Parent Child Educator

About the role

We are now hiring for a full-time Parent Child Educator to join our Empowering Families Team! The average starting salary for this position will fall in the range of $50,000 and $56,000 annually. Candidates will receive a $3,000 sign-on bonus ($750 first paycheck, $1,250 after 6 months, $1,000 after 1 year).

Essential Duties And Responsibilities

• Develop and utilize integrated curriculum plans, reflecting mandated elements and components, parental and cultural influences, and promoting the social, emotional, physical and cognitive development.
• Create and maintain respectful partnerships with families.
• Deliver health, educational, nutritional and child growth and development information to parents via home visits.
• Work alongside the parents to ensure that prenatal, well-child exams, immunizations, health screenings, and nutrition assessments are complete and necessary follow-up occurs.
• Make referrals as needed.
• Ensure that accurate and current information is entered into the program's electronic database on a regular basis.
• Provide support in preparing parent and child activities that encourage developmentally appropriate, play-based activities for the changing needs of children.
• Participate in regularly scheduled team meetings to plan for and deliver collaborative services across all components.
• Support the family to achieve their family goals and support the individual goals for children as identified in their individualized family service plans/individual education plan, as applicable.
• Assess individual needs, attending to special needs, specific interests, strengths and concerns.
• Complete all developmental, social-emotional and health screenings.
• Implement the program's Planned Language Approach, which is specifically designed to support dual language learners and their families.
• Provide families feedback on their child's development through home visits or parent/teacher conferences.
• Plan and conduct regular socializations and monthly parent meetings with team members.
• Attend community meetings, trainings and appropriate professional development activities, as needed.
• Provide active supervision to ensure the safety of children during transitions.
• Ensure that no child shall be left alone or unsupervised.
• Work effectively with diverse staff and service population.
• Ensure all data is accurately reflected in the agency's Program Summary Report within set time frames.
• Participate in program recruitment efforts to maintain full enrollment.

Required Education, Certifications, Credentials And/or Experience

• A Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education, Child Development, or a related field from an accredited college or university; or Bachelor's Degree with at least 9 coursework hours in ECE or Child Development.

Preferred Qualifications

N/A

Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

• Ability to obtain Gateways to Opportunity Family Specialist Level 5 credential by 2028.
• Prevention Initiative, Healthy Families, Early Head Start or Infant-Toddler experience desired.
• Experience working with low-income families preferred.
• Good written and verbal communication skills, with a basic knowledge of computers.
• Strong interpersonal and time management skills required.
• Some direct service experience preferred.

Physical Requirements

• While performing the essential duties of this job, the employee is required to sit and stand for sustained periods of time, frequently talk, hear, use hands and fingers to feel, handle, and operate objects or controls, and occasionally stand, bend, stretch, stoop, kneel and crouch.
• The employee is required to have close visual acuity to perform an activity such as preparing and analyzing data and figures, transcribing, and viewing a computer terminal.
• The employee may occasionally lift and/or mover up to 50 pounds.

About Us

Metropolitan Family Services empowers families to learn, to earn, to heal, to thrive. Since 1857, Metropolitan Family Services has been the engine of change that empowers families to reach their greatest potential and positively impact their communities. We reach more than 117,000 individuals and families in Chicago, Evanston/Skokie, the southwest suburbs and DuPage County with services promoting education, economic stability, emotional wellness and empowerment.