Kidstart Practitioner

**Roles & Responsibilities**

KidSTART Singapore Ltd. (KSL) was incorporated as a Company Limited by Guarantee (CLG) under the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF) in Sep 2020 to implement the KidSTART programme nationwide. The KidSTART programme provides upstream support to children from low-income families in the areas of early childhood development, health and social support.

**Description of Division/Branch**

You will be part of the KidSTART Practitioner Team under the Service Management Division. KidSTART Practitioners (KSPs) deliver a range of child development strategies by supporting parents through home visits and support groups, and to assess and monitor the progress of children’s health and development. KSPs also promote parent-child bonding and promote child development by actively engaging families and working with social/ community partners and government agencies to ensure the needs of children and their families are addressed holistically.

**Responsibilities**

To provide support, guidance, knowledge and skills to enhance parents' capacity in child development through regular and consistent home visits.
- Possess sound assessment skills on the needs and risks of children/parents/caregivers to ascertain the intensity and customisation of intervention.
- Build rapport, engagement and cultivate a positive relationship with parents/caregivers to ensure that child development knowledge and skills are imparted effectively.
- Create and facilitate learning opportunities for parents in the areas of parent-child interaction, development-centred parenting and family well-being.
- Motivate, assess and enhance the parents' ability to conduct, practise and incorporate the knowledge and skills in child development.
- Conduct screening and ongoing assessment of child development, maternal and family wellbeing.
- Provide information and knowledge on medical, dental, mental health services, early childhood development, developmental issues, with support from a multi-disciplinary team comprising paediatricians and nurses, allied health professionals, early childhood and social work consultants.
- Collaborate and partner community and social service agencies (eg. FSCs, SSOs) to provide the necessary support for the families and their children, which includes regular case conferences and discussions.
- Participate actively and contribute to discussions in team meetings, supervision sessions, training and multidisciplinary case reviews.
- Conduct coaching and mentoring/supervision for new KidSTART Practitioners (post of Senior KidSTART Practitioners)
- Participate and be involved in the regular reviews of existing programmes and processes with the team
- Committed to and participate in the evaluation and fidelity monitoring of service delivery through consistency in administrative work, provision of data and information on cases in a timely manner.
- Contribute to the development and organisation of group sessions/activities to reinforce child development knowledge and skills, mental wellbeing of caregivers, and create opportunities for peer support among caregivers.
- Support in outreach efforts to reach out and recruit new families to join the Home Visitation Programme.

**Competencies**
- Degree in Early Childhood Development, Psychology, Nursing, Social Work, Counselling or equivalent
- Passionate and committed to work with caregivers and their children
- Empathetic towards the needs and challenges of caregivers
- Excellent team player with good interpersonal and communication skills
- Capacity to reflect on key strengths and needs and motivated to enhance personal effectiveness and efficiency at work
- Flexible, nimble and able to adapt to organisational changes typical of start-up organisations
- Motivated towards learning and professional development
- Willing and able to work on some weekday evenings and weekends
- 3-5 years of work experience in the early childhood development or social service sector and familiar with the needs of low-income families
- At least 3 years of experience in supervisory responsibilities with a good track record (for the post of Senior KidSTART Practitioner)