Senior Parent Advocate Coordinator

SUMMARY:

Forestdale Inc.is hiring a Senior Parent Advocate Coordinator to supervise, support and guide Parent Advocates whose role is to engage parents with children in foster care; help them to to understand and navigate the foster care system, instill hopefulness, and address family challenges so that they can accomplish their goal of reunification. Many families with children in foster care have experienced oppression, intergenerational poverty and trauma that contribute to the challenges they face and impact the way they participate in the case planning process. The Parent Advocate Coordinator will help to empower Parent Advocates in the case planning process and provide options and choices for parents to make decisions for their families.

The focus of this job is to provide supervision to Parent Advocates so they can comfortably engage parents in building connections and working collaboratively with case planning teams and reunify with their children.

DESCRIPTION OF DUTIES:

• Assign cases to the Parent Advocates as the families begin to navigate the foster care process
• Provide weekly supervision to Parent Advocates
• Assist Parent Advocates with building relationships and support parents—in making decisions for their own families, coping with the trauma of foster care involvement, communicating effectively with those involved in their case, and maintaining relationships with their children during foster care placement.
• Assist Parent Advocates with preparing parents for and participating alongside them in all Family Team Conferences.
• Assist Parent Advocates with work alongside case planners as part of the foster care team..
• Share insights and observations to inform decision-making regarding cases in their units.
• Implement the Parents Empowering Parents (PEP) model including key practices in the first 90 days of a case to orient parents to the service planning process; share Rise TIPS and other resources to support parents.
• Support Parent Advocates to conduct visits to parents’ homes and accompany parents to appointments at various service providers as appropriate.
• Assist Parent Advocates to offer emotional support for parents attending court dates; for example, offer encouragement, travel to court with parents as needed.
• Aid Parent Advocates to orient parents to Family Time, offer ideas for making the most of family visits, and supervise visits periodically.
• Assist Parent Advocates to recognize and celebrate parents’ progress toward reunification.
• Assist Parent Advocates to Inform parents about supportive interventions that will strengthen their families.
• Support parent Advocatess in their work to help parents navigate resources and use negotiation skills.
• Assist Parent Advocates to coach parents to strengthen problem-solving skills while discovering their strengths and priorities.
• Train Parent Advocates to document work in Progress Notes and/or other formats as appropriate.
• Attend all program and department meetings as appropriate.
• Perform related tasks to support parents as needed.

QUALIFICATIONS:

• Master's degree Preferred; will consider Bachelor's Degree with lived child welfare or 6 or more years work experience
• A natural collaborator/ able to facilitate collaboration with the case planning team
• Able to engage and positively impact individuals
• Someone who has a sincere appreciation for people and how they are each uniquely motivated
• Strong interpersonal skills to assist with parent engagement and are geared towards working sensitively on topics involving trauma, stress, and healing
• Excellent Writing skills
• Able to Facilitate monthly meetings with Parent Advocate team
• Computer skills conducting Google searches and using Microsoft Office
• Skilled at working in a fast-paced environment on multiple projects occurring simultaneously
• Passion for parent leadership and preventing child welfare involvement
• Able to maintain high level of confidentiality
• Able to work flexible hours
• Able to travel extensively to all NYC boroughs
• Able to uphold the mission and values of Forestdale Inc.

Salary:

Bachelors: $52,000 to $58,000

Masters: $65,000 to $73,000

Masters / Language: $67,000 to $75,000

Masters / License: $70,000 to $78,000

Masters / License / Language: $72,000 to $80,000

Benefits: 
Join the Forestdale Team and Enjoy Excellent Benefits:

Four weeks’ vacation

Medical/dental/vision/life/disability insurance

401(k), 7% employer contribution 2% match

Tax-deferred health care/dependent care/commuter plans

Flexible Schedule

Opportunities for educational scholarships

Additional Information:

Forestdale Inc. is an equal opportunity employer that is proudly committed to becoming an anti-racist and multicultural organization that stands up for justice and equity. We welcome prospective employees from diverse backgrounds, for administrative support and direct service and leadership roles, who will join us on that journey, uphold our values and approach, and believe in our mission. Additionally, we aim to have a racially representative leadership and workforce that is reflective of the communities we work in partnership with.

 Forestdale Inc. is committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for all members of our staff, participants, volunteers, subcontractors, and vendors. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), disability, marital status, sexual orientation, or military status, in any of our activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, hiring and termination of staff, selection of volunteers and vendors, and provision of services.