Published: Mar 06, 2025 - The Family Support Specialist provides vital information on community, area, or state resources, funding, and services, ensuring families are well-informed and supported. This position facilitates access to necessary services through referrals, coordination of applications, and liaising between families and service providers. This role also plays a key role in identifying and resolving barriers to service access, advocating for family needs, and helping establish support networks.

Tips for Family Support Specialist Skills and Responsibilities on a Resume
1. Family Support Specialist, Harmony Family Services, Boulder, CO
Job Summary:
- Collaborate when needed to assist families in identifying appropriate services
- Assist families in identifying resources and service options available in local communities and/or available financial and/or state services (Mass Health, etc.)
- Plan and coordinate network and family events that keep families connected and allow families to socialize together
- Develop and manage educational events on relevant and timely topics for families
- Develop, organize, and lead weekly social recreational events for children, teens, and adults
- Maintain consistent and regular communication with the DDS Service Coordinators and area office
- Prepare and provide a quarterly update to each area office for each individual receiving services
- Complete all required data collection, paperwork and documentation including case notes, change forms, data collection, billing, funding and check requests, updating files, utilization data and calendar schedule in a timely and organized manner
- Attend and participate in all appropriate local, regional and statewide Family Support Meetings
- Assist in determining family’s need for stipend funding under allowable categories
- Assist with Family Support Spending
- Responsible for developing a social skills curriculum and creative social experiences designed to enhance the social and community skills and experiences for teens and young adults
Skills on Resume:
- Service Coordination (Hard Skills)
- Event Planning (Hard Skills)
- Communication (Soft Skills)
- Data Management (Hard Skills)
- Community Networking (Soft Skills)
- Curriculum Development (Hard Skills)
- Social Skills Training (Hard Skills)
- Family Support (Soft Skills)
2. Family Support Specialist, Community Helpers Inc., Springfield, IL
Job Summary:
- Provides information to families about resources, funding and services available in the community/area/state.
- Provides referrals to families and/or facilitates access to appropriate services.
- Assists families in obtaining needed services.
- Identifies and articulates the concerns and needs of the families.
- Identifies potential barriers or problems regarding families’ access to services.
- Assists families in communicating concerns to staff and service providers.
- Assists families in applying for specific programs, coordinating applications for funding, necessary evaluations, assessments, services and assistance from all agencies selected by families.
- Serve as liaison between families and services.
- Assists families in locating appropriate support groups and advocacy organizations.
- Assists in identifying and/or developing local family support groups.
Skills on Resume:
- Resource Referral (Hard Skills)
- Service Access (Hard Skills)
- Needs Assessment (Soft Skills)
- Barrier Identification (Soft Skills)
- Communication (Soft Skills)
- Application Coordination (Hard Skills)
- Liaison (Soft Skills)
- Support Group Development (Hard Skills)
3. Family Support Specialist, New Beginnings, Fayetteville, AR
Job Summary:
- Educates and works with families on developing advocacy skills, empowerment strategies, preparing for meetings.
- Develops and maintains positive and productive relationships with families by maintaining intermittent contact with families and ensuring that families are knowledgeable about service options as child grows and changes.
- Develops and maintains positive and productive relationships with community agencies and service providers, parent to parent networks, support groups community child health team staff.
- Works collaboratively with all community partners to meet the needs of the families and coordinate services across agency lines.
- Maintains and expands knowledge base about community, state and national resource and services.
- Provide timely, accurate documentation of service/care coordination activities.
- Assists with data collection efforts.
- Collaborate and advocate with community and state partners to advance services, deliver trainings, provide education presentations and share family stories.
- Welcoming families and supporting them in accessing services that they are to receive at a clinic
- Checking them in for appointments
- Providing them with information to help them make the most of visit
- Maintaining and organizing the common areas of the office
Skills on Resume:
- Advocacy Development (Hard Skills)
- Relationship Building (Soft Skills)
- Collaboration (Soft Skills)
- Resource Knowledge (Hard Skills)
- Documentation (Hard Skills)
- Data Collection (Hard Skills)
- Family Support (Soft Skills)
- Office Management (Hard Skills)
4. Family Support Specialist, Family Focus, Richmond, VA
Job Summary:
- Implements and is in charge of day-to-day documentation in the completion of program objectives and deliverables
- Coordinates program activities and conducts on-going needs assessments and elements for families identified thru the Prevention Services AHCCCS grant and strategic plan as it relates to the strategic frame works for Prevention programming.
