Reports To: 

Family Links Field Supervisor 

Location of Work: 

Van Buren County

Service Area: Decatur, Lawrence & Hartford

Office currently in Decatur - Base location at Special Services Building

701 South Paw Paw Street

Lawrence, MI 49064

Starting Date: 

Open

Rate of Pay: 

According to the current year Master Agreement 

Hours to Work: 

1,365 annually – year round services 

Classification: 

Early Childhood/Family Educator 

Job Goal(s): 

The overall job goal of the Early Childhood Family Educator is to partner with families in the home setting using the Parents as Teachers curriculum to provide families with the skills and knowledge they need to ensure their children are competent, healthy, self-assured and ready for school. 

Minimum Qualifications: 

Education: 

Bachelor degree (preferred) in child development, education, social work, family studies or related field preferred. Bilingual in English/Spanish preferred. 

Certification: 

Parents as Teachers® (PAT) certified preferred. If no certification, must be able to attend multiple day training. 

Work Experience: 

• Experience in working with young children and their families 
• Experience in connecting & working with at-risk populations 
• Experience in home visitation preferred 

Skills: 

• Effective communication and interpersonal skills that build relationships with at-risk families. 
• Professional communication skills relative to writing, recording, telephoning and computing 
• Dependability skills as reflected by assuming ownership for the assigned job goal and responsibilities; demonstrating a willingness to acquire and apply new understandings and skills in assignment
• Organizational skills with the ability to manage self-scheduling and paperwork requirements. 
• Computer skills and ability to use online data/documentation systems. 

Essential Job Functions: 

• Create a recruitment and enrollment plan to reach targeted populations with children prenatal to kindergarten entry. 
• Enroll and visit with families on a regular schedule in the home setting. 
• Engage in strategies that maintain families’ engagement and result in meeting home visit frequency requirements. 
• Create a weekly schedule that allows for flexibility to meet with working families, makes effective use of route planning and optimizes daily work hours. This may result in different start and end times for some days. 
• Plan home visits using Parent as Teacher® curriculum materials based on family’s needs and interests. Lessons are designed to empower families with accurate child growth and development knowledge, effective parenting skills, strategies to build their child’s school readiness, build understanding of the early literacy support and promote positive adult-child relationships. 
• Complete required development and health screenings per schedule. Support follow-up evaluation if needed. 
• Work with team members to plan group and special family events. Promote and facilitate monthly play groups in targeted communities. 
• Cultivate positive, supportive relationships with family members to encourage partnerships in education. Promote a connection to the local school/preschool system and community activities to provide children with social and learning experiences (i.e. monthly playgroups). 
• Assist families in connections with additional services, when needed, such as financial assistance, health care, education and training, etc. 
• Keep current, well-written records, reports, assessments and submit in a timely manner. 10. Assess, plan and coordinate services to families through partnership with other programs and agencies if applicable. 
• Participate in professional development activities and in-service training. Participate in team meetings, team committees, monthly reflective supervision and other assigned Family Links activities. 
• Perform additional tasks, responsibilities and duties as assigned by the Early Care and Education administrators. 

Terms of Employment: As per master agreement and provisions established by the Van Buren Board of Education. 

This posting and our online application can be found on the Van Buren ISD’s website at www.vbisd.org under Employment.  If you do not have access to a computer with internet access, you may use a computer at VBISD by calling 269-539-5218. 

Position is open until filled.

In-house staff must fill out the online internal application.