Family Child Care Specialist

We are hiring in Lake County.

Start Early Lake County provides high-quality care, best-in-class education, and a stimulating learning environment to children from birth to five years old. As a program that serves low-income families, Start Early’s research-based program helps children develop the literacy, language, early math, and social-emotional skills they need to succeed in kindergarten and beyond.

We are recruiting individuals who want to join us in this mission and share a commitment to our core values of appreciation & respect, empowerment, diversity, excellence, learning, and communication.

Under the supervision of the Interim Site Administrator, the Family Childcare Specialist (FCCS) manages and implements the Family Child Care Option program within our Start Early Head Start program and in accordance with Early Head Start Performance Standards. The FCCS thrives on building positive relationships with providers in the assigned service area and visits family childcare homes weekly or as needed to ensure the effective implementation of all EHS/Head Start services. With a focus on empowering families, the FCCS keeps an updated list of qualified childcare providers, helping families easily find the perfect match for their needs. Responsible for the recruitment of FCC-licensed home providers to deliver services for eligible Early Head Start children.

Working Closely with your Site Administrator, you will:

• Provides onboarding to FCCH providers
• Conducts weekly site visits to monitor providers in the assigned areas, utilizing a monitoring tool.
• Regularly evaluates the quality of care provided in childcare homes and ensures that best practices are followed. Document observations, feedback, and action plans for improvement.
• Provides in-person training and technical assistance for all childcare home providers within the assigned area.
• Completes the Family Child Care Rating Scale assessment tool and establishes improvement goals for the home provider for quality improvement.
• Collaborates with Start Early – Early/Head Start Network to ensure that home providers are trained on program standards, DCFS state requirements, and Head Start Performance Standards.

• Supports providers obtaining a Child Development Associate Credential (CDA) and/or other state educational requirements.
• Actively recruits, enrolls, and re-certifies children in the Family Child Care Program according to EHSN ERSEA eligibility criteria.
• Collaborates with the Lake County Early Learning Center team to conduct family intakes for enrollment or appropriate referrals.
• Promotes parent involvement by providing informative program orientation to all families.
• Meets with parents to fill out the Family Survey or Family Partnership Agreements and helps them to locate and connect with community resources.
• Engages with the families to determine strengths and areas for growth. Works on goal-setting with the families
• Completes child screenings, assessments, and develops educational goals for each child enrolled.
• Handles a variety of administrative and clerical tasks, including data entry, document creation, spreadsheet management, and running reports from ChildPlus or other databases, while maintaining proficiency in various computer programs.
• Prepare and submit regular reports on site visits, assessments, and overall program effectiveness to management and stakeholders.
• Track progress toward achieving program goals and objectives.
• Ensures that all child and provider files and records comply with State requirements and Head Start Performance Standards.
• Assists in identifying children with special needs and facilitates referrals for assessment and appropriate services. Gathers necessary medical and educational information for documentation.