- Develop strong relationships with families in order to provide service coordination, support and training to assist families in meeting the needs of youth and enhancing parent’s roles as the primary influence on child’s education and development
- Working directly with families in identifying and achieving goals
- Promoting positive parent-youth relationships and interactions and providing youth education and educational resources and supports missed
- Building a partnership and relationship with youth’s school contacts to help establish wrap around services
- Overview of implementation of grant deliverables
- Work requires the application of initiative and independent judgment within the framework of task at hand
- Data entry will be essential to capturing the referral services provided for grant reporting
- Conduct individual family support sessions, provide psychoeducation and phone consultation
- Design and conduct psychoeducational workshops
- Support group and activity group facilitation
- Advocate for consumers and provide referrals
Skills on Resume:
- Documentation (Hard Skills)
- Program Coordination (Hard Skills)
- Relationship Building (Soft Skills)
- Goal Achievement (Soft Skills)
- Parent Support (Soft Skills)
- Data Entry (Hard Skills)
- Workshop Design (Hard Skills)
- Advocacy (Soft Skills)
5. Family Support Specialist, United Family Services, Tampa, FL
Job Summary:
- Provides a trauma-informed screening and assessment including obtaining client and family histories to determine exposure to trauma/childhood adversity, risk factors
- Assesses the strengths and needs of clients, initially and throughout the period of service provision
- Uses a strength-based, family-centered, and relationship-based approach in providing services to young families, recognizing the importance of involving clients/parents/caregivers as partners throughout service provision.
- Employs strength-based approaches to maximize safety for all and opportunities for client/parent/caregiver choice and control
- Conducts developmental screenings, provides car seat training, models parenting skills, and makes referrals to community service providers to address issues such as prenatal care, baby items, job placement, child care, mental health or substance abuse treatment, housing, or financial assistance.
- In accordance with the service goals, provides mentoring, advocacy, support, and education that will protect children, preserve families, and enhance the mental health of children and families by
- Creating environments that are safe, comfortable and welcoming for all children, families and staff.
- Facilitating trauma-informed collaborative relationships with children, parents, caregivers and colleagues that demonstrate care, respect, cultural competence and developmental sensitivity.
- Identifying key signs, symptoms, impact and manifestations of trauma, disrupted attachment, and childhood adversity in children and adults.
- Educating parents/caregivers about the risk and protective factors associated with trauma/childhood adversity, healthy child development, and assisting them with developing tools/strategies to strengthen development.
- Encouraging and assisting parents and caregivers in recognizing and addressing trauma and providing referrals as appropriate.
Skills on Resume:
- Trauma Screening (Hard Skills)
- Strength-Based Approach (Soft Skills)
- Developmental Screening (Hard Skills)
- Parenting Support (Soft Skills)
- Mentoring (Soft Skills)
- Cultural Competence (Soft Skills)
- Trauma Education (Hard Skills)
- Referral Coordination (Hard Skills)
6. Family Support Specialist, Helping Hands Community Services, Omaha, NE
Job Summary:
- Completes and maintains case notes, client records, reports and other required documentation according to agency guidelines for completeness, accuracy, and timeliness
- Complies with all pertinent state and federal laws, DCFS rules and procedures, and the Code of Ethics for Child Welfare Professionals.
- Provides transportation for children and/or family members to family visits, approved activities, court and other appointments
- Requires regular travel throughout McLean County to perform job responsibilities.
- Represents the agency in a positive light to active and potential clients, referral and funding sources, and the general public
- Utilizes community contacts to advocate for clients and to promote child and family welfare
- Demonstrates the ability to communicate and collaborate with children, families, professionals and communities to establish supportive relationships.
- Enhances professional competence through ongoing awareness of developments in the field of child welfare
- Assists with training, supervision, and evaluations of student interns
- Assists with the training of new staff.
- Participates in the Peer Review process for client files
- Contributes to quality improvement through active participation in Quality Improvement activities.
