Position Summary

As a Home Visiting Early Childhood Specialist with the Parents as Teachers team, you will provide home visits and advocacy to families of young children in order to increase healthy parent-child interaction, promote child pro-social- emotional behavior, and advance pre-literacy skills.

This position is part of the Family Housing Team at WellShare International. Working with the parents and family advocate, this position provides strength-based family support and parenting education to support the growth of parents’ capacities through evidence-based curriculum, methods and practices.

This position manages an ongoing caseload of 15-20 Somali families with children of ages prenatal to five. Services will be provided in combination of virtual visits and in participant homes. Participant populations may include those with chemical abuse issues, criminal histories (drug charges, prostitution, fraud, etc.), and/or parenting issues. 

The Early Childhood Specialist assists families to reach the following goals:

1. Parents will become more involved in their child’s overall development and education.
2. Children who show developmental delays will receive the supportive services needed.
3. Families that qualify will receive group support learning opportunities to connect. 

WellShare International is a non-profit organization headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with a forty-year history of partnering with communities, health care systems, government and social service providers to promote health equity and wellbeing. Using a community health worker model, we work with immigrant communities in Minnesota and with rural communities in East Africa. Our programs serve people across the lifespan – including pregnant women, infants, children, youth, adults and the elderly. 

Essential Responsibilities

1. Provide direct home based early childhood developmental education:

• Upon completion of required Parents As Teachers curriculum training, plan and teach the PAT curriculum for parents with children from pregnancy through age 5.
• Follow Parents As Teachers program and curriculum with fidelity (this includes timing, frequency and sequence of visits).

2. Assess development of children:

• Conduct formal and informal observations and screenings of the infant’s/young child’s development.
• Complete ASQ and ASQ:SE questionnaires with parents of children 6 months to five years to assess age-appropriate social/emotional, cognitive, language/literacy and physical development.
• Partner with parents to ensure that health, vision and developmental screenings, assessments and evaluation and follow-up has occurred in a timely manner.

3. Support well-being and development of children:

• Assist parents in establishing healthy and safe environments and parenting practices that promote the optimal development of children.
• Identify individual family strengths and needs to assist families in setting individualized plans and achieving goals for child and family development.
• Provide experiences and activities to engage families to better understand social and emotional development, and promote health, physical, language and cognitive development.

4. Initiate and sustain effective community connections and resources:

• Orient, provide and refer parents to early childhood community services.
• Assist parents of children with suspected developmental delays to enroll in intervention services and place children in high quality care and education settings.
• Collaborate with other service agencies to ensure effective and coordinated services.
• Follow up with families to assure the community service referral was contacted and to assess satisfaction with services provided.

5. Work as part of an effective team to meet goals of program:

• Recruit participants in collaboration with WellShare staff.
• Communicate and coordinate services with all team members. Attend weekly team meetings, other required meetings. Assist other advocates with workshops and family events as needed.

6. Complete accurate and thorough documentation and record-keeping in a timely manner:

• Maintain case files on family served, including case notes, resources provided, Release of Information form, etc.
• Collect immunization records, birth weight and other data as needed for reporting program objectives.
• Maintain accurate records including employee time sheets and travel expenses.
• Other duties as assigned.

7. Provide positive representation of WellShare through public relations and networking:

• Interpret and promote the program to constituents, speak to community organizations.
• Develop and maintain positive working relationships
• Network with providers of similar services.
• Participate in professional meetings, workshops, and staff meetings.

Job Requirements:

• High School Diploma or GED required. Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Early Childhood Education or Human Services preferred.
• CHW Certificate OR an agreement to obtain certificate within 12 months of starting the position.  
• Demonstrate knowledge of developmentally appropriate Infant and Early Child Development, Principles and Practices of Maternal and Child Health, Safety and Nutrition, Family Dynamics and Positive Parenting Skills.
• Ability to speak, read, and write in English and oral fluency in Somali language 
• Driver’s License and Car is required.

Desired:

• Minimum of 2 years of experience working with parents and children of age’s newborn through five, preferably in a home visit setting.
• Community Health Worker certificate is preferred. 
• Knowledge of mental health, chemical dependency, physical or sexual abuse.
• Training in working with low-income families, diverse populations, and those who are homeless.
• Experience working with refugee or immigrant communities in MN 

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

Incumbent must be able to:

• Hear and speak in order to use telephone and communicate with people both in and out of the office environment.
• Sit for extended periods, as well as move in a work space repeatedly throughout the day.
• Apply manual dexterity for computer keyboarding and office equipment use.
• Visually able to review detailed reports and information.
• Access a variety of off-site locations including client homes and public meeting spaces climbing steps and traversing diverse terrain in all types of Minnesota weather.
• Current valid driver’s license and reliable, insured vehicle as required by State law.
• Incumbent must be able to be physically present at programming meeting, Board meetings, work-related community meetings, activities and events throughout the Twin Cities in a timely manner.

Full -Time (1.0 FTE) 

Benefits, $20.00 – $25.00/hour

This job description does not necessarily list all the functions or accountabilities of the job. Employees may be asked by management to perform additional duties and tasks outside the scope of this job description or position in order to best serve WellShare’s operational needs. Management reserves the right to revise and update job descriptions at any time.

Please send a cover letter and resume to info@wellshareinternational.org (no phone calls)