Social Worker, Family Advocacy & Support Services

Description

MiFamily Together Advocate
- Social Worker

Shiawassee and Gratiot counties | Hybrid
- Wellspring Lansing | $48,000 / year | Accepting applications until August 14, 2026.

Help families stay together. Help them move forward.

Most people choose a career in human services because they believe people can grow. They believe families can overcome challenges. They believe children deserve the opportunity to thrive in safe, stable, and supportive environments.

The MFT Advocate
- Social Worker role is an opportunity to put those beliefs into action every day.

As part of Michigan’s MiFamily Together program with Wellspring, you'll work alongside families who are navigating some of life's most difficult moments. MiFamily Together was designed to help preserve families, reduce unnecessary out-of-home placements, support reunification, and strengthen family well-being through a coordinated, whole-family approach. Rather than asking families to navigate multiple disconnected services, the program focuses on building trusting relationships, addressing the needs of both children and caregivers, and helping families create lasting stability and success.

As an MFT Advocate, you will serve as a guide, partner, teacher, coach and source of support for families facing a variety of challenges. Whether a family is working through housing instability, mental health concerns, substance use issues, parenting struggles, financial hardship or child welfare involvement, your role is to help them identify strengths, build skills, access resources and move toward their goals.

This is relationship-based work. It is the opportunity to meet families where they are, listen without judgment, recognize strengths that may have been overlooked, and help create pathways toward long-term safety and well-being.

The impact of this work extends far beyond a single family.

When parents gain confidence, children benefit. When families become more stable, communities become stronger. When protective factors increase, the likelihood of abuse and neglect decreases. Through your work, you will help create positive outcomes that can influence generations to come.

What You'll Do

As an Advocate, your work centers around four key areas:

Building trusting relationships. You will establish meaningful partnerships with families, helping them identify goals, navigate challenges and build on their existing strengths through a respectful, strength-based approach.

Strengthening family safety and stability. You will work alongside caregivers to enhance protective factors, develop plans that address safety concerns, build parenting and life skills, and support families in creating stable environments where children can thrive

Connecting families to resources and opportunities. You will help families access services and supports that address immediate needs while promoting long-term self-sufficiency, including community resources, healthcare, education, housing, transportation, and public benefits.

Collaborating for lasting change. You will partner with schools, healthcare providers, child welfare professionals, referral sources, and community agencies to ensure families receive coordinated and effective support that promotes positive outcomes long after services end.

Who Thrives in This Role

Successful MFT Advocates are compassionate, adaptable and resilient. They are skilled at building rapport with diverse families, maintaining professional boundaries and remaining calm during challenging situations. They are comfortable balancing independence and collaboration, managing changing priorities, and working creatively to help families achieve their goals.

Most importantly, they never lose sight of why they entered this field in the first place: to support people, strengthen families and improve outcomes for children.

Education

• Bachelor's degree in social work, psychology, education, or human services related field OR
• An associate's degree with two years of experience working with families is acceptable, provided you are actively working toward a bachelor's degree in human services, social work, education or related field and are to be completed with your degree…