Family Support Specialist / Home Visitor

Support Parents. Strengthen Families. Change Lives.

Child Care Aware of Northwest Arkansas is seeking a compassionate Family Support Specialist (Parent Educator/Home Visitor) to join our Healthy Families team. This position supports families through voluntary home visiting, parent education, child development guidance, and strengths-based relationship building.

Every child deserves a strong start, and every parent deserves someone in their corner.

Are you passionate about supporting families, early childhood development, or parent education? We'd love for you to join our team!

Child Care Aware of Northwest Arkansas is a local nonprofit organization that has supported our community for more than 30 years. We are a resource for families and child care providers, providing professional development, technical assistance, and advocacy throughout Northwest Arkansas.

Our Healthy Families program provides individualized support for families through a nationally recognized home visiting model. As a Family Support Specialist, you will have the opportunity to make a positive impact in our community one family at a time.

We are a small, supportive team that believes in putting people first. We value collaboration, professional growth, and creating a workplace where staff feel supported while doing meaningful work.

Why You'll Love Working Here

• Meaningful work that positively impacts children and families every day
• A supportive team that values collaboration and reflective supervision
• Flexible scheduling to support family needs and work-life balance
• Training and ongoing professional development in the Healthy Families America model
• Opportunities to strengthen skills in child development, parent education, and family support
• Mileage reimbursement for local travel
• A workplace culture that values reflection, learning, and relationships

What Does a Home Visit Look Like?

Family Support Specialists spend approximately half of their workweek meeting with families in their homes and the other half documenting visits, tracking family progress, and preparing for future visits.

Home visits typically last about one hour and are designed to build trusting, supportive relationships with parents. Visits are individualized based on each family's strengths, goals, and needs.

Home visits may include:

• Building relationships with parents and celebrating family strengths
• Supporting positive parent-child interactions through play and everyday routines
• Sharing child development information and parenting resources
• Completing developmental screenings and family assessments
• Helping families identify and work toward personal goals
• Connecting families with community resources when appropriate
• Providing encouragement through reflective listening and strengths-based support

This is a relationship-based position focused on partnering with families, not investigating or enforcing services.

Who You'll Be Working With

Healthy Families is a voluntary home visiting program. Families choose to participate because they want support during pregnancy and the early years of parenting.

Many families enrolled in the program have experienced significant life stressors or trauma. We recognize the resilience and strengths that families bring and use a trauma-informed, family-centered approach to support parents and children.

The ideal Family Support Specialist is compassionate, reflective, able to establish healthy professional boundaries, and comfortable building relationships with families who may have experienced difficult circumstances.

Job Description

The Family Support Specialist (FSS) is responsible for initiating and maintaining regular and long-term contact and support with families. This activity will occur primarily within the family’s home; each visit should last for around one hour. The home-visits should be family-centered, strength-based, and directed at establishing a trusting relationship; strengthening the parent-child relationship; promoting healthy childhood growth and development; and enhancing family well-being by reducing risk and building protective factors.

The FSS partners with families and honors diverse family structures and parenting practices. Activities may also include but are not limited to: reflective listening with families; providing child development knowledge with the goal of positive parent-child interactions; administering developmental screening tools such as the ASQ, ASQ-SE, Depression Screens, etc.; identifying and referring families for other supportive services, including health care services.

The FSS will also be responsible for assisting the family in establishing goals and supporting them throughout this process and is responsible for implementing activities outlined on the Family Service Plan to address areas of concern.

A Typical Week

The Family Support Specialist will:

• Maintain a caseload of approximately 12-15 families
• Conduct weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly home visits based on family needs and program requirements
• Document home visits in the ETO database
• Complete developmental screenings, assessments, and required family documentation
• Track family data and program outcomes
• Prepare activities and resources for upcoming family visits
• Participate in weekly reflective supervision meetings with the Program Manager to discuss family relationships, strategies, challenges, successes, and professional growth
• Collaborate with a supportive team committed to providing quality services to families

Schedule

Job Title: Family Support Specialist (Parent Educator/Home Visitor)

Location: Rogers, AR

Job Type: Full-Time, Hourly

Schedule: 40 hours per week, Monday-Friday during normal office hours. Some flexible hours may be needed depending on family schedules. Weekend availability may be needed on rare occasions.

Required Qualifications

• High school diploma or GED required
• Experience working with children and families
• Strong computer skills (training on the ETO database is provided)
• Ability to establish trusting relationships with families
• Acceptance and respect for individual differences and diverse family structures
• Willingness to build reflective capacity, including self-reflection, awareness of how personal experiences impact relationships, and valuing supervision
• Strong empathy and ability to maintain healthy professional boundaries
• Ability to pass a background check
• Reliable transportation

Preferred Qualifications

Our gold-star candidate is someone who is passionate about supporting families and early childhood development.

Preferred qualifications include:

• Bilingual in English and Spanish
• Child Development Associate (CDA) credential
• Experience with home visiting programs
• Knowledge of infant and child development
• Experience in early childhood education, social work, family services, education, or related fields
• Experience and humility working with culturally diverse families

Working Conditions and Physical Effort

• Work is performed in both office and community settings
• Daily local driving is required
• Home visits take place in families' homes throughout Benton and Madison Counties
• Some modeling of healthy parent-child interactions may occur
• Travel is primarily local travel between the office and participant homes using the employee's personal vehicle
• Mileage is reimbursed
• Out-of-area travel may be required for some training; however, most training is conducted online

Benefits

• Health insurance
• Dental insurance
• Paid time off
• Flexible schedule
• Professional development and training
• Supportive team environment
• Reflective supervision

Equal Opportunity Employer

Child Care Aware does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status; in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to the following: hiring, promotion, and termination of staff; selection of volunteers and vendors; and provision of services. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for our staff, participants, and vendors.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $16.50 - $18.50 per hour

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Flexible schedule
• Health insurance
• Paid time off

Experience:

• working with families and children: 1 year (Required)

Language:

• Spanish (Preferred)

Ability to Commute:

• Rogers, AR 72756 (Required)

Work Location: In person

Salary : $17 - $19