WHAT DOES A FAMILY SUPPORT WORKER DO?
Updated: Jun 13, 2025 - The Family Support Worker provides in-home support to enhance family functioning and parental capacity, especially for those encountering early parenting challenges and family violence. This position works collaboratively with a multidisciplinary team to deliver early intervention and family strengthening services, fostering community connections and child well-being. This role engages directly with families to establish trusting relationships, offer health education, and support in creating a nurturing home environment for safety and developmental growth.
A Review of Professional Skills and Functions for Family Support Worker
1. Family Support Worker Duties
- Clearance Submission: Responsible for timely, periodic submission of all required clearances and physicals.
- Family-Centered Services: Provide family-centered, community-based services to families referred to services including teaching life skills, advocacy, parenting education, information, referral, and counseling.
- Counseling Services: Provide counseling services that are family-centered with a systemic approach.
- Risk Assessment: Assess the risk of child abuse and neglect and provide appropriate interventions with families.
- Family Functioning Assessment: Assess family functioning, plan goals, and identify resources.
- Paperwork Management: Maintain and complete accurate paperwork including assessments, plans, progress notes, and reports within required time frames.
- Service Coordination: Work with funding agency in planning and coordinating services.
- Community Resource Knowledge: Demonstrate a working knowledge of available community resources by providing appropriate information and referrals.
- Community Networking: Actively network in the community in order to build on local assets to strengthen families.
- Counseling Activities: Perform other activities and counseling services.
- Supervision Participation: Prepare for and actively participate in supervision.
- Team Participation: Participate in department meetings and committees.
- Training Participation: Participate in training to meet program requirements.
2. Family Support Worker Details
- Relationship Building: Build and maintain high quality and appropriate professional relationships with children, young people, and families to enable positive change to take place.
- Parent Support: Work with parents to enable them to identify, acknowledge, and meet children's needs, develop life skills, make and sustain effective change, and reduce vulnerability.
- Assessment & Care Planning: Work within the Single Assessment Framework and 'Team around the Family' processes to contribute to whole family assessments and care planning and liaise with other relevant partners as appropriate.
- Intervention Development: Work with the family, the social worker, and other colleagues to develop planned interventions with a clear focus on SMART outcomes.
- Service Engagement: Facilitate engagement with services and attendance at required appointments and educate and support families in understanding the purpose of investigations, appointments, and roles of professionals regarding screening, diagnosis, and the intervention process.
- Hearing Impairment Support: Ensure information and guidance is provided to enhance families’ ability to cope with hearing impairment and assist families to understand the implications of hearing loss and the interventions required.
- Advocacy & Case Management: Advocate for families and act as a case manager including coordinating and facilitating case conferences and team meetings to address issues around implant use and rehabilitation.
- Committee Representation: Represent the department on specific Agency committees.
- Paperwork Submission: Submit required Agency paperwork within required time frames.
- Emergency On-Call Participation: Participate in an emergency on-call system.
- Family-Centered Approach: Commitment to a family-centered approach.
3. Family Support Worker Responsibilities
- Assignment Support: Complete assignments to support resident service plans and Centers' programs in accordance with Center, Division, and contract requirements.
- Activity Documentation: Document all relevant shift activity in 'log book' according to Center policy.
- Log Review: Review resident log daily and document resident activities daily.
- Intake Assistance: Assist in conducting telephone and walk-in intakes for prospective residents, make referrals to community resources and services.
- Medication Administration: Provide medications in accordance with resident's medical chart, document in resident chart.
- Foster Family Relief: Provide relief services to foster families when needed.
- Foster Child Support: Provide one-on-one support to foster child in foster home and community with a focus on daily living, social interaction, behavior management, and communication.
- Progress Reporting: Provide work schedules, summaries of progress on goals/objectives, and other required paperwork to Program Director and/or Foster Home Case Manager on a bi-weekly basis.
- Report Completion: Complete all reports and other required paperwork in a timely manner and according to program guidelines.
- Team Participation: Actively participate as a member of Treatment Team.
4. Family Support Worker Job Summary
- Family Support: Strengthen family functioning by providing in-home support for families experiencing significant early parenting difficulties, particularly those experiencing family violence.
- Parental Capacity Enhancement: Work in partnership with parents to enhance parental capacity and family relationships and increase parental engagement in the local community and children’s health and well-being.
- Multidisciplinary Teamwork: Work as part of a multidisciplinary team to deliver high-quality family support service which focuses on early intervention, family strengthening initiatives, and community connectedness.
- Service Provision: Participate in a team approach to the provision of an effective, efficient, and accountable Child and Family Health Service.
- Family Contact: Initiate and maintain regular contact with families, primarily in homes.
- Trust Building: Establish a trusting relationship with families.
- Health Education: Provide prenatal and other health education.
- Parent-Child Relationship Strengthening: Assist in strengthening parent-child relationships.
- Home Environment Optimization: Assist parents to improve skills to optimize the home environment for the child's well-being and safety.
- Appointment Assistance: Assist in making and attending health and human service appointments, including activities related to employment and educational goals.
- Case Documentation: Timely reporting and case documentation in an electronic database management system.
5. Family Support Worker Accountabilities
- Member Support: Provide support and information to members via home visits, telephone, email, and other communications.
- Membership Maximization: Work to maximise the membership of HDANI by ensuring a good working relationship and effective referral process with relevant statutory bodies e.g. the Genetics Department at Belfast City Hospital.
- Enquiry Response: Respond to enquiries about HD and the work of the Association, offering support or signposting to other appropriate services provided by HDANI, the Genetics Department at Belfast City Hospital and other statutory and community/voluntary agencies.
- Advocacy: Advocate and represent individual’s needs when liaising with other organisations.
- Support Group Facilitation: Actively facilitate regional support groups and opportunities for members to connect.
- Awareness Raising: Raise awareness of HD and HDANI through engagement, information sharing, and training with statutory and community/voluntary organisations.
- Material Development: Contribute to the development of print and online materials including web content and newsletters.
- Collaboration: Engage with HD colleagues in other jurisdictions to develop and share best practices and support research & represent HDANI on relevant external partnerships and at meetings.
- Child Relationship Building: Building positive relationships and offering a safe and secure space for children to grow and develop.
- Family Engagement: Make connections with the families and build rapport whilst understanding professional boundaries.
- Need Management: Dealing with a range of individual needs such as mental health and challenging behaviour.
- Child Support: Acting as a support for children, supervising and intervening where necessary.
- Child Safeguarding: Safeguarding children and protecting them from any potential risk of harm.
- Observation Reporting: Reporting via written observations.
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