FAMILY RESOURCE SPECIALIST

Job Role Summary

This position is responsible for contacting and meeting with all prospective families who are at risk to determine eligibility for intensive home visitation services. Complete outreach with families referred to the Healthy Families program. Schedule and complete welcome visits. Utilize the identified assessment tool, the FROG Scale, to determine and assess level of risk. Gather all required income documentation and determine financial eligibility.  Document all interactions with families in a centralized database. Refer families to various resources in the community specific to their needs with specific emphasis on Healthy Families program. Encourage and support families to build positive parenting skills. Market Healthy Families program in the community.

Essential Duties

Responsibility 1:  Welcome Visits

• Schedule welcome visits with families through appropriate outreach.
• Make welcome visit bags containing resource packets and incentives for families.
• Travel to various families’ homes, as well as other community locations, to complete welcome visits.
• Explore families’ strengths, needs, and risks according to the standardized assessment tool (FROG Scale).
• Complete screenings, including interpersonal violence and depression screenings, according to program policy.  Provide interventions to support any risks identified through screenings.
• Assess families’ needs for community resources and make appropriate referrals.
• Document families’ consent for the welcome visit by completing required welcome visit consent forms.
• Complete statewide required income certification forms, including obtaining proof of income and proof of parent/child relationship for every welcome visit.
• Educate families on required child safety topics (safe sleep, caregiver safety, fires/burns, water/drownings, car seat, etc.).
• Complete incident reports as needed per policy.
• Determine families’ eligibility for Healthy Families home visitation services through use of the FROG Scale score, income guidelines, and age of the infant.
• Complete Welcome Visits in accordance with policy (20 Welcome Visits per month per FTE).
• Be flexible in scheduling as needed between the hours of 7:00 am and 7:00 pm on Monday through Friday.

Responsibility 2:  Documentation and Data Entry

• Document all family interactions in the statewide database within designated time frames per program policy.
• Complete documentation within 48 hours for any families whose FROG Scale results indicate the family is high risk per statewide policy.
• Track and document all outreach activities, including phone calls, drop by visits, mailings, and e-mails.
• Document thoroughly and score each welcome visit by writing a narrative using the Healthy Families America FROG Scale.
• Enter results of all screenings in the statewide database.
• Document community referrals provided to families and incident reports.
• Mail letters to families as a source of outreach.
• Complete mileage records according to due dates.
• Meet required weekly and monthly paperwork deadlines.

Associated Job Duties

Responsibility 3:  Welcome Visit Outreach

• Complete outreach activities (phone calls, drop by visits, mailings, etc.) as directed by program policy and/or supervisor to engage families in the welcome visiting process.
• Use appropriate sales methods (relationship building techniques) to encourage families to accept and participate in Welcome Visits.
• Outreach each family at least once per week for six weeks.
• Use a variety of resources to locate updated contact information for families (eligibility databases, medical records, referral sources, etc.).
• Market the Healthy Families program in the community.
• Encourage families to accept the welcome visit using various sales-related tactics.
• Monitor welcome visit acceptance rate.

Responsibility 4:  Judgment

• Maintain families’ confidentiality.
• Report accurate and reliable information to supervisor.
• Assist appropriately in crisis situations, i.e., locating housing, shelters, food, diapers, formula, etc.
• Work independently to provide quality customer service and maintain integrity in all client interactions.
• File child abuse and neglect (CAN) reports when required.
• Utilize interpreters to provide services to non-English speaking families.
• Demonstrate ability to be non-judgmental and accepting of individual differences.
• Lead with curiosity, be empathetic, and actively listen while working with families.
• Maintain appropriate professional boundaries with families.
• Follow the program’s values (HIPEER – Humility, Integrity, Partnership, Empowerment, Excellence, Respect) in all interactions with families and colleagues.

Responsibility 5:  Public Health Duties

• Participate in public health emergency preparedness exercises and in response to public health emergencies, as directed.
• Participate in a minimum of two health fair events totaling a minimum of eight (8) hours annually.  These events may occur on weekends.
• Protect and maintain confidentiality of each family’s and employee's medical and personal information which may be obtained in the course of provision of care or employment.
• Job duties may require individuals to remove confidential information from workplace setting to another site to provide service.  If the information is removed, it must be protected and secured as if the employee were at the office.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications

Required:

• Minimum of a high school diploma or equivalent
• Experience in working with or providing services to children and families
• Valid Indiana driver’s license, access to a reliable vehicle, and current automobile insurance

Preferred:

• bachelor’s degree in social work, psychology, sociology, child development, family studies, or a related field
• 1+ years of previous work with families and children (0-3 years of age
• Infant mental health endorsement preferred

Licenses/Certifications Required

• Valid Indiana driver’s license, access to reliable vehicle, and current automobile insurance required

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities

• An ability to establish trusting relationships
• Acceptance of individual differences
• Experience and humility to work with culturally diverse families
• Knowledge of infant and child development
• Willing to engage in building reflective capacity (e.g., capacity for introspection, communicating awareness of self in relation to others, recognizing value of supervision, etc.)
• Proficiency with technology

Working Environment

• Unconfined sitting, working at computer, attending meetings, etc.; standing and walking; steady use of hands and fingers – data entry; limited lifting and carrying.
• May be exposed to substandard and unsanitary living conditions. 
• May be exposed to allergens of all types (i.e. pets, dust, smoke, etc.).