Family Support Worker

Visiting Nurse Association Health Group; West Orange (NJ); On-site; USD 27,552 - 38,572; Full time

Job summary

VNA Health Group is seeking a dedicated Family Support Worker to join our Essex County, NJ team. This role focuses on long-term in-home support, building trusting relationships with families and promoting healthy child development.

Responsibilities include home visits, outreach, connecting families with resources, and helping them set and monitor goals. A minimum HS diploma and 2 years’ experience with children/families are required; bilingual English/Spanish is essential.

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent; additional education in a related field is a plus.
• At least 2 years of experience working with or providing services to children and families.
• Ability to build trusting, supportive relationships with diverse populations.
• Knowledge of infant and child development and family dynamics.
• Willingness to travel throughout New Jersey for trainings.
• Valid driver’s license and auto insurance required.

Responsibilities

• Outreach to families referred by Connecting NJ or a Service Provider to introduce services and determine eligibility.
• Use the FROG Scale with parents to identify strengths and risk factors.
• Conduct home visits primarily in the family’s residence, minimum one hour per visit.
• Support healthy parent-child relationships and strengthen parenting skills.
• Guide families to optimize home environments for child growth.
• Help families expand support networks and advocate for themselves.
• Identify and refer families to healthcare and community resources.
• Collaborate with families to set goals, create action plans and monitor progress.
• Observe developmental milestones and maintain accurate records.

Skills

Bilingual English/Spanish

Relationship-building

Cultural humility

Travel readiness

Education

High school diploma or equivalent

Job description

Join Children & Family Health Institute as a Family Support Worker

Empower Families. Transform Futures.

Program Overview:

VNA Health Group is the largest non-profit home care, hospice and community health organization in New Jersey and one of the oldest and largest such organizations in the country. We’ve been serving families and individuals with the most advanced, comprehensive clinical home care in NJ since 1912.

Position Summary

We are seeking a dedicated Family Support Worker (FSW) to join our team in Essex County, NJ. The Family Support Worker plays a key role in providing long-term, in-home support to families in our community. This position focuses on establishing and maintaining a strong, trusting, long-term relationships with parents and caregivers to promote healthy child development, strengthen family dynamics, and support family overall well-being. The FSW conducts home visits, enhance parenting skills, connects families to resources, and assists in developing personalized goals. This role is ideal for someone who is passionate about early childhood development, family wellness, and making a meaningful impact in the lives of others.

Responsibilities

• Outreach to families referred by Connecting NJ or a Service Provider to introduce services and determine eligibility
• Utilize the Family Resilience and Opportunities for Growth (FROG) Scale with parents to identify strengths/risk factors to support the family throughout home visitation services
• Conduct home visits primarily in the family’s residence, ensuring each visit lasts a minimum of one hour and follows a family-centered, strength-based approach
• Support healthy parent-child relationships by helping parents strengthen emotional connections and improve their parenting skills
• Guide families in optimizing the home environment for child growth and development
• Help families expand their support networks and improve their ability to solve problems and advocate for themselves
• Identify and refer families to additional services, including healthcare and community resources
• Collaborate with families to set achievable goals, create action plans, and monitor progress toward those goals
• Observe and assess the normal growth and developmental milestones of the target child
• Maintain accurate records and documentation as required by agency guidelines

Qualifications

• High school diploma or equivalent required; additional education in a related field is a plus
• At least 2 years of experience working with or providing services to children and families
• Strong ability to build trusting, supportive relationships with individuals and families from diverse backgrounds
• Cultural humility and respect for individual differences, with experience working with culturally diverse populations
• Knowledge of infant and child development, and a commitment to promoting healthy family dynamics
• Willingness to engage in reflective practice, including self-awareness, openness to supervision, and ongoing personal growth
• Flexible schedule, including availability for evening or weekend visits, and ability to travel throughout New Jersey for required multi-day trainings
• Valid driver’s license and auto insurance Required
• Must be willing and able to travel between sites as needed
• Bilingual, English and Spanish speaking required

Working Conditions/Physical Demand

Works indoors/outdoors with client/customer contact and with use of business office machines such as: telephone, computer, printer, copier, fax machine, email, and voicemail

In compliance with New Jersey's Pay Transparency Act, the compensation range for this position is USD $20.00 to USD $28.00. When determining an offer, VNA Health Group considers factors such as the scope and responsibilities of the role, the candidate's work experience, education/training, relevant skills, internal pay equity, and market and organizational conditions. For more details about our benefits, please visit our Careers page.

EEOC

VNA Health Group provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws. This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.