Home Visitor

Description:

Home visitors will provide weekly home visits to parents that promote secure parent-child relationships and help parents provide high-quality, early learning experiences in language, literacy, mathematics, social and emotional functioning, approaches to learning, science, physical skills, and creative arts to their children. Home Visitors are expected to Build respectful, culturally responsive, and trusting relationship with families; plan all home visits jointly with parents; and effectively communicate the critical role of parents in the development of their children. Home visitors must demonstrate competency to plan and implement home-based learning experiences that ensure effective implementation of the home visiting curriculum and promote children’s progress across the standards described in the Head Start Early Learning Outcomes Framework: Ages Birth to five, including for children with disabilities and dual language learners, as appropriate. The primary focus of the Home Visitor is to develop a collaborative relationship with families to support them being their child's first and primary educator. Connect families with other community agencies to address health, nutrition, and disabilities services for children and pregnant moms when needed.

Responsibilities:

 Conduct weekly 90-minute home visits that focus on promoting high-quality early learning experiences in the home; at minimum infants and toddlers should receive 46 visits a year and preschoolers should receive 32 visits a year. Each visit must include:
• Age and developmentally appropriate, structured child-focused learning experiences.
• Strategies and activities that promote parents’ ability to support the child’s cognitive, social, emotional, language, literacy, and physical development.
• Strategies and activities that promote the home as a learning environment that is safe, nurturing, responsive, and language- and communication- rich.
• Research-based strategies and activities for children who are dual language learners that recognize bilingualism and bi-literacy as strengths, and:
 For infants and toddlers, focus on the development of the home language, while providing experiences that expose both parents and children to English.
 For preschoolers, focus on both English language acquisition and the continued development of the home language.
• Follow-up with the families to discuss learning experiences provided in the home between each visit, address concerns, and inform strategies to promote progress toward school readiness goals.

• Utilize the Parents as Teachers curriculum to plan activities during each home visit and during group socialization experiences.
• Engage in weekly planning for families in case load and attend planning periods.
• Facilitate group socialization experiences according to the Head start Performance standards; 22 socializations for infants and toddlers and 16 socializations for preschoolers.
• Conduct ongoing assessment of young children’s development. Maintain up to date observations, reports, and relevant paperwork and documentation.
• Collaborate and partner with families to establish SMART goals to enhance the family’s well-being and document this process.
• Work collaboratively with community resources and provide family with support services and referrals.
• Maintain confidentiality of family records and information.
• The Early Head Start Home visitor provides comprehensive early childhood development, parent education, and family support services through a home visitation model to families with children birth to three and expecting mothers.
• Provide prenatal and other health education, assist families in making and attending health and human service appointments, and provide timely documentation of all home visiting activities.
• Participate in all professional development opportunities.
• Collaborate with other home visitors, consultants, and social workers to meet the needs of all families in the program.
• Participates in outreach, and other efforts to educate the community about the program.
• Assist expectant families with access to prenatal health care, dental and regular post-partum care.
• Provide expectant families with individualized education on fetal development, labor and delivery, postpartum recovery, maternal depression, benefits of breastfeeding and pregnancy risks from smoking and alcohol.
• Identify and report potential concerns with children and/or families and work collaboratively with content area and/or management staff to address them.
• Other duties as assigned by the Home-Based Director and Assistant Director

Qualifications: