- Identify children with special placement considerations.
- Manage a caseload of 55 to 65 children at a given time.
- Conducts family assessment of each enrolled family by identifying family strengths, interests and needs.
- Assist enrolled families in developing Individualized Family Partnership Agreement Plans, research on resources and support the plans including periodic follow ups.
- Conduct vision and hearing health screenings for enrolled children.
- Conducts follow ups with the required health screenings per required periodicity of the Bright Futures Guidelines.
- Maintain ongoing communication and follow-ups with in-house Service Area Coordinators and outside Health providers to obtain necessary health requirements.
- Conducts home visits with designated site staff to follow up on required family and health services as needed.
- Develop a plan of action with families who are having challenges with absences.
- Participate in planning and conducting Parent Committee Meetings with Parent Committee and site Staff.
- Ensures that Parent Committee Minutes are translated and posted by the due date as required.
- Participate in planning and coordinating Parent Education Workshops.
- Monitor Parent Bulletin board once a month during parent meetings to ensure current events and required postings are maintained for related Head Start information.
- Participate in Multidisciplinary Team Meetings as needed.
- Work closely with service area staff to address parents’ concerns or complaints.
- Track family goals and produce weekly, monthly and quarterly reports on family development progress.
- Advocate on behalf of parents with public and private service agencies to acquire needed family services.
- Report signs of child abuse, neglect or unsafe living conditions to the proper authorities for appropriate action to ensure the safety of children.
- Use computers, especially MS Office, Email and Internet, to store data, communicate, write reports and conduct research.
- Data Entry of activities as required in Child Plus database.
- Maintains orderly records, including electronically.
- Provide translation and interpretation services for non-English speaking parents.
- Attended staff development training to acquire skills and increase knowledge to enhance the quality of services.
- Supports and ensures the achievement of recruitment and enrollment goals.
- Assists in accomplishing the program's non-federal match through the access of community resources (services, donations, discounts, and/or goods).
- Collect and review non-federal match documentation when administrative support does not have the capacity to complete the required report when due to fiscal department monthly.
- Perform other related duties as assigned.
QUALIFICATIONS:
- Experience providing social services to families and basic knowledge of social work, particularly in the context of early childhood development.
- Must have excellent communication skills and the ability to communicate effectively with parents, community members, and staff.
- Ability to work with diverse populations, including people of various cultural, ethnic, language and socio-economic backgrounds.
- Ability to handle multiple tasks and projects and to coordinate meetings.
- Availability to work on weekday evenings and/or Saturdays for family development activities, as needed.
- Data Entry skills and experience.
- Bilingual in Spanish is required (written and orally).
EXPERIENCE:
- 1-year minimum experience in social work or family development, preferably in an early childhood development setting.
EDUCATION:
- Bachelors or
- Associate of Arts degree or
- Family Development Credential and High School Diploma.
LICENSE/CREDENTIAL/PERMIT:
- Family Development Credential achieved within the first year of employment as schedule permits by LACOE.
- Completion of Child Plus data entry training within the first 6 months of employment
- Valid California Driver’s License, auto insurance coverage and reliable transportation for field work
- Must pass Department of Justice background check prior to start of employment.
- Valid vision and hearing certification within the first year of employment.
TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT REQUIREMENT:
- Fifteen hours of professional development annually builds the knowledge, experience, and competencies to improve child, family and staff outcomes. Of this, a minimum of 50% of the 15 hours (or 7.5 hours) must be focused on the specific content area or job assignment.
- Mandated trainings must be completed as part of Workforce Development Plan of PACE Education's funding application regarding:
a. Methods to handle suspected or known child abuse and neglect cases that comply with federal, state, local and tribal laws;
b. CCLD mandated reporter training through www.mandatedreporterca.com must valid and current;
c. Care and Supervision policies and procedures
d. Standards of conduct
e. Emergency and disaster preparedness;
f. Health and Safety, and childcare requirements applicable to their work, in accordance with §1302.47
g. Training related to Transition
h. Center for Social Emotional Foundations in Early Learning (/CSEFEL) Abriendo Puertas, or Incredible Years
i. Best Practice for implementing family engagement strategies in a systematic way
PHYSICAL DEMANDS:
The working conditions and physical demands of this position will be those that must be met to successfully perform the essential duties of the position. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential duties. The physical environment the incumbent will work in is typically an office environment with moderate noise levels that would be expected in that type of work environment.
- T.B. Test within the past year prior to employment, and every four (4) years thereafter (every 4 years for a chest X-ray).
- Must pass health screening (LIC 503) at time of employment, health screening is accepted within one year prior to hire, to be renewed every four (4) years.
- Provide proof of the following immunizations as required: Measles, Pertussis (Whooping Cough), Influenza
and COVID –19 vaccination required.
- COVID vaccination required; must have two-dose series of Pfizer or Moderna or a single-dose of Johnson & Johnson. Those that need a medical or religious exemption must reach out separately.
- Representative physical demands of the job include normal vision and hearing, standing for extended periods, sitting for extended periods, kneeling and stooping, manipulating objects with hands, reaching overhead, and occasionally lifting and carrying objects weighing up to 25 pounds.