Description

Job Summary:

The Maternal Educator is responsible for providing home-based education and support services to pregnant women, teenagers, and their families. S/he collaborates with the family services team to ensure individualized services for each family, including access to ongoing health care, health resources, and comprehensive services.

Essential Duties & Responsibilities:

The Maternal Educators responsibilities primarily fall within the following core functions, although s/he may perform other tasks based upon program needs:

1. Support Enrolled Pregnant Women with Education and Access to Services
2. Support Families to Meet Self-Identified Goals and Needs
3. Program Service Coordination

A. EDUCATION SERVICES

Provide prenatal and postpartum information, education, and services to pregnant women and their families.

• Support enrolled pregnant women and their families with prenatal and postpartum information that addresses:
  • Fetal development
  • Importance of nutrition
  • Risks of alcohol, drugs, and smoking
  • Labor and delivery, postpartum recovery
  • Mental health
  • Infant care
  • Safe sleep practices, and
  • Benefits of feeding
  • Immunizations
• Provide a newborn visit with each mother and baby, ensuring the visit is scheduled within two weeks after the birth of the child.
• Address the needs and appropriate support for emotional well-being, nurturing and responsive caregiving, and father engagement during pregnancy and early childhood.

B. FAMILY SUPPORT AND PARTNERSHIP SERVICES

Engage enrolled pregnant moms, teenagers, and other relevant family members in a process of collaborative partnership building and in family partnership services.

• Engage parent(s) in the development of the program options, plan for the infants transition to program enrollment, and support the family during the transition process, where appropriate.
• Provide a minimum of 46 weekly home visits utilizing a research-based curriculum to share prenatal and postpartum information
• Provide a minimum of 22 group socialization activities (twice monthly) per year

• Provide opportunities for parents to increase their child observation skills and to share assessments with staff to help plan for learning experiences.
• Work with enrolled pregnant women and other relevant family members to complete a family assessment that will inform targeted services provided
• Establish positive and productive relationships with families focusing on building trust and rapport.

C. SERVICE COORDINATION

• Build relationships that will enhance communication and collaboration among internal and external stakeholders
• Work side by side with health, early learning and disabilities and other members of the family engagement team to support families to be fully engaged in all aspects of our program
• Establish regular coordination and communication with Health, Nutrition and Disabilities team members in order to facilitate the ability of all enrolled pregnant women to access comprehensive services through referrals that, at a minimum, include nutritional counseling, food assistance, oral health care, mental health services, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and emergency shelter or transitional housing in cases of domestic violence.
• Work in coordination with Health and Family Services team to determine (within 30 days of enrollment) and facilitate access to health care provided by a health care professional that maintains ongoing health records and is not primarily a source of emergency or urgent care, and, as appropriate, health insurance coverage.
• Establish and maintain working relationships with community partners to strengthen access to resources and training identified as priority goal areas by families

Non-Essential Duties:

• Performs any and all other duties as assigned.

Job Specifications:

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to carry out each essential duty in a satisfactory manner. The job specifications listed below are representative of the education and experience as well as the knowledge, skill and/or ability (KSAs) required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Requirements:

1. Home-Based CDA OR Associates degree/Bachelors degree in Early Childhood Education or related field with at least 120 training hours in Infant/Toddler content plus at least 480 hours of experience in a Home Visiting program serving families with children aged birth to 5 years old.
2. Experience, training, and skills related to pregnancy and childbirth as well as other areas related to child health and development.
3. Experience working in low-income diverse communities preferred
4. Bilingual
5. A passion for achieving positive child and family outcomes through high-quality family engagement
6. Physical exam and background checks are required for this position.
7. Must have reliable personal transportation as travel from site to site is required.
8. Travel required locally or long-distance up to 40% of the time for work-related meetings and functions.
9. Must have a valid drivers license and reliable transportation.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:

• Ability to interact effectively with people from diverse backgrounds.
• Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing.
• Demonstrated computer literacy skills, using MS Office applications and other basic data systems including internet navigation.
• Must be honest, dependable and able to meet deadlines.
• Self-motivated and able to work independently.

Physical Requirements:

• Ability to sit most of the time with some bending and reaching.
• Ability to stand, walk, and bend periodically.

• Ability to engage in repetitive movement of wrists, hands, and fingers typing and/or writing.

• Ability to work frequently at close visual range (i.e. preparing and analyzing data and figures, transcription, computer terminal, extensive reading).
• Ability to receive and respond to oral communication.
• Ability to exert up to 10 pounds of force to lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects.

Work Environment:

• Work is generally performed in an office environment.
• Noise level in the work environment is moderate to occasionally loud (examples: business office with computers and printers, light to moderate traffic, human voices).
• Standard office equipment generally used includes:

• Telephone
• Personal Computer (monitor, keyboard, and mouse) or Tablet
• Printer/Photocopy Machine
• Calculator
• Fax Machine

Qualifications

Job Specifications:

Requirements:

1. Home-Based CDA OR Associates degree/Bachelors degree in Early Childhood Education or related field with at least 120 training hours in Infant/Toddler content plus at least 480 hours of experience in a Home Visiting program serving families with children aged birth to 5 years old.
2. Experience, training, and skills related to pregnancy and childbirth as well as other areas related to child health and development.
3. Experience working in low-income diverse communities preferred
4. Bilingual
5. A passion for achieving positive child and family outcomes through high-quality family engagement
6. Physical exam and background checks are required for this position.
7. Must have reliable personal transportation as travel from site to site is required.
8. Travel required locally or long-distance up to 40% of the time for work-related meetings and functions.
9. Must have a valid drivers license and reliable transportation.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities:

• Ability to interact effectively with people from diverse backgrounds.
• Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing.
• Demonstrated computer literacy skills, using MS Office applications and other basic data systems including internet navigation.
• Must be honest, dependable and able to meet deadlines.
• Self-motivated and able to work independently.

• Ability to engage in repetitive movement of wrists, hands, and fingers typing and/or writing.

ADA/ADAAA Statement

AVANCE is committed to equal opportunity in employment for persons with disabilities and complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA), as amended, and any other applicable state and federal laws. Accordingly, AVANCE does not discriminate against qualified individuals with disabilities in regard to application, hiring, advancement, discharge, compensation, training or other terms, conditions and privileges of employment. Moreover, it is AVANCEs policy to provide reasonable accommodations in employment to qualified individuals with disabilities so that they can perform the essential functions of the job, unless the accommodation would impose an undue hardship on the operation of AVANCEs business or would change the essential functions of the position. Retaliation against an individual with a disability for utilizing this policy or seeking a reasonable accommodation is prohibited. Individuals with any questions or requests for accommodation should contact the Human Resources Department.

EEO/AAP Statement

AVANCE values diversity and is committed to providing equal employment opportunity to all individuals regardless of their race, color, creed, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, age, sexual orientation, genetic information, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by state, federal, or local law. It is also our goal to employ and advance in employment women, minorities, individuals with disabilities and protected veterans, and to treat qualified individuals without discrimination on the basis of their physical or mental disability or veteran status.