Child Development Specialist / Program Assistant

The Child Development Specialist / Program Assistant provides child-development expertise and project support for Frontier Community Services’ Community Based Therapeutic Care and Family Supports initiative under the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP). Working with the Therapeutic Programs Coordinator, the position supports needs assessment, family and stakeholder engagement, therapeutic program design, workforce and training development, documentation, data and evaluation planning, partnership coordination, and implementation readiness. The role helps ensure the future model reflects developmental, FASD-informed, trauma-informed, behavioral, and family-centered practices while remaining operationally practical for rural Alaska.

Grant-funded direct clinical or direct service delivery is not part of this position during the planning period.

Knowledge, skills and abilities

• Child Development – Strong understanding of developmental, social-emotional, adaptive, behavioral, and learning needs of children.

• Family-Centered Practice – Ability to respectfully engage families and incorporate lived experience, strengths, priorities, and barriers into program planning.

• FASD and Trauma-Informed Practice – Knowledge of FASD-informed, trauma-informed, developmental, behavioral, and relationship-based approaches.

• Program Planning – Ability to translate child-development concepts into practical program, environmental, training, referral, and workflow recommendations.

• Data and Documentation – Ability to gather, organize, summarize, and accurately document stakeholder feedback, project data, decisions, action items, and planning materials.

• Partnership Coordination – Ability to work collaboratively with childcare, education, disability, behavioral-health, therapy, child-welfare, family-support, and community partners.

• Organization and Technology – Ability to manage multiple assignments and use standard office technology, shared documents, spreadsheets, virtual meeting platforms, and data-tracking tools.

• Confidentiality and Professional Judgment – Ability to safeguard child, family, employee, partner, and grant information and exercise sound professional judgment.

Essential functions

• Support the Therapeutic Programs Coordinator in carrying out the approved RHTP planning workplan and organizing project activities, deadlines, meetings, records, and deliverables.

• Assist with needs and gap analysis by gathering and organizing local information, stakeholder feedback, family perspectives, referral patterns, and service-access barriers.

• Participate in and help coordinate family listening sessions, partner meetings, focus groups, and community planning activities; document themes, decisions, action items, and follow-up needs.

• Provide child-development expertise to the design of therapeutic childcare and after-school models, including developmental supports, therapeutic play, social-emotional development, adaptive skills, individualized learning strategies, and family-centered practices.

• Help develop participant pathways, referral processes, intake concepts, care-coordination workflows, daily program concepts, documentation tools, and roles and responsibilities for a future implementation phase.

• Support research and organization of childcare licensing, SDS Day Habilitation, staffing qualification, documentation, training, and program-readiness requirements under the direction of project leadership and consultants.

• Assist with development of the workforce competency framework and future training plan, including trauma-informed care, FASD-informed practice, behavioral supports, Conscious Discipline/FASCETS concepts, child development, safety, and family engagement as appropriate to the final model.

• Support development and organization of draft policies, procedures, forms, checklists, workflow diagrams, training materials, and implementation-readiness documents.

• Coordinate logistics and follow-up with project partners, consultants, therapists, behavioral-health providers, ABA specialists, childcare resources, disability-service partners, and other stakeholders.

• Assist with evaluation planning by organizing baseline information, proposed outcomes, measures, data sources, data-collection responsibilities, and future reporting tools.

• Support sustainability and implementation planning by gathering information related to service demand, referral sources, staffing needs, training costs, program resources, and potential reimbursement or funding pathways.

• Assist with planning-only facility feasibility by documenting functional needs related to accessibility, child development, sensory environment, safety, and program flow; no construction or renovation is performed under this grant.

• Maintain complete and organized project files and assist with grant reporting, presentations, meeting materials, implementation timelines, and the final readiness package.

• Participate in local and in-state planning travel and model-observation activities as assigned and document relevant practices and lessons for future program design.

• Ensure assigned work remains within the approved planning scope and does not include grant-funded direct clinical or direct service delivery.

Additional job

Duties

• Flexibility to adapt to grant deadlines, family and stakeholder schedules, consultation activities, and agency priorities; occasional work outside normal hours may be required.

• Other related duties as assigned within the approved position and grant scope.

Physical demands

• Occasional standing and walking; frequent sitting, computer operation, meetings, and document preparation.

• Frequent reaching outward; occasional reaching above shoulder, bending, squatting, or kneeling.

• Occasionally lift or carry up to 20 pounds of office, meeting, or planning materials.

• Ability to travel locally throughout the Kenai Peninsula and occasionally within Alaska for stakeholder meetings, model observation, and planning activities.

Health and safety

Requirements

• Maintain practices, methods, operations, and processes reasonably necessary to provide a safe and healthful working environment.

• Maintain health and safety requirements in accordance with agency policy and procedures.

• Position is subject to applicable agency background screening and other employment requirements based on assigned duties.

Qualifications, education and experience required

• Bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, child development, special education, psychology, social work, human services, or a closely related field preferred; an associate degree with substantial directly related experience may be considered.

• Experience working with or supporting children with developmental delays, disabilities, FASD, behavioral health needs, trauma histories, or other complex support needs.

• Knowledge of child development and family-centered practice and ability to work collaboratively with families and multidisciplinary teams.

• Experience in Part C Early Intervention, early childhood special education, therapeutic childcare, developmental services, behavioral supports, or family navigation preferred.

• Knowledge of trauma-informed care, FASD-informed practice, Conscious Discipline, FASCETS, or similar developmental/behavioral approaches preferred.

• Experience assisting with program development, quality improvement, grant projects, data collection, training development, or policy/procedure development preferred.

• Valid driver’s license and ability to meet FCS driving requirements when driving for agency business.

• This is a time-limited, grant-funded position through June 30, 2027, subject to continued grant funding, approved scope, and organizational need.

Pay: $28.85 - $31.73 per hour Expected hours: 40.0 per week

Benefits

• Dental insurance

• Health insurance

• Life insurance

• Paid time off

• Tuition reimbursement

• Vision insurance

Work Location: In person