Family Support Worker (Bilingual Spanish/English)

Description:

University Settlement is one of New York City's most dynamic social justice institutions, with an impressive legacy as the first settlement house in the nation. For 130 years, University Settlement has been an anchor in the low-income and immigrant communities where we work, offering pioneering programs in early childhood care and education, youth development, eviction prevention, literacy, theater and visual arts, senior services, and mental health. Each year, we engage over 40,000 New Yorkers through our network of 31 sites in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Our mission is to empower the individuals we serve through comprehensive, quality services that strengthen families and meet the current needs of the community.

Overview: With funding from the NYS Office of Children & Family Services, University Settlement implements a Healthy Families Program in the 10002, 10003, 10009, 10013, & 10038 zip codes. University Settlement Healthy Families is an evidenced based program offering home-based services to expectant families, beginning prenatally or shortly after the birth of the child. Families who participate in the program are offered long-term home visiting services. The Healthy Families New York Home Visiting Program is a comprehensive prevention program that focuses on the safety of children while at the same time supporting families. Home visitors provide families with support, education, and referrals to community services aimed at addressing 4 Major Goals: 

• Promoting positive parenting skills and parent-child interaction, 
• Ensuring optimal prenatal care and child health and development 
• Increasing parents' self-sufficiency 
• Preventing child abuse and neglect 

Our program accomplishes these major goals through a strength-based approach supporting parents’ skills, parent-child relationships, family relationships, and self-confidence. The program also focuses on decreasing parental stress and integrating a healthy focus on child development within family life. This approach is done primarily through individualized home visits that start during pregnancy and continue until the child enters Head Start and/or till the age of five (5). The Family Support Worker is responsible for initiating and maintaining a regular and sustainable supportive relationship with families via home based services.

Responsibilities:

Engage families and develop relationships based on strength-based model through home visits
Introduce and lead parent-child activities that support healthy attachment and foster optimal child development

• Provide daily support and crisis management skills to families
• Partner with families in creating a plan with attainable goals to enhance parent and child well-being
• Co-facilitate community based parent-child groups
• Maintain thorough written records of home visits, family goals, and all required documentation
• Work collaboratively with community resources and advocate for families when necessary
• Maintain a caseload consistent with program requirements and meet establish Healthy Families New York Performance targets
• Participate in staff meetings, case conferences, training seminars and individual supervisory meetings
• Some travel for training within New York State may be expected, and may require an overnight stay
• Dependent on program need, serve as a back-up Family Assessment Worker during staff vacations or vacancies.
• Other duties as assigned by program supervisor or program manager

Qualifications: