Family Engagement Specialist (Kinship)

Strengthen Families.  Embrace challenges.  Create connection. Serve others.

A family engagement specialist is a professional who works within various organizations, such as schools, social service agencies, or community centers, to facilitate and enhance the involvement of families in the activities and services provided by these organizations. Their role is multifaceted, involving communication, collaboration, and advocacy to build strong partnerships between families and the institutions that serve them. Family engagement specialists act as bridges between families and the organizations they work for. They communicate information about programs, events, and resources available to families. They also listen to the needs and concerns of families, ensuring that their voices are heard and respected within the institution.

If this sparks your interest, apply today!!

Perks:

• Flexible schedule
• Casual dress code
• Qualifying Non-For-Profit for Federal Student Loan Forgiveness Program (click here to learn more: https://studentaid.gov/manage-loans/forgiveness-cancellation)
• Take advantage of our Dental & Outpatient Mental Health services while working
• Up to $180 annual gym reimbursement
• $$ Employee referral program $$

Benefits:

• Paid Holidays
• Paid Time Off (PTO) 
• Health, dental & vision insurance options
• Paid Employer sponsored life insurance
• Supplemental insurance programs for additional life insurance, short-term disability, accident & cancer insurance
• Up to $600 every year for completing biometric health screenings on a single health insurance plan & up to $1,200 if a spouse completes too!

Responsible to: Kinship Case Manager

Job Summary:
The Family Engagement Specialist is a key role in the Kinship Caregiver Program.  The Kinship Caregiver Program focuses on providing case management and supportive services to kinship families in order to prevent disruption of the child’s placement in the kinship home.  Further, the program places emphasis on improving relationships between relative caregivers and birth parents where applicable, and decreasing kinship caregiver stress overall. For the purposes of the program, kinship families are defined as relatives or other adults with preexisting relationships, who care for children through either informal arrangements, or temporary or permanent legal custody arrangements.  
 
Essential Job Duties:
1. Develop a strong working knowledge of the roles, permanency options, needs and services for relative caregiving families. Will demonstrate strong initiative in developing this knowledge through individual research, effective partnerships with kinship caregivers, and participation in trainings on topics relevant to kinship care at the program, agency, and community levels.
2. Primarily responsible for planning and delivery of group sessions for kinship clients, including children’s support groups, community education groups, and family engagement activities.  
3. Provide hourly respite services to children in kinship care. 
4. Will provide On-call services to provide additional support for kinship families.
5. Willingness to develop strong relationships, and ability to demonstrate patience, compassion, and empathy for clients.
6. Co-facilitates monthly group sessions in each county served (ie. Eric and Chautauqua counties).  These include both in-person and virtual offerings.
7. Primary responsibility for planning and facilitating children’s support groups, community education groups and family engagement activities.  This will include, but is not limited to, researching and securing meeting locations and/or virtual platforms,  developing agendas/ activities for each meeting, preparing materials needed for meetings, and sending invitations and reminders to clients.  May lead or co-facilitate peer support groups when needed.
8. Attends trainings necessary to provide approved program curriculums for group sessions (ie. Therapeutic Crisis Intervention for Families, Caring For Our Own, Parenting A Second Time Around, etc).
9. Primary responsibility for coordinating and planning multiple monthly group sessions with other program staff to ensure seamless delivery of group sessions.
10. Conducts six month follow-up with kinship families post-discharge, as required by program contract.
11. Participates in family team conferences, case reviews and department meetings as needed.
12. The Family Engagement Specialist has on-call responsibility to provide additional support for kinship families (relatives or other adults with pre-existing relationships caring for children) as needed. 
13. Will provide hourly respite services for youth in kinship care.
14. Provides supportive services to clients as needed (ie. Assist with transportation, locate or purchase and provide tangible items to clients, etc).
15. Completes all OLV Human Services (OLVHS) and Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) paperwork both in paper and electronic formats, in a timely manner and ensures that documentation in relative caregiver records conforms to agency and State regulatory requirements.  Some examples are, but not limited to, progress notes, training/group evaluations and post-services follow-up.
16. Assists in maintaining the electronic files for clients, as well as the ACCESS Database program forms.
17. Attends all mandatory in-service training and regularly attends supervision meetings.
18. Follows OLV and OCFS policies to ensure compliance with regulations and requirements.
19. Conducts outreach to community and agency partners to educate programs on services offered by the Kinship Caregiver Program and secure and increase client referral sources.
20. Assists with Case Management tasks as needed, including providing monthly one-on-one contact with clients, locating and providing referral sources for families, assisting in completion of benefits packets, etc.
21. Responsible for ensuring client safety under mandated reporter standards. 
22. Performs all other job-related duties as assigned by supervisor
 
Skills:
• Culturally sensitive to the needs and diversities of multi‐cultural communities.
• Computer skills in typing, basic computer operations, Microsoft, PowerPoint, Excel.
• Strong organizational and time management skills.
• Ability to work independently, demonstrating good judgment and prioritizing.
• Must be accurate and detail oriented.
• Practices good customer service skills in all working relationships.
• Strong interpersonal skills, respectful, and courteous nature.
• Demonstrated assessment skills in identifying strengths, needs, and opportunities for clients.
• Intermediate knowledge of child welfare regulations and regulatory agencies whenever possible.
• Ability to present and teach in front of a group and individual sessions.
• Ability to establish strong interpersonal skills to foster healthy and productive relationships with clients and colleagues.
• Strong mediation/conflict resolution skills.
• Ability to work effectively with clients, families, staff and community contacts from a variety of cultural and ethnic backgrounds.
• Knowledge of community resources and the ability to access specialized services to clients.
• Ability to advocate effectively for clients.
• Ability to be flexible and adapt to change.
• Excellent communication skills.  Must be able to work with groups and people on an individual level.  Need to be open to communicating through various mediums such as in person, e-mail, telephone, virtual platforms, etc.
• Must be an excellent listener.
 
Competencies:
• Communication: Strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Problem solving: Takes a systematic approach to solving problems rather than reacting to symptoms
• Teamwork ability: Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job
• Taking initiative: Identifying what needs to be done and doing it before being asked or before the situation requires it
• Decision-making ability: The aptitude to extract, interpret, integrate and manage information correctly and make timely and concise decisions for the best course of action, among multiple alternatives, to enable the decision-making process to take place on a higher level in order to achieve objectives.
• Empathy: ability to listen effectively and accurately enough  to understand another's situation and point of view
• Creativity/Innovation: Fosters and initiates new ideas, methods and solutions
• Tenacity: Staying with a position or plan of action until the desired objective is obtained or is no longer reasonably attainable. Works to achieve goal in spite of barriers or difficulties; actively works to overcome obstacles by changing strategies, doubling efforts, using multiple approaches, etc.
• Analytical Thinking: The ability to tackle a problem by using a logical, systematic, sequential approach

Education:
Minimum Degree Required: High School Diploma with 3 years of experience in case management, child welfare, kinship care, or other relevant area.   Associate`s Degree in Social Work, Psychology, Human Services or a closely related field is preferred.
 
Experience:
Minimum Experience Required: 1-2 years’ experience working with children and families

Required License/Registration/ Certification:   Valid NYS Driver’s License

Physical Requirements:

The overall nature of the position is sedentary requiring little physical effort with occasional light physical exertion required. There is little, if any, exposure to environmental conditions.

The constant physical demands of the position are sitting. standing, walking
The frequent physical demands of the position are climbing, talking, hearing, repetitive motions, and eye/hand/foot coordination.
The occasional physical demands of the position are lifting, carrying, pushing, pulling, balancing, stooping, crouching, reaching, handling, grasping, and feeling