Family Support Assistant

**Position**: Family Support Assistant
- **Company**: Durham Association for Family Resources and Support (DFR)
- **Type**: 1 Full Time Permanent Position
- **Location**: Family homes and recreational facilities across Durham. Staff meetings held at 850 King Street West, Oshawa - L1J 8N5

**Imagine** a job where you can utilize your exceptional interpersonal skills to partner alongside families to assist them in exploring and discovering their child’s gifts, strengths and interests.

**Imagine** a job where you can support parents in shaping their child’s contributions into valued roles within their home, neighbourhood, and community.

**Imagine** a job where you can model and assist parents in building and bridging relationships with and for their child.

**Imagine** a job where you bring your community minded attitude to help break down barriers that marginalize people with disabilities

Add a great collaborative team, excellent work life balance, and you have imagined a job at Durham Association for Family Resources and Support.

**About**:Our employees at Durham Association for Family Resources and Support have demonstrated an unwavering commitment to a vision that all people enjoy a full and meaningful life within their community.

**Mission**: To work in partnership with a person with a disability, their family, and allies to imagine, plan, and implement a good life in their neighbourhood and community. At our non-profit organization we offer support to enhance the capacity of the whole family.

**We value our staff**:
Working with Durham Association for Family Resources and Support means that you will enjoy a collaborative, friendly, and supportive work environment. We provide you with work that is engaging and impactful while promoting the health and wellness of our team. We also provide:

- A salary range of 48K to 52K depending on experience
- Comprehensive benefits including medical and dental coverage
- Life insurance
- RRSP contributions
- A rewarding mission driven work environment

**The Position**:
The Assistant to Young Families will visit families to work together to address variousissues and provide hands on support for families with young children. The Family Support Assistant will develop a flexible and supportive partnership with the family to attain agreed upon and planned process for desired outcomesEighty percent of your time will be in the field at family homes and in community. Twenty percent of your time will be attending meetings and performing administrative tasks.

**Responsibilities Include**:

- Work in partnership with families, community members and educators under the guidance of a supervisor
- Connect with families around educational issues and concerns
- Assist families in accessing appropriate supports in schools and the community
- Assist with planning and facilitating play dates
- Foster awareness of the gifts and contributions of children with disabilities
- Assist people to connect with their community in ways that align with their interests not their disability
- Work alongside families and facilitators to implement plans, provide “hands on” assistance with children, and identify helpful resources
- Explore opportunities within existing networks, extended families, neighborhoods, community groups, and schools
- Monitor progress milestones regarding families and provide updates to members of the leadership team
- Complete and maintain accurate records, evaluations, and milestones to prepare comprehensive reports
- Demonstrate a positive, supportive, and professional relationship with all staff, families, volunteers, and the community
- Perform all duties and responsibilities in a manner consistent with DFR’s Mission, Values, Vision, and Principles of Family Support
- Promote public awareness of the work and philosophy of DFR

**Qualifications, Skills, and Experience**:

- Significant relevant life experience and/or a college diploma/degree in early childhood education, recreation and leisure studies or a related field
- Experience working with children in a direct support and/or family support capacity
- The ability to understand the rules and regulations related to educational placements
- Passion for collaborating with families who want to support their children within their own community. Willingness to interact with children regarding educational and personal care tasks
- Understanding of Universal Design concepts within the education system would be an asset
- Able to design and provide evaluation frameworks for educational initiatives including data collection, summaries, and outcomes
- SRV theory and experience in implementation is preferred
- Understanding of barriers individuals with disabilities face in the larger community
- Strong experience in a computerized environment including Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
- Excellent organizational and administrative skills with a high attention to detail

**Mandatory Requirements**:

- Must present a valid