High School Advocate

Overview of Easterseals Serving DC | MD | VA
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Easterseals DC MD VA ( is leading the way to full equity, inclusion, and access through direct and life-changing disability and community services.

Since 1945, Easterseals DC MD VA has worked tirelessly to enhance quality of life and expand access to healthcare, education, and employment. We take a holistic approach, providing comprehensive services to thousands of children and adults in our neighborhoods, no matter their disability, military status, income, race, or age: To help each child reach their full potential, we provide personalized child development and early intervention services. To improve health and reduce isolation in adults with disabilities, we offer engaging activities and expansive resources. To enable military families to integrate into the community, we provide a suite of services, including employment support and mental healthcare. Together with our partners, we're reducing poverty and homelessness and improving healthcare and employment by empowering people of all ages and abilities to be full and equal participants in their communities. As the Easterseals affiliate serving Washington, DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia, ( Easterseals DC MD VA works through public-private partnerships to provide community-based services in the most efficient manner possible. These traits were demonstrated in the opening our Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Inter-Generational Center, which has quickly become an international model of excellence for delivering superior outcomes, including creating meaningful connections between generations. It was opened through visionary partnership among local, state, and national governments, as well as private individual, corporate, and foundation investment. The shared resources created a maximum return on investment for the community.Through a variety of resources, Easterseals provides information and guidance about how to navigate changing needs within our communities.
Easterseals DC MD VA, we know that creating a hopeful, inclusive community where all people realize their potential and live meaningful lives can be done only when we value our greatest asset - our staff. More than 200 employees across the greater Washington, DC area, from Hagerstown, Maryland, to Falls Church, Virginia, value the rewarding work that enables Easterseals to lead the way to 100% equity, inclusion, and access for people with disabilities, families, and communities.
We value the uniqueness and dignity of each individual and appreciate the strength of diversity and inclusion.
Innovation: We embrace new ideas, take measured risks and find better ways to help more people.
Job Title: Family Advocate
Department: Head Start
Reports to: Senior Director, Head Start

Family Advocate Temple Hills, MD
The Family Advocate will work as a member of a team whose primary role is to engage all families to partner with us to promote children's healthy development and school readiness. The Family Advocate uses knowledge of the principles of family engagement to support families in their roles as their child's primary educator, encourages parent/child interactions that promote children's school readiness and healthy development, and enhances family well-being. In this role, the Family Advocate will provide more intensive and targeted support to vulnerable families and families of children with chronic health conditions and special needs in order to ensure that our engagement strategies meet their specialized needs.

The Family Advocate will work as part of the program's broader team to expand family engagement strategies that will create a sense of belonging and shared community among families, with the goal of enhancing the relationships and support that families provide to one another in their shared aspirations for their children and themselves. The position may involve reassignment of caseload and/or center location as deemed necessary for program operations.
The Family Advocate's responsibilities primarily fall within the following core functions, although s/he may perform other tasks based upon program needs:
Promote Family Environments that Enhance Children's Development
Promote Family Environments that Enhance Children's Development
Engage families as partners in their children's healthy development and school readiness.
Participate in outreach, recruitment and attendance follow up activities to engage families in our program and to motivate their active participation.
Engage families in the Family Engagement Contract process in order to build relationships and shared accountability for promoting children's development.
Individualize family engagement and relationship-building to be appropriate to families' cultural context, as well as respectful of family circumstances.
Engage families in individualized, in-home and group experiences to enhance parent/child interactions that research shows fosters school readiness through consistent family routines, positive guidance and discipline, experience rich home environments and literacy activities.
Utilize in-classroom time and home visits to build deeper understanding of the relationship between children's development and their home environments; as well as to model and coach families in a positive parent/child interaction .
Implement a research based Family Curriculum, (Shine On, Families) that extends our classroom curriculum into the family's home, modeling high quality adult- child interactions teachers use in their classrooms for families. Engage in a process of collaborative partnership building with families of children receiving center-based (Early) Head Start services.
Family Partnership Process: Utilize family self-assessment information to assist families with self-identified goals to enhance self sufficiency in areas such as education, employment, housing, and access to community resources.
Provide more intensive weekly face to face or phone contact with vulnerable families on caseload as identified through their self-assessment or family interactions/communication.
Assure that families receive immediate support during times of crisis, and assist with referrals to community based resources to meet counseling, treatment, entitlement or other needs.
Analyze self sufficiency data and utilize data/results to plan and coordinate a variety of parent cohort groups that allow families to support one another to achieve self-sufficiency goals.
Coordinate or refer families to opportunities for continuing education, employment training and other employment services through formal or informal networking in the community.
Foster a sense of community and sense of belonging among families in order to strengthen social capital
Conduct group and center-based workshops and activities designed to build social capital and create a welcoming program community committed to family engagement in children's learning and development.
Cultivate family leadership and support their advocacy efforts through participation in program governance bodies such as Policy Council, as well as neighborhood and community based advisory groups.
Conduct activities, and campaigns that promote children's school readiness.
Monthly Family Engagement Network Meetings (parent meetings).

