Family Support Specialist

THIS POSITION IS FOR 7.5 HOURS PER DAY AT 190 DAYS PER YEAR.

PAY FOR POSITION: PSE Salary Schedule Level 10 - $ 30.77

General Summary

This position's responsibilities are to serve as liaison between families, schools and community service resources to provide social services to preschool students and family members who are eligible for the Early Childhood Education Assistance Program (ECEAP) or Head Start program and/or students with developmental handicaps (Special Education Preschool). Responsibilities include performing home visits, recruiting and enrolling families, meeting with parents and facilitating parent involvement, providing crisis intervention services, serving as liaison with community resources, advocating for families and disseminating pertinent information.

Essential Functions

Depending upon the individual assignment, the Family Support Specialist for ECEAP, Head Start, and Preschool programs may perform all or a combination of the following:

• Recruits and enrolls students to maintain full enrollment for the program through a variety of mailings, flyers, information to the community, door‑to‑door visits and referrals.
• Provides an orientation for families and students as they enter the program.
• Conducts family needs assessment, develops a program of services, implements services and coordinates intervention to assist families.
• Performs home visits; provides a variety of consultation and advice on issues such as behavior management, social service referrals, parenting skills and a wide variety of other matters to assist parents in improving the home environment to benefit the child's education.
• Acts as a liaison between parents and school; provides for and/or conducts parent meetings, parent classes, newsletters and flyers about special events; promotes communication between parents, school and social service agencies. Attends parent meetings and classes that are scheduled during day and evening hours.
• Serves as parent advocate at multi‑disciplinary team meetings, staff meetings, pre‑meetings for individual learning plans (ILPs), individual education plans (IEPs), and in agency contacts.
• Provides support for families in crisis; coordinates efforts for consistent behavior and environment for the child.
• May administer assessment tests to determine appropriate student placement.
• May provide health services such as review of immunization records, preparation of annual state immunization report.
• May administer prescribed meds under the supervision of a nurse.
• Serves a caseload of families; serves as member of case management team; performs a variety of referral and follow‑up services for families in conjunction with community resources. Provides leadership and guidance to center committee and coordinates activities for parents. May transport students and/or families in district vehicle.
• Works with parents and provides a variety of feedback and assistance to parents to enhance preschool program through volunteering in the classroom, producing newsletters, and other ways to participate.
• Establishes and maintains a network with social service agencies; provides a variety of inter‑agency services. Provides follow‑up on child abuse reports as per program guidelines.
• Maintains a variety of program records, files and documents according to program standards and established guidelines as mandated by Washington State, ESD, and the school district.
• Compiles and distributes a wide variety of information on issues of concern to parents of preschool children.
• Attends and/or schedules a variety of meetings with other staff; discusses families' progress and further needs. May have flexible hours to allow employee to participate in family and community activities related to the program. Attends out‑of‑district meetings as required by ESD.
• Meets with parents to allocate assigned budget.
• May record and distribute minutes of meetings; maintains records.
• May assemble newsletters; may coordinate with printers.
• Assists in a variety of activities to transition preschool children to kindergarten; provides a variety of coordination and scheduling of transportation. Consults with social service providers in schools to ensure…