Skills on Resume:
- Documentation (Hard Skills)
- Compliance (Hard Skills)
- Transportation (Hard Skills)
- Advocacy (Soft Skills)
- Communication (Soft Skills)
- Professional Development (Soft Skills)
- Training (Hard Skills)
- Quality Improvement (Hard Skills)
7. Family Support Specialist, Unity Family Networks, Toledo, OH
Job Summary:
- Provide individual support to families, in order to decrease barriers to treatment and help families in providing effective support to loved ones through increasing communication skills, building networks of support, and addressing grief, stigma and hopelessness.
- Provide direct services, family psycho-education, support, advocacy, and assess family strengths and needs.
- Assist staff with developing, organizing, and conducting programs to support client treatment plans and family engagement.
- Co-lead and coordinate bi-weekly Multifamily Groups and/or family support groups.
- Collaborate with staff in care coordination within the (re)MIND® team (therapists, education and employment specialist, intake coordinator, and medical staff) and with other treatment providers and community resources.
- Meet required number of direct client contact hours per week and document all client contacts in compliance with mandated quality assurance standards.
- Meet all deadlines and comply with agency’s requirements.
- Attend and contribute to staff meetings and team conferences, providing client/family updates, discussing clinical issues, exchanging ideas, and voicing the family member perspective.
- Participate actively in supervision, coaching, staff meetings, team conferences, data collection and reporting, intake and discharge activities, and all agency meetings and trainings by Program Manager.
- Coordinate orientations and graduations for (re)MIND® clients and families.
- Engage in outreach events, including psycho-educational presentations and open houses, and provide information about (re)MIND® to other mental health providers and general public.
Skills on Resume:
- Family Support (Soft Skills)
- Psycho-Education (Hard Skills)
- Program Coordination (Hard Skills)
- Group Facilitation (Soft Skills)
- Collaboration (Soft Skills)
- Documentation (Hard Skills)
- Outreach (Soft Skills)
- Client Engagement (Soft Skills)
8. Family Support Specialist, Family Support Resources, Phoenix, AZ
Job Summary:
- Possess and maintain a working knowledge of the Financial Aid, Tuition Management, Admissions, and Enrollment processes both from a parent's and school's point of view to help them complete the processes as it pertains to the product
- Respond to customer inquiries by telephone, chat or e-mail to provide non-technical problem resolution
- Resolve routine and basic problems and communicate solution or requested information to the customer
- Assist with customer de-escalations
- Analyze a customer's service needs and refer to other service or technical departments for follow-up
- Meets or exceeds expected activity and outcomes goals/KPI’s
- May utilize a customer relationship application or database to record activities and research product information
- Attend scheduled supervisions, department/agency meetings, and trainings by supervisor
- Assist in the organization and implementation of family support activities
- Complete all required documentation and billing requirements accurately and in the assigned time frames.
Skills on Resume:
- Knowledge of Processes (Hard Skills)
- Problem Resolution (Soft Skills)
- Customer Service (Soft Skills)
- De-escalation (Soft Skills)
- Service Needs Analysis (Soft Skills)
- Goal Achievement (Soft Skills)
- Documentation (Hard Skills)
- Event Organization (Hard Skills)
9. Family Support Specialist, Compassionate Family Care, Albuquerque, NM
Job Summary:
- Provides needed forms, maintain up-to-date enrollment information, health forms in clients files.
- Provide staff support in the completion of enrollment files and health forms
- Assist parents in making the transition to appropriate child care services
- Assist in recruitment of ECEAP-eligible children
- Development and implementation of a Family Service Plan for all ECEAP families
- Referral follow-up advocacy and case management
- Provide resource information to all families
- Follow-up advocacy for all ECEAP children to support a positive kindergarten transition experience
- Provide staff support to develop and implement a parent involvement/training program
- Performing tasks other than those listed when requested by supervisor.
