One Hope United·Waukegan, Illinois
The specialist will recruit and enroll families into home visiting programs while providing ongoing support through home visits and crisis intervention. They are responsible for maintaining accurate case records, facilitating parent groups, and collaborating with community partners to ensure family needs are met.
Prevention Home Visiting Family Support Specialist At OHU, our Hope Members are the heartbeat of our organization. Together, we have built a culture of support, trust, and care.
**This position comes with a $2,000 sign on bonus!**
Culture of Care The ELCD program at OHU is known for its closely-knit teams who often work together for years at a time! The team members join their shared love of educating young children towards creating a warm and positive working environment. New employees who come from a corporate environment quickly fall in love with the atmosphere at an OHU child development center!
“We are such an inclusive organization, we don’t turn anybody away. Everybody is welcome. Working here, I feel like family. I’ve never felt so appreciated working in a place before. They really take care of you here, listen to your concerns and act on them. It’s just amazing! And it’s really easy to make it amazing when the people you work with are amazing.” Shari Conley, Joliet Early Learning Center (Joliet, IL) What you would be doing: Enrollment and Recruitment
Recruits and enrolls families into the Home Visiting programs by a variety of engagement methods including telephone, texting, letter writing and home visits
Maintains enrollment throughout the program year through various recruitment strategies; and ensures vacancies are filled immediately
Responsible for maintaining program case load as determined by the grant requirements
Family Relations
Maintains a caseload according to program model and/or funder specific standards, providing home visits, to families specific to program and/or funder requirements
Establishes trusting, nurturing relationships with parents and their children by providing family support services in the family’s home
Ability to provide crisis intervention services to families based upon need
Organizes and facilitates parent groups including prenatal groups per grant requirements
Works jointly with parents to develop and implement home visit plans based on identified family and child strengths and needs
Provides evidence/research-based information to families on a variety of topics including but not limited to home safety, child development, and the importance of medical and dental care
Observes, assesses, and documents each child’s health, skills, behavior, growth, and developmental milestones
Provides children and parents with group Socialization experiences per program requirements
Provides program parents with guidance on home safety, nutrition, effective discipline, constructive play activities, basic child care, crisis management, problem solving, positive relationships and other related topics.
Integrates other components (i.e. health, nutrition, mental health, parent involvement, and special needs) into home visit and services provided
Assists in identifying children with special needs and makes the necessary referrals
Encourages family participation in the program specific Advisory Committee meetings as well as prenatal and/or parent group, and other meetings, events and/or trainings
Assists families in developing a Family Goal Plan which includes a plan for the accomplishment of the goals
Professional Development
Completes all required program/model specific trainings no later than 6 months of hire
Completes all required supplemental training per model/funder guidelines and timeframes
Ongoing and additional training required including but not limited to working with highly stressed families in overburdened communities, issues related to maternal/child health, child abuse, neglect and maltreatment, labor and birth, inductions, cesarean sections, postpartum period/newborn care, breastfeeding, childbirth education, child development of infants and toddlers, CBFANA and group facilitation
Willingness to register, complete the pre-assessment, and receive training within the Institute for the Advancement of Family Support Professionals and certify with the National Family Support Certification within five years of hire
A desire to become familiar with infant mental health practice by attending regular team meetings and trainings with the I/ECMH consultant
Become certified in CPR, Infant CPR and First Aid within the first year of hire
Collaborates with program supervisor and other agency staff to review and maintain home visiting model affiliation and/or agency accreditation standards including COA Accreditation standards
One Hope United does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law. One Hope United is an Equal Opportunity Employer and a Drug-Free Workplace. OHU participates in E-Verify. #INDELCD
Candidates must have a high school diploma, with a bachelor's degree in a human services field preferred. At least two years of supervised experience working with children and families in a community or home-based setting is required.
Market context
In Illinois, prevention home visiting and family support specialist roles are typically in demand where agencies need staff who can work directly with children and families in community or home-based settings. These positions are competitive because employers often look for supervised experience, strong relationship-building skills, and a human services background, while benefits like medical, dental, and disability coverage can matter in the decision. Review the AI-summarized requirements and benefits here to save research time, and confirm your supervised experience is clearly reflected in your application.