PARENT ADVOCATE

Saint Dominic's Family Services; New York (NY); On-site; USD 41,000 - 50,000; Full time

Job summary

Saint Dominic's Family Services in New York, NY seeks a Parent Advocate to support parents of children in foster care to navigate the system and work toward reunification. The role involves collaboration with case planning units, offering insights, and empowering families to make informed decisions.

Requirements include a High School diploma or equivalent; bilingual Spanish preferred. Life experience with the child welfare system may qualify.

Qualifications

• High School diploma or equivalent is required.
• Bi-lingual, Spanish preferred.
• Life experience impacted by the child welfare system may qualify; must be closed for at least a year.

Responsibilities

• Build relationships with parents to support decisions for their families.
• Prepare parents and participate in Family Team Conferences for service planning.
• Share insights to inform case planning decisions in the assigned unit.
• Escort families to community services or appointments and conduct home visits.
• Provide emotional support during family court dates and offer visit coaching tips.
• Attend training and implement relevant model practices within the first 90 days.
• Maintain documentation in Connections.
• Participate in program and department meetings and perform related tasks.
• Maintain confidentiality and work flexible hours.

Skills

Bilingual (Spanish)

Education

High School diploma or equivalent

Job description

Saint Dominic's Family Services is an Equal Opportunity Employer (Minorities/Females/Disabled/Veterans). To read more about this, view the EEO is the Law poster and this EEO is the Law Poster Supplement.

PARENT ADVOCATE

Full Time/Part Time Regular Full Time Total Hours Per Week 35 From Salary $45,000 To Salary $45,000.

Job Summary

The Parent Advocate will support parents with children in foster care to understand and navigate the foster care system, remain hopeful, and address family challenges so they can accomplish their goal of reunification. The Parent Advocate will work collaboratively with case planning units and support parents by lending their insights to the foster care agency decision-making process to expedite children being returned home. The role of the parent advocate is to help empower parents in the case planning process and provide options and choices for parents to make decisions for their families. Parents will draw upon their own lived experiences with the child welfare system to enable them to support those who are currently engaged in working toward reunification.

Duties & Responsibilities

• Build relationships and support parents in making decisions for their own families, coping with the trauma of foster care involvement
• Prepare parents and participate in Family Team Conferences to engage in service planning
• Share insights and observations to inform decision making regarding cases in their assigned unit
• Escort families to community-based services or appointments and conduct home visits to parent’s homes
• Offer emotional support to parents attending family court dates; orient parents to family time, offer visit coaching tips and periodically supervise family visits as needed
• Attend training and implement the Parents Empowering Parents (PEP) Model including key practices in the first 90 days of a case to orient parents to the service planning process
• Maintain appropriate documentation in Connections
• Attend all program and department meetings
• Perform other related tasks to support parents as needed
• Ability to maintain confidentiality and work flexible hours
• Other duties as assigned by Unit Supervisor, Assistant Vice President, and/or Sr. Vice President of Children and Family Services

Education & Experience

• High School diploma or equivalent required.
• Bi-lingual, Spanish, preferred.

Previous life experience being impacted by the child welfare system as a parent including having had a child placed in foster care or having had a court-ordered supervision case. Other child welfare involvement such as having personally experienced a child welfare investigation may also qualify. Previous child welfare cases must be closed for at least a year.

Physical Requirements

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to effectively communicate. The employee is required to stand; walk, feel; and reach. The employee is occasionally required to sit and stoop, kneel or crouch.
• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.