MIECHV Family Support Worker

Sieda Community Action’s Economic and Family Support Services Unit is seeking a Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visitation Family Support Worker. This position is based in Wapello County and will serve Mahaska County.

The MIECHV Family Support Worker is responsible for initiating and maintaining regular, possible long- term (up to five years) contact/support with families. This programming will occur primarily within the family’s home; each visit should last for at least one hour. The interventions should be family-centered and strength-based and directed at establishing a trusting relationship; assisting in strengthening the parent-child relationship; assisting parents in improving their skills to optimize the home environment;

improving the family support system; and increasing the family’s ability to problem solve and advocate for themselves and their children. The MIECHV Family Support Worker will assist the family in establishing goals and a plan for their accomplishment. The MIECHV FSW will identify needs and barriers to success and refer to other programs/agencies for comprehensive care.

• Performs complex varied duties requiring advanced skills.
• Provide home based services/conduct home visits/complete assessments and screenings in accordance with the program’s model (Healthy Families America-HFA) to parents/caregivers, infants and children.
• Address areas of growth identified during the initial assessment of the family and collaborates to set meaningful program goals.
• Provide trauma-informed services to ensure safety/feeling safe for all participants.
• Travel is required to meet MIECHV Program requirements.
• Build trusting relationships with families through interpersonal skills, consistency and rapport. Advocate for families to ensure they are supported and encouraged.
• Support parents/caregivers in building healthy support systems.
• Deliver services in a culturally competent manner. MIECHV FSWs will be sensitive to the service population’s cultural and socioeconomic characteristics.

• Encourage and teach behavior management techniques that are nurturing and effective.
• Deliver high quality, comprehensive, in-home services to parents and children enrolled in the program to provide information and support services that maximize the likelihood of success.
• Assist and educate expecting parents/caregivers about prenatal health and development to increase healthy, full-term births.
• Provide information, programming, and other activities to MIECHV families specific to their service area. MIECHV FSWs connect/refer families to resources that help them reach their goals and address their needs.
• Recruit and enroll families to maintain full caseload capacity.

• Attend and participate in all supervision meetings and monthly staff meetings with the MIECHV Program Manager and/or the Family Support Services Director.
• Collect data for compiling the monthly and annual reports. Submits data when needed to the MIECHV Program Manager and/or the Economic and Family Support Services Director.
• Must be available to work varying work hours for special events/trainings.
• Communicate all pertinent information to the MIECHV Program Manager and/or EFSS Director consistently and timely.
• Other duties deemed necessary to support the MIECHV Program/Economic and Family Support Services/Sieda.

• Receives periodic supervision regarding task guidelines and completion.
• Self-schedule all tasks and visits within time frames specified by MIECHV and Sieda.

• Make service provision decisions concerning both tasks and completion within MIECHV program and Sieda guidelines.
• Seek supervision from the MIECHV Program Manager and/or Economic and Family Support Services Director regarding task guidelines and completion.

• Limited independent decision-making authority.

• Obtain certification that requires additional hours of job-related training.
• Healthy Families America Certification is a requirement of the MIECHV Program. This training must be completed within the first 6 months of employment or as soon as offered by HFA.
• The National Certification Exam for Home Visitors is a…