Family Support Worker

Center for Child and Family Health

The Center for Child and Family Health (CCFH) was established in 1996. CCFH is a community-based nonprofit organization involving collaboration with Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and North Carolina Central University. CCFH’s mission is to define, practice, and teach the highest standards of care in treating and preventing childhood trauma, serving

more than 2,500 children and families annually. CCFH training faculty are committed to developing and sustaining a child trauma mental health workforce across North Carolina and the country, leveraging state and federal programs to support clinical training, consultation, and technical assistance. CCFH staff and faculty include clinicians, researchers, nationally-endorsed trainers in evidenced-based treatments (EBTs), and clinical and implementation experts. CCFH is located in Durham, North Carolina, and is a community treatment and services site in the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Reports to: Healthy Families Durham Program Manager

Program Description

Healthy Families Durham provides in-home services to families who are pregnant or parenting children aged birth to three, to prevent child abuse and neglect in families with multiple stressors.

Occupational Summary

Works with children and parents in their homes to optimize physical, mental, and emotional well-being of the child and parents. Assists in strengthening the parent-child relationship by improving knowledge of child development and parenting skills, reducing family stress, and meeting the needs of parents. Works with individual families and groups.

Work Performed

• Establishes a trusting relationship with families by providing regular contact through weekly home visits.
• Engages the family in an assessment of their strengths and needs to establish a family support plan with goals, objectives, and activities to meet the family’s needs.
• Makes appropriate referrals to community resources, if needed. Assists parents in making and attending appointments for doctors, social service agencies, etc. Acts as a liaison between families and other community agencies and serves as family advocate as required. Sets up records for follow-up monitoring.
• Applies working knowledge of parent-child interaction, child development, and the dynamics of child abuse/neglect to help families improve parenting skills, reduce stress, and meet dependency needs of parents.
• Assists parents in learning problem-solving and coping skills by providing supportive counseling and/or by referring them to appropriate agencies.
• Provides parents with psychoeducation on child development and age-appropriate developmental activities to enhance parent-child interaction, using Parents as Teachers (PAT) curriculum.
• Administers developmental screenings (Ages and Stages Questionnaire; ASQ/ASQ-SE) and makes appropriate referrals, if needed.
• Conducts groups when appropriate, using PAT curriculum.
• Maintains all necessary paperwork. Keeps records of client observations and activities as required.
• Collects information needed for family assessments and program evaluation.
• Works as an active member of the Healthy Families Durham team by attending regular staff meetings, weekly clinical supervision, quarterly HFD planning meetings, in-service trainings and other meetings as required.   
• Performs other duties as required when assigned by supervisor.

Education/Training

• Master’s degree in Social Work or related field or graduation from a four-year college with a Bachelor’s degree in human service area with at least two years of experience working with child development, families and young children.
• Ability to accept personal differences, establish trusting relationships, and humility to work with culturally diverse populations.

Experience

• Experience in home visiting, with a strong history in the 0-3 years age group.
• Experience with family-centered services and strength-based service provision.

Skills

• Spanish language proficiency preferred (oral and written)
• Knowledge of parent-child interaction, attachment, maternal-infant health, and infant and child development.
• Knowledge of dynamics of child abuse and neglect.
• Open to reflective practice and recognizes the value of supervision.
• Willing to engage in building reflective capacity, infant mental health endorsement preferred

The above statements describe the general nature and level of work being performed by individuals assigned to this classification. This list is not intended to be an exhaustive list of all responsibilities and duties required of personnel so classified.

Physical Requirements

• Primary responsibilities are performed in an office setting in a seated position and also in a home setting sitting on the floor.
• Frequent driving for home visits sometimes in outlying areas
• Regular kneeling, bending, and sitting on the floor to engage in developmental play with children and families
• Ability to exert physical effort in light to moderate work including lifting and carrying of books, home visiting supplies (toys, etc.), and other materials weighing up to 20 pounds may be encountered in performing essential functions. Occasional lifting up to 50 pounds.
• Ability to perform duties in an active environment with changes in climate and noise level

Must have own vehicle for home visits and maintain a valid driver’s license and insurance coverage

CCFH is committed to building a culturally diverse team. We strongly encourage minority candidates to apply.