FamilyWise has been keeping children safe and helping families lead stable, healthy and productive lives since 1976. We educate, empower and enrich families who are struggling with poverty, substance abuse, mental health issues, homelessness and domestic violence.

Family Specialists at FamilyWise work as part of a multidisciplinary team to utilize a strengths-based family model of parent education and therapeutic parent coaching to clients referred from County systems. Services occur in their homes or at community sites in a 1:1 format with parent(s) and/or family. The goals of the programs are to eliminate child abuse and neglect, to improve parenting skills, and to reunify children with their parents when possible.

Wages & Benefits: $18.00 - $20.00 per hour; paid Sick and Safe Time; and participation in the agency-sponsored retirement savings plan.

Schedule: This position is scheduled to work part-time during program hours. The Family Specialist often works in the community and family homes. There is opportunity for flexible scheduling and some remote work.

Job Responsibilities:

Direct Client Service - Parent Education:

• Provide a secure and neutral environment, which ensures positive experiences for parents and their children.
• Assess parent/family social, emotional, and cognitive skills.
• Teach parent education sessions based on curriculum and expertise.
• Conduct parenting observations and provide parents feedback on their interaction skills.
• Model appropriate social skills for parents and their children.
• Provide life skills education to increase parental capacity for positive family dynamics.
• Teach parenting groups monthly for a group setting option.

Case Management:

• Prepare timely monthly written reports.
• Attend all appropriate collateral meetings with counselors and referring agencies.
• Develop and implement service plan with client.
• Coordinate and communicate with county workers, referring partners and other stakeholder.
• Facilitate meetings of family, professionals and natural supports.
• Collaborate with community partners.

Required Qualifications

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Development, Child Psychology, Family Social Science Special Education or a related human service field is required; two-year degree with two or more years of experience providing parenting services also considered.
• Two to three years of experience in child development, abuse/neglect support services, or parent education; using intervention methods for children with special needs.
• Experience working with culturally and racially diverse populations in lower socio-economic conditions.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Bi-lingual in Hmong, Somali, Spanish or other languages is highly valued.
• Strong organizational skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities.
• Ability to maintain a good working relationship with all co-workers and community partners.
• Must use good judgment in recognizing the scope of authority.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to work evenings and weekends as needed.
• Thorough understanding of parenting and child development issues.
• Ability to thrive in a team-oriented environment.
• Ability to work independently, establish priorities and meet deadlines.
• Ability to travel to participants sites within 15-mile radius of the office.

Licenses and/or Certifications:

• Valid driver's license, access to reliable transportation, and the ability to meet FamilyWise's driving record requirements. Please note that if the license was not issued in the state of Minnesota, you have 60 days after becoming a Minnesota resident in which to apply for your Minnesota driver's license or permit.

Diversity and open expression are fundamental to the work of FamilyWise Services. We are passionate about building and sustaining an inclusive and equitable working environment where everyone can belong. Every member of our team enriches our work by exposing us to a broad range of ways to understand and engage with the world, identify challenges, and to discover, design, and deliver solutions. We welcome everyone to apply, especially those individuals who are underrepresented in our sector: individuals who identify as BIPOC, Indigenous or people of culture, LGBTQI and gender fluid or gender nonconforming, individuals with disabilities (both seen and unseen), veterans, people of any age or family status. We encourage you to apply even if you feel like you don't fit 100% of the technical requirements. Equal Opportunity Employer: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, race, color, religion, disability, marital status, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, familial status, genetic information or a protected veteran's status.

Our organization has a partnership with Metropolitan Alliance of Connected Communities (MACC) to provide administrative services including management of the recruiting process. If you apply for this position, you may see references to MACC in some online materials.

FamilyWise Services participates in E-Verify and will provide the federal government with your Form I-9 information to confirm that you're authorized to work in the U.S. See E-Verify's official poster at . See E-Verify's Right to Work poster at https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/IER_RightToWorkPoster Eng_Es.pdf.