Parent Advocate

Overview

The Parent Advocate (including substitutes) provides high quality health, mental health, nutrition, social services to children and their families, and will use agency standards to ensure that services provided are in alignment with the Social Determinants of Health through a trauma informed care lens as defined by the agency. Will also assist in providing parent engagement activities to Head Start families that support the Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework.

Assists in promoting family outcomes that enhance the family well‑being, positive parent‑child relationships, families as lifelong educators, families as learners, family engagement in transitions, family connections to peers and community, and families as advocates and leaders. Comply with the Head Start Program Performance Standards, the Head Start Act, Licensing Minimum Standards, and agency policies and procedures. Build partnerships with families to assist them in identifying their own goals, strengths, needed services and support systems and in developing strategies and timetables for achieving their own goals.

Responsible for eligibility, recruitment, enrollment and attendance. Completes data entry into our database and provides clerical support to the program.

• Reports to:
  
  Education Center Operator or designee
• Directs:
  Parents and volunteers
• Other:
  Works cooperatively with all staff to accomplish the mission, goals, objectives and performance measures of the program and agency

• Healthcare and Human Services Environments:
  Ability to explain issues and advancements in the healthcare and human services industries.
• Achievement Orientation: A concern for surpassing a standard of excellence. The standard may be one's own past performance; an objective measure; outperforming others; challenging goals, or something that has not been done previously.
• Community Orientation:
  Ability to align one's own and the organization's priorities and assess and address community needs in an evidence-based and holistic manner, one that addresses the social determinants of health through a trauma-informed lens.
• Professionalism and Ethics:
  The demonstration of ethics and sound professional practices, as well as stimulation social accountability and community stewardship. The desire to act in a way that is consistent with one's values and what one says is important.
• Interpersonal Understanding:
  Ability to understand other people as well as to accurately hear and understand the unspoken or partly expressed thoughts, feelings, and concerns of others. It measures increasing complexity and depth of understanding of others and includes cross-cultural sensitivity through a trauma-informed care lens.

To perform this job satisfactorily, an individual must be able to perform each essential performance requirement satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the training, experience, knowledge, and skills required for this job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable an individual with disabilities to perform the essential functions listed above.

• High School Diploma or equivalent.
• Current Pediatric CPR and First Aid Certification.
• Family Service Worker Credential.
• Three years experience in delivering social services to vulnerable families.
• Understands cultural differences and is sensitive to the implications of culture for service delivery; and able to utilize various learning techniques in the successful delivery of Family and Community Support Services.
• Familiarity and competency with modern office equipment, software and computer systems; familiar with and working knowledge of Microsoft Office Operating Systems (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.), word processing, spreadsheets, and databases; and understanding of database systems and their utilization.
• A parent of a current or former participant in a Head Start program, preferred.
• Child Development Associate (CDA) credential, desirable.
• Fluent in English and Spanish (read, write, and speak) desirable.
• Staff will be required to submit proof of their vaccination status or may request…