SUMMARY

A certified Parent Educator implements the Parents as Teachers (PAT) model, emphasizing parent-child interaction, development-centered parenting, and family well-being in their work with families. Utilizing the PAT Foundational Curricula in culturally sensitive ways, the parent educator partners, facilitates, and reflects with families, and they serve families individually in their homes. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Engage in recruitment activities of families and partners
• Complete an initial and annual family- centered assessment with each family
• Develop, monitor, and review goals with each family
• Plan, provide, and document personal visits focused on parent-child interaction, development-centered parenting, and family well-being
• Provide group connections to give families an opportunity to build social connections with one another
• Engage in parent-child interaction activities, and increase knowledge of ways to support children’s development
• Complete at least initial and annual developmental screening and health review for each enrolled child
• Connect families to resources that help them reach their goals and address their needs
• Help parents and children transition to other services as needed
• Maintain and submit all required family and program documentation in a timely manner
• Participate in at least two hours of reflective supervision monthly and at least two hours of staff meetings monthly
• Maintain regular and reliable attendance
• Complete PAT Foundational Trainings prior to serving families; obtain competency-based professional development and renew parent educator certification annually
• Participate in continuous quality improvement
• Maintain minimum caseloads requirement
• Facilitate individual or small group Nurturing Parenting sessions as needed
• Allow staff to shadow home visits as needed
• Participate in major fundraising and development events benefitting NTN, community awareness events that promote the agency and programs, and program activities of the organization no matter the individual role
• Represents the agency at community, civic or other public functions
• Follow organizational policies
• Participate in agency ad-hoc committees as appropriate and needed
• Other duties as assigned

EDUCATION AND/OR EXPERIENCE

Graduation from an accredited high school or equivalent program with minimum of 2 years of supervised experience working with young children and/or parents. College education in social work, early childhood education or similar social services field strongly preferred.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience in working with or providing supportive services to young children and families
• Strong communication and interpersonal skills, and possessing key characteristics (e.g., empathetic, conscientious, accepting, ethical)
• A commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility
• Ability to establish rapport with families and empower them by building on their strengths
• Strong organizational and record-keeping skills
• Ability to work independently and be self-motivated (often in the field)
• Knowledge of infant and child development and parent-child attachment principles
• Awareness of needs of low-income families and multi-stressed families
• Ability to learn and integrate into teaching/coaching material related to service delivery
• Willingness to engage in building reflective capacity (e.g., capacity for introspection, communicating awareness of self in relation to others, recognizing value of supervision, etc.)
• Ability to maintain professional boundaries while providing supportive services
• Willingness to work non-standard business hours as needed and scheduled
• Strong written and verbal communication skills and ability to collaborate as part of a team
• Microsoft Office, email, internet; Must be able to meet documentation requirements
• Reliable transportation and valid driver’s license
• Minimum of a high school diploma or equivalent, college coursework preferred

PHYSICAL DEMANDS & WORK ENVIRONMENT

The physical demands and work environment described is representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit, talk, and/or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand, use hands to finger, handle, or feel and reach with hands and arms. The employee is frequently required to keyboard and do data entry at a computer. The employee is frequently required to drive, walk and climb stairs in the office and in a variety of community-based and home settings. The employee must lift and/or move up to 20 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include vision and ability to adjust focus. The employee must have access to reliable transportation. The work environment includes indoor office environments or comparable spaces, families’ homes and community spaces, with frequent exposure to outdoor weather when traveling to home visits and meetings. The noise level varies by sites, home visits, and meetings.