Skills on Resume:
- Enrollment Management (Hard Skills)
- Staff Support (Soft Skills)
- Family Transition (Soft Skills)
- Recruitment (Hard Skills)
- Family Service Planning (Hard Skills)
- Case Management (Soft Skills)
- Resource Referral (Hard Skills)
- Parent Involvement (Soft Skills)
10. Family Support Specialist, Gateway Family Services, Savannah, GA
Job Summary:
- Provides direct services to children and families
- Conducts comprehensive assessments and engagement
- Develops treatment plans and contracts for services
- Implements treatment plans, modifying them as appropriate during the course of treatment
- Discharge planning, which may include plans for follow-up treatment and connection to community services and programs
- Provides case management services
- Works with community groups in collaborative ventures
- Completes clinical documentation and reports, as well as any other documentation and reports required by agency and program policies and funding sources, accurately and timely.
- Develops and maintains collaborative relationships with other community agencies and organizations, in order to provide comprehensive and effective treatment services for clients (i.e., schools, courts, hospitals, etc.).
- Works as a team member with other clinical and administrative staff to respond to client and programmatic needs.
- Contributes to agency organizational life by participating in agency-wide task forces, committees or problem-solving teams as appropriate.
- Contributes to agency visibility and development of community linkages by representing The Village in community groups or committees by supervisor.
Skills on Resume:
- Direct Services (Soft Skills)
- Assessment (Hard Skills)
- Treatment Planning (Hard Skills)
- Case Management (Soft Skills)
- Discharge Planning (Hard Skills)
- Community Collaboration (Soft Skills)
- Documentation (Hard Skills)
- Teamwork (Soft Skills)
11. Family Support Specialist, Silver Lining Family Services, Portland, ME
Job Summary:
- Provide support to enrolled children and families as outlined by the child and family team service plan.
- Actively participate with child and family team members and agency staff in identifying and removing barriers that get in the way of family-driven, family-centered, strengths-based, community-based and culturally competent services for children.
- Assist and support family members in developing social and natural support networks by utilizing community resources.
- Provide a minimum of 20 direct support hours to families per week.
- Participate in meetings and committees for continuous quality improvement
- Maintain community resource guide for families.
- Assist to provide support to families in understanding the RBHA system, as clinically indicated.
- Provide support in completing ADHS required community outreach for families closing due to lack of contact monthly.
- Assist in completing all closure paperwork for families who have not responded to community outreach and re-engagement process.
- Provide on-call coverage and crisis intervention/stabilization when needed.
- Complete all required documentation and billing requirements accurately and in the assigned time frames.
- Assist in actively assessing work area for non-compliance issues and notify supervisor in a timely manner to ensure follow-up.
Skills on Resume:
- Family Support (Soft Skills)
- Barrier Removal (Soft Skills)
- Community Networking (Soft Skills)
- Direct Support (Soft Skills)
- Quality Improvement (Soft Skills)
- Resource Management (Hard Skills)
- Crisis Intervention (Soft Skills)
- Documentation (Hard Skills)
12. Family Support Specialist, Family Pathways, Reno, NV
Job Summary:
- Enrolls Families in child Care Subsidy Programs by contacting families and setting up enrollment appointments, reviewing program rules with parents, documenting need and eligibility and maintaining the family data file, contracting with child care providers and explaining the rules for participation, comparing provider rates with state maximums (Regional Market Rate).
- Preparing and mailing current child care certificates, notices, and revisions.
- Verifying certificates for payment, calculating family fees, and authorizing child care schedules.
- Supporting families and providers during participation in the program by answering questions and handling requests
- Maintaining program files in accordance with state and federal guidelines.
- Coordinate services with other social service agencies.
- Provides Child Care and Other Referrals to Families by counseling parents, either by email, telephone, or in-person, on making informed choices about child care, offering referrals to providers of choice, and other family services when needed.
- Assists in maintaining accurate provider information on the agency database.
- Develops and Maintains Professional Knowledge by attending approved job-related meetings, workshops and conferences for job enhancement.
- Participating in agency staff meetings as a resource and as a colleague.
- Contributes to Team Effort by joining in projects, researching and suggesting solutions, assisting in mass mailings for any program.
Skills on Resume:
- Enrollment (Hard Skills)
- Program Documentation (Hard Skills)
- Provider Coordination (Soft Skills)
- Family Support (Soft Skills)
- Referral Services (Soft Skills)
- Database Management (Hard Skills)
- Professional Development (Soft Skills)
- Team Collaboration (Soft Skills)