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
Inform Health and Nutrition Coordinators, MHD, Early Learning and Family Engagement Coordinators regarding children with allergies, chronic health conditions, or special needs to e that medical documentation is received and case conferences occur prior to entry.
Establish regular coordination and communication with Health, Nutrition and Disabilities team members in order to provide more intensive support to families of children with chronic health conditions and special needs, including targeted goal setting, and assistance with building family advocacy skills to navigate community systems of care for their children
Work in coordination with Health and Nutrition team members to ensure that a determination of a medical and dental home and insurance is made within 30 days of a child entering the program and a determination of the child's EPSDT status is made within 90 days of a child entering a program.
Develop strategies with parents to ensure that all children on caseload are up to date on EPSDT requirements, including receiving timely evaluation and treatment for identified concerns.
Develop effective communication and collaborative strategies with teaching teams to encourage family engagement in home learning activities, including individualizing activities based upon family interests and children's developmental status.
Establish and maintain working relationships with community partners to strengthen access to resources and training identified as priority goal areas by families.
Assist Family Engagement and /or ERSEA leadership and participate in scheduling, planning and coordinating recruitment activities through the year.
Eligibility, Selection and Enrollment Ensure the eligibility, selection, and enrollment processes adheres to Head Start Performance Standards and program/Shine Early Learning ISP/PP .
Per interview with family, determine the eligibility of children/families, ensuring that all family documentation is accurate and complete.
Review application and eligibility documents received and work directly with families to ensure that all necessary enrollment/intake forms are completed and obtained in a timely manner for all children/families assigned to their center(s).
Work with the Family Engagement Coordinator/ERSEA Lead to maintain an up to date and accurate wait list and enroll children/ families based on selection criteria to fill vacancies as they occur.
determine family eligibility for extended day services and assist families with completing child care subsidy applications.
Monitor and follow up of children on caseload with daily calls to children that are absent from the program.
Per program: provide clerical support in attendance entry.
Develop attendance goals with families whose child is experiencing chronic absenteeism.
Maintain accurate electronic and hard copy records and case notes to support positive child and family outcomes. Ensure that all ERSEA (Eligibility, Recruitment, Selection, Enrollment and Attendance) information is accurately captured and documented in electronic and hard copy records.
Document efforts to assist families to identify their strengths, needs and self sufficiency goals through completion of Family Self Assessment, Family Partnership Agreement, and case notes.
Ensure that all PIR data is up to date in data system per caseload
Family Advocates that have been assigned smaller caseloads may have additional responsibilities that will include, but not limited to, ERSEA and Health )

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
Associate or Bachelor's Degree in Social Work, Human Services, Family Services/Engagement, Counseling or a related field preferred, OR AA or BA in another field with a commitment to complete Family Services/Certificate/Credential within 18 months of hire. We will also consider candidates with a High School Diploma with 3 years experience working in the community with families and a completed Family Development Certificate or Credential
Experience, training, and skills with assisting the parents of young children to advocate for their families
Experience working in low-income diverse communities preferred
Must have reliable personal transportation as travel from site to site is required.
Travel required locally or long-distance up to 10% of the time for work-related meetings and functions.
A passion for achieving positive child and family outcomes through high-quality family engagement
Ability to communicate effectively, verbally and in writing.
Demonstrated computer literacy skills, using MS Office applications and other basic data systems including internet navigation.
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).
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
• Fax Machine Easterseals policy is to provide equal employment opportunity to all qualified applicants and employees regardless of their race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, veteran status, status as a special disabled veteran, or any other protected criteria as established by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to recruitment and hiring, training, promotion, compensation, benefits, transfer, layoff, termination and all other terms and conditions of employment. Employment decisions at Easterseals are based solely upon relevant criteria, including an individual's capabilities, qualifications, training, experience and suitability.