Lived-Experience Parent Advocate

Wellspring Lutheran Services; Clare (MI); Hybrid; USD 36,000 - 44,000; Full time

Job summary

Wellspring Lutheran Services seeks a Parent Partner in Michigan to support families navigating child welfare. You’ll use your lived experience to help parents move toward stability, advocacy, and positive outcomes for children, in a hybrid work setting across Midland and Gladwin Counties.

Ideal candidates have personal experience navigating CPS or foster care, with strong communication, empathy, and professional boundaries.

Qualifications

• Personal experience as a parent or caregiver who has navigated the child welfare system is essential.
• Ability to communicate effectively with diverse families and professionals.
• Willingness to travel for home visits and community outreach.

Responsibilities

• Provide peer support to parents and caregivers.
• Support families in navigating child welfare, education, and behavioral health systems.
• Attend meetings and advocate for families while maintaining professional boundaries.

Skills

Empathy

Communication

Trauma-informed practices

Cultural sensitivity

Education

High school diploma or GED

Job description

Parent Partner

Midland and Gladwin counties | Hybrid | $40,000 / year | Accepting applications until September 7, 2026.

Your experience has power. Help another parent find their way forward.

Some forms of support can only come from someone who has lived it. A Parent Partner is more than a peer support professional. They are proof that difficult circumstances do not define a family's future.

Description

Parent Partner

Midland and Gladwin counties | Hybrid | $40,000 / year | Accepting applications until September 7, 2026.

Your experience has power. Help another parent find their way forward.

Some forms of support can only come from someone who has lived it. A Parent Partner is more than a peer support professional. They are proof that difficult circumstances do not define a family's future.

As part of Michigan's MiFamily Together (MFT) program, Parent Partners use their lived experience navigating the child welfare system to support parents who are walking a similar path today. MiFamily Together was designed to strengthen families, reduce the need for out-of-home placement, support reunification, and help families build lasting stability through a coordinated, whole-family approach. Families are best served when they feel understood, supported, and connected to someone who believes in their ability to succeed.

As a Parent Partner, you become that person.

You understand the uncertainty, fear, and frustration that can accompany involvement with child welfare services because you've experienced it yourself. You know how important it is to have someone who listens without judgment, explains unfamiliar processes, offers encouragement during setbacks and celebrates progress along the way.

The Parent Partner role transforms your lived experience into meaningful impact for families.

You'll walk alongside parents as they navigate systems, advocate for themselves and their children, participate in important meetings, and work toward their goals. You'll help families recognize strengths they may not see in themselves and remind them that change is possible, even when the path forward feels overwhelming.

The impact reaches beyond the individual parent, too. When caregivers gain confidence and feel empowered to advocate for themselves and their children, families become stronger. Children benefit from greater stability, healthier relationships and increased opportunities to thrive. Through your support, you help create positive outcomes that can influence a family's future for years to come.

How You'll Make a Difference

Turn experience into hope. Your lived experience is the foundation of this role. By sharing your story thoughtfully and professionally, you'll help parents feel understood, reduce feelings of isolation and demonstrate that positive outcomes are possible.

Walk beside families. Parents involved in child welfare, behavioral health, and educational systems often feel overwhelmed by unfamiliar processes and expectations. You'll help them navigate these systems with greater confidence while serving as a trusted source of support and encouragement.

Strengthen confidence and self-advocacy. You'll help caregivers identify their strengths, build protective factors, develop self-advocacy skills, and actively participate in decisions affecting their families and future.

Build connections that last. Through resource navigation, educational groups and community connections, you'll help families access the tools and relationships needed to increase stability, reduce barriers and move toward their goals.

Education

• High school diploma or GED preferred.
  
  
  

Experience

Applicants must have personal experience as a parent or caregiver who was involved with Child Protective Services (CPS) or the foster care system, and successfully completed their case. This means you had your own CPS or foster care case that was closed with a positive outcome. Applicants must not have any current CPS investigations, open CPS cases, or unresolved child safety concerns. Your lived experience is not a barrier to employment. In fact, it is an important qualification for this position.

Qualifications & Requirements

Preference will be given to applicants who reside within the assigned service area in order to effectively serve families throughout the region.

The ideal candidate is able to build trust quickly, communicate effectively, and support families while maintaining professional boundaries. They are comfortable working independently and collaboratively, navigating community resources, facilitating difficult conversations, and helping parents identify strengths and opportunities for growth . Comfort with effectively leading a virtual meeting of a group parents is expected, with training provided on the technological and interpersonal aspects of running a successful meeting. Experience with trauma-informed and culturally responsive practices is valued, and bilingual or multilingual skills are a plus.

Applicants must meet all position requirements, including required background, CPS, driving record, and post-offer screenings; maintain a valid driver's license, reliable transportation, and required insurance coverage; possess the technology skills necessary to complete documentation and communicate with families; and be able to maintain a flexible schedule that may include evenings, weekends, holidays, and overtime as needed. Reasonable accommodation will be considered in accordance with applicable law. Note that a felony on record is not cause for immediate disqualification, but considered on a case by case basis.

Important role boundaries

Parent Partners provide peer support to parents and caregivers and maintain clear professional boundaries that keep their focus on advocacy, guidance, and family support. Their role is not intended to provide child supervision, childcare or child transportation services; rather, it is to empower parents as they work toward their goals.

Work environment

This position combines work performed from a home office or other designated workspace, including virtual visits with parents. Also required are some in-home visits and community outreach throughout the service area. Parent Partners spend time meeting families and supporting them in real-world settings.

The role requires flexibility, independent travel with mileage paid, and comfort working in a variety of home and community environments. This may include homes with multiple occupants, pets, environmental considerations, or heightened emotional stress related to family circumstances. Evening and occasional weekend availability may be required to accommodate families' schedules, and regular travel occurs in varying weather conditions.

Why Wellspring?

There are few opportunities to make a difference quite the way the Parent Partner can. Your experience can help a parent feel less alone. Your encouragement can help a family keep moving forward. Your support can help create stability, strengthen relationships, and improve outcomes for children.

If you've ever wished your own journey could help someone else find hope, this is your opportunity to turn experience into impact.