Parent Educator

At Children’s Wisconsin, we believe kids deserve the best.

Every child deserves a safe and loving home. When parents are unable to provide this on their own, intervention is needed to ensure these children are free of abuse and neglect.

We provide child well-being services to help children live in a safe and nurturing environment. We provide services to parents needing education and guidance to improve their parenting skills so their children can remain with them.  We also provide services to children who are placed with foster families until they can return home or become part of an adoptive family.

Our experienced professionals provide the following services to families in Milwaukee County and at locations throughout Wisconsin.

• Foster Care

• Treatment Foster Care

• Adoption

• Respite Care

• Child Advocacy Centers

• Family Case Management

• Family Finding

We offer a wide variety of rewarding career opportunities and are seeking individuals dedicated to helping us achieve our vision of the healthiest kids in the country. If you want to work for an organization that makes a difference for children and families, and encourages you to be at your best every day, please apply today.

Please follow this link for a closer look at what it’s like to work at Children’s Wisconsin: https://www.instagram.com/lifeatcw/

Job Summary:
Provides group based education, individual consultation, and support services to caregivers and children which may be provided in an office, community or home based location. Direct service activities may include developmental screening, service planning, teaching, resource and referral, supporting parent/child interactions, crisis management, developing informal and formal support networks with families, observing and documenting parent/child interactions, and fielding telephone warm line calls. Community outreach and collaboration activities with other stakeholders are required. Requires active engagement in internal and external teams, and provides staff training. In some offices, assists with grant writing and program development and is considered a service leader for the organization and/or the Health System.

Essential Functions:

• Provides service in a manner that demonstrates awareness and sensitivity to the client’s cultural values and beliefs.
• Maintains fidelity to program models used. Seeks out innovative and promising practices to support program outcomes.
• Plans and implements appropriate curricula. Provides information regarding child rearing, child-development, behavior management, family communication, or other information to promote child and family safety and well being.
• Implements a system for recruitment of participants through formal marketing efforts and agency collaboration. Processes participant intake and maintains records of activities, attendance, and services provided as directed by program and agency standards.
• Collaborates with data staff and program leaders to design implementation processes and evaluation of programs using evidence informed materials. Administers pre and post testing of parents. Responsible for the collection of data and reports. Provides feedback and evaluation opportunities for program participants and incorporates those results into program improvement.
• Assists with all activities and services provided before, during, and after the multiple family group sessions, including shopping for the program. Obtains needed supplies for programs. Sets up, cleans up & maintains equipment for program activities as needed.
• Participates in the community for prevention activities by participating on community collaborations and teams.
• May assist with grant writing and program development activities.
• Assesses program participants needs and provides educational and supportive activities for children and their adult caregiver(s) to address needs identified according to program protocols. Refers families to services in the community to address needs that are outside the parent educator role. Communicates across systems and works collaboratively with the other agencies to integrate needed services for participants and provides service coordination and resource and referral.
• Completes necessary paperwork/documentation including progress notes, pre/post testing and other related file maintenance when required by program. Provides regular reports to responsible parties when requested.

Legacy Essential Functions:

• Establishes rapport and supportive relationships with caregivers, modeling and teaching child rearing skills and encouraging development of positive, nurturing family relationships.
• Facilitate educational workshops/groups and/or meet with caregivers on a one-to-one basis in their homes.
• Conduct office-based one to one child rearing consultations.
• Fields warm line calls as needed.
• May travel regularly to surrounding communities for outreach activities.
• Fulfills requirements for continuing education.
• Maintains office communications and participates in agency sponsored meetings when required.

Education:

• High School graduate or Certificate of General Educational Development (GED) or High School Equivalency Diploma (HSED) required
• Bachelor's Degree preferred

Experience:

• 1+ years experience working in community programs with families of diverse ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic background required
• Experience working with families of diverse ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds strongly preferred
• Experience working with or providing services to children and families required

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• Bilingual in Spanish/English or Hmong/English is a plus.
• Committed to work toward improving one’s own cultural competence, i.e. valuing diversity, recognizing personal limitations in one’s own skills and expertise, and having the desire to learn. Accepting of individual differences.
• Demonstrated knowledge of psychosocial, economic and cultural determinants of healthy growth and development. Working knowledge of current trends and developments in the prevention and family support field. Knowledge of the ecological theories and family support principles.
• Ability to establish trusting relationships.
• Ability to work with families and children who are dealing with safety issues and other related problems.
• Must complete the following education requirements within 2 years of hire: *PAT certification training OR *Nurturing Parenting Program OR *Triple P OR *Technical College Infant Toddler Credential OR *PIWI SEFEL Training AND *SEFEL Solutions for Parents Training AND *SEFEL Pyramid Model (WI modified) AND *16 hours of Child Development Training that includes promoting physical and cognitive development, emerging literacy and language development in children 0-5 years

Required for All Jobs:

• This job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that may be requested in the performance of this job.
• Employment is at-will. This document does not create an employment contract, implied or otherwise.

This role will work across all Northwoods locations, including Rhinelander, Antigo, and Merrill, based on scheduling and program needs.

Children's Wisconsin is an equal opportunity / affirmative action employer. We are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment for all employees. We treat everyone with dignity, respect, and fairness. We do not discriminate against any person on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other status or condition protected by the law.