Bilingual Head Start Family Service Worker

Duties And Responsibilities

• Develop and maintain a confidential profile of pertinent data for identifying families need, strengths, and goals
• Establish a supportive relationship with the families
• Make home visits following established timelines to families of Head Start children to identify social needs, collect data, and obtain parental signatures
• Create and implement a plan to empower Head Start parents to provide for their own needs
• Effectively and efficiently deal with emergency needs of Head Start children and families
• Serve as a liaison between the Head Start centers and the home of the families
• Encourage parental involvement to participate as members of the Policy Council, center parent committees, classroom volunteers, etc.
• Act as an advocate and spokesperson for Head Start families
• Provide continued services to children and their families
• Maintain daily contact with assigned Child Development Specialist concerning student and family needs, including progress, behavior, special needs, absences, and provide necessary support and assistance to the CDS family
• Maintain ongoing contact with the Family and Community Engagement Specialist to discuss concerns regarding particular children, families or services
• Report suspected abuse or neglect, child injuries, patterns of medical neglect and related concerns directly to the Health Specialist
• Substitute in the classroom as a Child Development Specialist or Child Development Assistant as required
• Review and update all data related to family needs and goals using identified database on a weekly basis
• If a specialist (CDS, Health, etc...) or parent has a concern regarding students needs, the FSW is expected to appropriately refer them to community agencies
• Facilitate student transition to school age program
• Ensure confidentiality of information as required by federal, state, and local mandates
• Maintain proper documentation of contacts and follow-up with parents, students, and agencies

Qualifications

• BA or BS degree in Social Services, Education or Psychology required; degree in Social Work strongly preferred
• Bilingual & Biliterate required- Spanish
• Bicultural strongly preferred