Family Support Specialist

Founded in 1923, Dignity Health - St. Mary Medical Center is a 389-bed, acute care, nonprofit hospital located in Long Beach, California. Serving over 50,000 patients annually, the hospital offers a full complement of services including a Level II Trauma Center, Level III NICU, heart care, and orthopedics.

Additionally, St. Mary Medical Center has been recognized as an LGBTQ+ Healthcare Equality High Performer by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. It is a Joint Commission-certified Thrombectomy-Capable Stroke Center and was named as a 2024-2025 High Performing Hospital for Heart Attacks by U.S. News & World Report.  The hospital shares a legacy of humankindness with Dignity Health, one of the nation’s five largest health care systems.  Visit https://www.dignityhealth.org/socal/locations/stmarymedical for more information.

CommonSpirit Health was formed by the alignment of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) and Dignity Health. With more than 700 care sites across the U.S. from clinics and hospitals to home-based care and virtual care services CommonSpirit is accessible to nearly one out of every four U.S. residents. Our world needs compassion like never before. Our communities need caring and our families need protection. With our combined resources CommonSpirit is committed to building healthy communities advocating for those who are poor and vulnerable and innovating how and where healing can happen both inside our hospitals and out in the community.  One Community. One Mission. One California 

The Family Support Specialist will conduct home visits to high risk families in the home, in a manner that supports the mission of Families in Good Health and the philosophy of the program. FSS will work with Family Resource Specialist (FRS) to obtain referrals to qualified home visiting families. Program strategies include using home visits to establish a trusting relationship with participants; strengthen the parent-child relationship; improve parenting skills; improve the family's support system; improve the family's problem-solving skills; and serve as an advocate for child and family. The FSS is responsible for supporting families, conducting assessments and providing parent education in the areas of prenatal and postnatal care, breastfeeding, parent-infant attachment, child development, home safety, kindergarten readiness, and other family health related topics; identifying client strengths, needs, barriers and risks and providing community resources for those needs; and providing and modeling empathetic support and feedback when working with new mothers, infants and family members. The HFA FSS will work closely with other HFA staff in utilizing the First 5 LA-developed Family Strengthening Web-based Case Management System for documentation. The HFA FSW will work effectively as part of a multidisciplinary team as well as with a diverse and high risk population. The HFA FSS will follow HFA protocols and other protocols developed by funder and will complete other duties as assigned.

• Child Development Associate or Associate in Arts degree or at least two years direct experience and at least one year of experience in community outreach.

• Minimum of one year experience in clinical, social service and/or community-based outreach work.

• Proficient in English (both written and verbal).

• Proficient in Microsoft Office Suite as well as computer data entry.

• Bachelor’s degree in child development, social work, psychology, human development, or a related field with at least one year of experience in community outreach.

• Minimum of two years experience in clinical, social service and/or community-based outreach work.

• Bilingually proficient in Spanish/English.