Family Advocate - Child Protection Center

Overview

Full-Time Monday
- Friday 8am-4:30pm

Framed within the mission, vision, and community relations plan of Blank Children’s Hospital, the Family Advocate serves as a advocate for parents/caregivers of youth served at the STAR Center. They also provide crisis intervention and emotional support, education about abuse dynamics, and information about and/or assistance connecting to vital victim support resources in the community. The Family Advocate serves as the facilitator of MDT case reviews, which includes building and maintaining strong partnerships with Department of Health and Human Services, Law Enforcement, and attorneys.

The successful completion of responsibilities contributes towards proactive measures to improve the overall quality of children’s health and safety. The Family Advocate also assists with community outreach and education for professionals and caregivers involved in child-welfare system.

• Expect paid time off, parental leave, 401K matching and an employee recognition program.
• Dental and health insurance, paid holidays, short and long-term disability and more. We even offer pet insurance for your four-legged family members.
• Early access to earned wages with Daily Pay, tuition reimbursement to help further your career and adoption assistance to help you grow your family.

• Responsible for coordination of acute and emergent referrals for the children and families served at the STAR Center
• Provide crisis intervention to reduce harm, stabilize families, and connect families with ongoing crisis support in the community as needed.
• Responsible for the documentation and data collection in relation to patient connections to treatment services and Department of Human Services, Law Enforcement, and Prosecution case outcomes for the 40+ county service area in Iowa.
• Assists in the development and on-going improvement of the STAR Center case tracking procedures to maintain Accreditation Standards of the National Children’s Alliance.
• Assists families in the general understanding of the legal system in relation to the prosecution of child abuse cases and Child In Need of Assistance Cases, and connects families with victim advocacy programs and/or victim liaisons within their communities.
• Markets programs by establishing and maintaining collaborative relationships with appropriate multidisciplinary agencies and organizations.
• Serves as facilitator of monthly case review meetings. Successfully works with MDT partners to determine monthly case and attendance by MDT professionals. Promotes constructive feedback and suggestions for next steps to be sure families’ needs are met.
• Coordinates annual training curriculum for MDT partners and community. Successfully identifies topics relating to child abuse issues, best practices, or new trends. Successfully identifies expert speakers, both local and national, and coordinates training dates, locations, food, marketing, etc.
• Demonstrates ability to continually assess the need for new patient and family education materials and community resource lists.
• Presents to a variety of audiences regarding the service model and initiatives implemented through the STAR Center.
• Actively evaluates programs/presentations and assesses further needs to meet and maintain Accreditation Standards of the National Children’s Alliance.
• Assist with the organization and representation of BCH at a variety of community events.
• Demonstrates initiative to improve quality and customer service by striving to exceed customer expectations.
• Integrates and demonstrates FOCUS and Expectations for Personal and Service Excellence to guide professional behaviors, while adhering to the policies and procedures of IH-DM. Balance team and individual responsibilities; be open and objective to other’s views; give and welcome feedback; contribute to positive team goals; and put the success of the team above own interests.
• This position may be assigned a specific mission to address in an emergency situation to assist in disaster response and recovery as part of the IH-DM Hospital Emergency Incident Command System. Situations of a critical nature may require an individual to perform multiple tasks until additional support can be obtained.

Education:

• Bachelors Degree in a Human Services or related field

Experience:

• Prior experience providing crisis intervention or problem solving with at-risk children and families. Working knowledge of strength-based practice preferred.
• Positive public image including public speaking and working with community partners.
• Prior experience in program development, implementation, and evaluation.