Parent Educator

Equal Opportunity Employer

The mission of the Health Federation of Philadelphia is to promote health equity for marginalized communities by advancing access to high-quality, integrated, and comprehensive health and human services.  Health equity is at the heart of all our work. We believe in and are firmly committed to equal employment opportunity for employees and applicants. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, age, religion, disability, sex or gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, military or veteran status.  This commitment applies to all aspects of the Health Federation of Philadelphia’s employment practices, including recruiting, hiring, training, and promotion.

JOB SUMMARY
 

The Mom Program is a home visiting program providing services to pregnant mothers and parents with young children in order to engage parents with building those parenting skills of being the best teacher their child could have. Services are provided to engage, maintain, and elicit self-determination in parenting among mothers, their partners, and other family members or caregivers. Home visiting is provided to families minimally two times a month. The program relies on building relationships that will provide opportunities for individualized teaching strategies and for observing & coaching the parent or caregiver on the child’s developmental milestones. In addition, families are connected with resources that they may need to meet their family goals. The MOM Program and Parents as Teachers Model provides services to residents of Philadelphia. Home visits are currently done virtually with expectations of socially distanced outdoor stop by visits to drop off materials otherwise needed for implementation.

JOB SPECIFICATIONS

Responsibilities/Duties 

Implement the Parents as Teachers model to implement the curriculum with locally directed enhancements to Philadelphia residents:

  • Provide service up to 20 to 24 clients with home visits twice monthly, for a minimum of 1 hour each visit.
  • Coordinate services with other community programs that will meet the family's needs.
  • Collaborate with community programs to enhance the goals and capacities of families, agencies, and this program. Represent the program at various community events supporting families and young children.
  • Adequately prepare for all personal visits, which include reading appropriate parent educator resources, printing relevant handouts, gathering material for parent-child activities, and writing the plan of visit prior to visit.
  • Maintain and submit timely required child, family and program documentation. Document details of each visit, including assessments, screenings, and referrals to resources in participant chart, and enter data into a data system. Capable in learning new computer platforms for data management.
  • Collaborate as a team member with twice monthly group connections. The team members collaborate to develop, provide, engage clients, and record group connections meetings.
  • Meet with the supervisor for a minimum of two hours monthly for reflective supervision.  Additionally, discuss procedures, protocol, and other administrative processes to ensure quality provision of services for families, record keeping, and data entry.
  • Participate in staff meetings and continuous quality improvement projects held twice a month.
  • Develop transition plans that assist parents and children transition to other services as needed, such as preschool or kindergarten. Assist parents to transition out of the program.
  • Complete annual required competency-based professional development hours to remain certified as a PAT parent educator.
  • Comply with MOM Parents as Teachers Policies and Procedures.

Education

  • Baccalaureate prepared in early childhood education, social services, health, psychology or related fields.
  • Demonstrated ability to work with parents and their children.

Skills/Experience

• Proficiency in Spanish preferred

• Demonstrate strong written and verbal communication skills that reflect patience, cultural humility and honesty. Dual linguistic capability in Spanish is requested.

• Demonstrate strong interpersonal skills that reflect ethics, empathy, conscientiousness, independence, openness to diversity and commitment to learning and education. 

• Must be willing to visit low-income and diverse families in their homes. Must be comfortable with delivering educational services in a non-judgmental/strengths-based manner to provide professional parent instruction to families implementing the curriculum provided by the National Parents as Teachers Center. Visits may be virtual at this time. 

• Able to travel throughout Philadelphia. Must have a reliable car, driver’s license and current insurance

Work Environment: Standard office setting with extended periods at workstation and periodic use of office equipment. City laptop and cellular telephone will be provided.

Position Type and Work Schedule: Full time position, typical hours are Monday through Friday 8:30 am to 4:30 pm.  Flex office schedule options available with supervisor approval.

Travel:  Local travel to multiple sites throughout the City of Philadelphia for home visits twice a month for each family in caseload; as needed to deliver educational items, diapers and books, and community meetings (occasionally).

Physical Demands: Ability to go up and down stairs, lift to no more than 25 lbs. Sit for long periods of time.

Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination Requirement: Proof of COVID-19 Vaccination must be produced upon hire. The only exceptions to this requirement will be accommodation requests base on medical or religious exemption. Documentation for the exemption request must be supplied prior to the first day of employment.  ADA guidelines will be used in determining requests for accommodation based on medical necessity. 

Salary and Benefits: Our employees are our most valuable resource, so we offer a competitive and comprehensive benefits package, which can include: 

  • Medical with vision benefits
  • Dental insurance
  • Flexible spending accounts
  • Life, AD&D and long-term care insurance
  • Short- and long-term disability insurance
  • 403(b) Retirement Plan, with a company contribution
  • Paid time off including vacation, sick, personal and holiday
  • Employee Assistance Program

Eligibility and participation is handled consistent with the plan documents and HFP policy. 

DISCLAIMER

The Health Federation reserves the right to modify, interpret, or apply this job description in any way the Company desires. The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by an employee assigned to this position. This job description in no way implies that these are the only duties, including essential duties, responsibilities and/or skills to be performed by the employee occupying this position. This job description is not an employment contract, implied, or otherwise. The employment relationship remains “at will.” The aforementioned job requirements are subject to change to reasonably accommodate qualified disabled individuals.