Palliative Care Family Engagement Specialist

(Part time/Hybrid Remote position)

Our Mission:

The Federation for Children with Special Needs provides information, support, and assistance to all families, especially those with children with disabilities, their professional partners, and their communities. We are committed to listening to and learning from families and encouraging full participation in community life by all people, especially those with disabilities.

Job Summary:

The Federation for Children with Special Needs is seeking an individual with lived experience in engaging and sustaining families of children and youth with complex health care needs and disabilities as partners who provide expert input and feedback aimed at improving and enhancing services. The Family Engagement Specialist will sit within the Family Engagement Unit and report to the Manager of Family Engagement.

This individual will work directly with the DCYSHN’s Pediatric Palliative Care Network (PPCN), seven community-based programs that provide services to address unmet physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs of children with life-limiting illnesses and their families. The Family Engagement Specialist will work collaboratively with DPH’s PPCN Program Director to enhance PPCN’s family engagement initiatives starting with the initiation and facilitation of a Family Advisory Committee that will provide input and feedback into PPCN’s next Request for Responses (RFR) and the review and updating of PPCN Standards.

This 20-hour/week position comes with a full benefits package and is funded by the Bureau of Family Health and Nutrition (BFHN) specifically within the BFHN’s Division for Children and Youth with Special Health Needs (DCYSHN).

Essential Job Functions:

  • Provide ongoing consultation to the PPCN Program Director on a range of family engagement initiatives.
  • Provide training, technical assistance and coaching to PPCN contracted vendors to assist them in effectively integrating family engagement into their programs.
  • Develop and sustain a PPCN Family Advisory Committee that is comprised of representatives from each of the seven PPCN programs and ensuring representation of family members from diverse racial, ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
  • Maintain the PPCN Family Advisory Committee by providing coaching and support to individual members in addition to effectively facilitating virtual Committee meetings
  • Solicit input from the PPCN Family Advisory Committee on specific time-sensitive projects including the next RFR and the revision of the PPCN Standards.
  • Oversee submission of stipends for family member participation in the PPCN Advisory Committee activities.
  • Provide input into quality assurance activities for PPCN including review of PPCN vendor’s efforts to integrate family engagement into individual program policy and practices.
  • Collaborate with the BFHN Office of Family Initiatives staff on the implementation of best practices from the MA Family Engagement Framework.
  • Participate in bi-weekly PPCN Program Manager meetings.
  • Participate in DCYSHN meetings as deemed appropriate
  • Participate in Federation events, all staff and team meetings and Visions of Community Conference contingent upon DPH PPCN programmatic needs
  • Available for occasion evening and weekend work
  • Related duties as needed.

 Qualifications:

  • Associate degree or higher with a major in social or human services with 5 years’ work experience preferred.
  • Knowledge of the principles and practices of providing equitable and high-quality services for children, youth, and families with special health care needs.
  • Experience with family engagement including recruiting parents and families to provide input and feedback to providers involved in direct services to children, youth, and families with special health care needs.
  • Familiarity and/or willingness to learn about pediatric palliative care.
  • Ability to function effectively as a team member and to develop and sustain relationships with community partners.
  • Self-motivated and able to work independently as well as collaboratively with colleagues and external constituents.
  • Parent/caregiver of a child/youth with special health care needs
  • Strong organizational skills
  • Excellent communication skills, both written and verbal. Bi-lingual skills a plus
  • Driver’s license and/or access to transportation to attend events, meetings, site visits, etc
  • Proficient usage of Microsoft Office products including Word, Outlook, Power Point, etc

To Apply:

Please email your letter of interest and resume to FCSN Human Resources by email to: fcsnjobs@fcsn.org Or by mail to: Federation for Children with Special Needs, Attn: HR, 529 Main Street, Suite 1M3, Boston, MA 02129

The Federation for Children with Special Needs (FCSN) embraces the diversity of our staff and is committed to increasing the diversity of our organization. As an EEO employer, FCSN is committed to providing equal employment opportunities to all employees and candidates for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, sex, pregnancy, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, physical or mental disability, genetic information, veteran status, or any other legally protected status or designation. Also, we welcome parents of children with special needs or those with a disability to apply!