Are you looking for an Agency that is Fun, Friendly, Collaborative, Exciting and Rewarding, you have found the right place. Rebekah Children's Services is passionate about Mental Health and providing the best care to our clients, employees, and community. We are looking forindividuals who share in our passion of Mental Health and Quality Care. We are committed to building a diverse staff and strongly encourage all people to apply. Our programs are deeply engaged in conversations and trainings on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in order to bring equity and justice tothe youth and families we serve. We are looking for a Early Learning Specialist for our Family Resource Center!!Our Story Rebekah Children's Services has been serving Children and Families since 1897 and is committed to seeing our community flourish by building pathways of Hope, Happiness, and Well-Being. Our agency offers family-centered mental health services, education and training that promotes healing, healthy development, and future success of those we serve. We are always striving to be the BEST Agency for Quality Care, Education and Employment!!! Benefits:
- Competitive Salary
- 7.5% Bilingual Stipend
- 401K matching plan
- Excellent Medical Benefits
- Up to 5 weeks of combined PTO and Sick Time accrual
- 13 Holidays observed per year.
- Opportunities for growth and further training
- Family oriented environment
- Work, Life Balance focused.
POSITION SUMMARYUnder the direction of the Program Manager, the Early Learning Specialist will follow established procedures: provide intensive, twice-weekly home visits to underserved families with children between the ages of 16 months and four years who are challenged by poverty, isolation, limited educational opportunities, language and literacy barriers, and other obstacles to healthy development and academic success. Through visits, the Early Language Specialist will educate parents/caregivers on the importance of parent-child interaction and give them tools, skills, and encouragement to support and engage their children. Performance of typical responsibilities and duties requires the ability to perform the job duties and other job-related matters generally of limited to moderate complexity. TYPICAL RESPONSIBILITIES AND DUTIES:
- Completes at least 16 hours of training before beginning home visits.
- Attends and participates in weekly supervisory and training (minimum two-hour) staff meetings.
- Visits assigned families in their homes twice weekly, demonstrating reading, play, and verbal interaction behaviors with two or three-year-old children and their parents or primary caretakers.
- Completes required paperwork weekly, including preparing written anecdotal reports on each visit and conducting regular child development and parent-child interaction assessments.
- Keeps all family information confidential except as required by law.
- Every employee has the opportunity and responsibility to participate in one or more activities each year that support the performance quality improvement (PQI) of RCS programs and services. Activities might involve membership on a PQI committee or work group, service as a peer reviewer, data collection for PQI and evaluation purposes, completion of PQI questionnaires and surveys, participation in focus groups, or other activities identified by PQI committees or work groups.
Strength-based
- Ability to identify and build off parent/family strengths.
- Ability to identify strengths in the home environment.
- Ability to identify strengths in the community environment.
Race Equity
- Willingness to understand structural and systemic racism.
- Respect diverse values and views.
- Supportive of families' individual goals.
Parent-Child Relationship
- Understand the importance of the parent-child relationship.
- Prioritizes the parents' relationship with the child when interacting with families.
Reflective Functioning
- Ability to recognize own emotions.
- Ability to recognize and acknowledge parents' emotions.
- Helps parents recognize and acknowledge their child's emotions.
Life-Long Learner
- Understands that all learning is developmental.
- Encounters new experiences and people with humility.
- Interest in and knowledge of the evolving field of early learning and its best practices.
Relationship-Based
- Ability to form trusting relationships.
- Acknowledges and listens to parental input.
- Sensitive, responsive, and supportive when interacting with families.
- Ability to communicate in a non-judgmental fashion.
Child-Led Practice
- Understands where the child is developmentally and uses this knowledge to inform practice, expectations, and interactions.
- Follows the child's play and verbal cues.
- Adapts knowledge to individual children and parents.
Attitude Towards Quality Improvement
- Open to feedback.
- Willingness to change practice based on feedback.
- Learns about and understands the role in data collection and review.
- Understand the use and value of data in assessing and altering practice.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONSEDUCATION, TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE:
- Must possess a high school diploma or GED.
- Experience working in children's mental health settings emphasizing a family systems perspective, desirable.
- Experience in social services in community settings with families, preferred.
- Must be able to read, write, speak, and understand English.
- Ability to work with diverse workgroups and serve families with various economic, social, racial, and cultural backgrounds.
- Knowledgeable about local community resources
- Ability to establish and maintain personal and programmatic boundaries while providing supportive service.
- Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to relate to individuals who may not share fundamental commonalities, including value systems and behavior norms.
- Experience in working with culturally diverse communities and families.
- Demonstrate good writing and organizational skills.
- Maintain a professional, confidential work environment.
- Knowledge of child development and behavior
- Ability to plan, organize, prioritize and multi-task.
- Serve effectively as a member of a team internally and externally.
- Communicate effectively verbally and in writing.
- Serve closely with community members from diverse ethnic, social, and economic backgrounds, with the ability to be culturally sensitive and appropriate.
- Be flexible, proactive, adaptable, and able to work in a fast-paced, changing environment.
- Be professional, trustworthy, respectful of others, and display a positive attitude.
LICENSE(S):
- California driver's license and good DMV report (and ability to be insured by RCS' insurance carrier).
KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
- Warmth and patience in dealing with toddlers and families.
- Enjoys working independently and carrying out work responsibilities without daily supervision.
- Non-judgmental attitude toward families and other staff.
- Is flexible in the home setting, can respond to various circumstances, and shows good judgment when seeking support and guidance.
- Interested in learning about the model and in being a life-long learner.
- Knows the community they will be working in.
- Experience working with young children or parents and with community-based organizations.
- Share a language, life experiences, culture, and community match with the families they will work with.
SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:
- Must be able to meet and receive a criminal records clearance as required by Title XXII licensing regulations.
- Must be at least 18 years of age.
- Must be a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident.
- Bilingual language capacity in Spanish-English required.
- Must have valid TB screening.
PHYSICAL AND MENTAL REQUIREMENTS:The following are required in the day-to-day performance of the duties of this position:
- Sitting, walking, standing, grasping (simple), and visual/auditory acuity are constantly required (over 2/3 of the workday).
- Bending, squatting, kneeling, twisting, lifting, reaching, and pushing/pulling are required occasionally (under 1/3 of the workday).
- Climbing and crawling are generally not required.
- Fast-paced, diverse, and dynamic environment
- The service is sometimes physical, requiring setting up for events requiring transporting or lifting cumbersome materials, e.g., easels, flip charts, refreshments, brochures, chairs, tables, etc.
- Must be able to report to the service site regularly and reliably.
- Able to deal with stressful situations.
- Must be able to work a flexible schedule, which includes day, evening, weekend, and holiday hours, as appropriate, to coordinate and provide services and activities for families during non-traditional hours.
- Able to travel between sites and to offsite events throughout the county.