Project DULCE (Developmental Understanding and Legal Collaboration for Everyone) is a six-month intervention for parents of newborns, administered through a primary care healthcare team, providing information on healthy child development, parenting support and advocacy by connecting families to existing community resources available to them. The DULCE Family Specialist meets with families at routine well-child visits as well as through home visits and telephone check-ins, providing information on child development and supporting unmet legal needs.
**Skills & Core Competencies**
• Ability to observe adults, babies and the dyad: Beyond recognizing and predicting milestones, the DULCE FS is taught how to understand and promote the process of development and how this can be optimized by parenting.
• Ability to collaborate with collaterals: The DULCE FS is mentored in Guiding Principles and strengths-based attitudinal premises that also apply to provider-to-provider relationships and inter-agency partnerships.
• Ability to provide advocacy and community resources to families or knowledge of where to refer families for advocacy: With consistent access to Legal partnership and consultation through formal weekly case reviews, the DULCE FS is uniquely equipped to provide linkages to the most effective sequence of concrete supports.
• Knowledge about providing services in the home and natural environment: The DULCE FS is formally coached in the delivery of home-visiting care.
• Knowledge about infant development particularly related to developmental milestones, temperamental styles and goodness of fit, attachment and self-regulation: The DULCE FS receives formal ongoing mentorship in best understanding the young infant's behavior and how to join with parents around interpretation of that behavior in best anticipating, planning for, and meeting challenges.
• Knowledge of adult development particularly around parenthood: The FS also receives ongoing mental health consultation and mentorship in understanding the social, emotional, and relational themes that are likely to emerge for parents at different stages of their infant's development; and how to best support parents through those transitions.
• Knowledge about cultural influences on individuals and families: The FS is acutely sensitive and aware of the cultural context of all parenting, child-rearing values, and parent-child interactions.
**Responsibilities**
• Meet with families at all routine well-child visits to strengthen their knowledge of their baby's development, scaffold their emotional and relational capacity for mutual-regulation with their child, support parental strengths and process of mastery, identify parenting strategies and strengthen their relationship with their child's patient-centered medical home by literally serving as a catalyst in bringing the family into closer relationship with their pediatric provider.
• Collaborate with Medical-Legal Partnership to ensure families are provided concrete supports to families in vulnerable situations
• Administer relevant screening instruments to partner with parents in best understanding their individual child's development and the sometimes challenging processes by which children develop. This includes understanding and anticipating developmental and relational "Touchpoints"; known periods of developmental and behavioral disorganization that occur before a new skill emerges that increase stress and potential risk in the family system.
• Provide ongoing parent/newborn support through home visits, telephone, email and community visits with a focus on parental and cultural strengths that can be brought to bear on the parenting and coping process.
• Continually assess the need for extra resources for the family, especially relating to developmental concerns by building strong, honest, trusting partnerships with families that can address concerns in a supportive manner.
• Maintain regular communication with the Patient-Centered Medical Home team (primary care clinicians, social work, nursing and support staff) to share relevant information on patient care
• Participate in weekly case conferences with DULCE Clinical Team
• Participate in monthly team/CQI meetings
• Participate in DULCE technical assistance and quality improvement activities
• Participates in outreach and community events.
• Participates in related trainings and workshops
• Completes all health record charting requirements.
• Participates in data collection for DULCE Registry and as assigned or requested
• Performs other related duties as assigned or requested.
**Qualifications**
Background in child development or a related field with Bachelor level degree and minimum of two years experience working with young children (especially newborns) and their families. Bicultural/bilingual encouraged to apply. Additional preferred qualifications:
• Experience in navigating family- serving systems
• Experience working with young children and families
• Willingness to work with families with complex needs
• Ability to handle multiple priorities in a fast paced environment
• Good skills at working within a team
• Good organization skills
• Excellent verbal and written skills
• Strictly adheres to policies which ensure patient confidentiality
• Experience working with people from diverse backgrounds.
• Experience with medical Care Coordination and/or Electronic Medical Records a plus
**Compensation:**
Come make a difference in your community and in the lives of families by working with a caring team of professionals at Springfield Area Parent Child Center! Supportive, equal opportunity employer, with a family-oriented work environment, competitive wages and benefits package, including ten paid holidays per year, additional accrued paid time off, discounted health and dental insurance, life insurance, 403-B retirement plan, wellness program and more!
**Application Requirements:**
In order to be seriously considered for this position we ask that you attach a cover letter and resume. We also suggest that you include two references, any letters of recommendation, and unofficial transcripts as extra pages on your resume attachment. If you find that you are no longer interested in the position after you apply, please let us know as soon as possible by emailing us at sapcc@sapcc-vt.org. Thank you!