HFA has four primary staff positions: (1) family support staff who conduct home visits with families; (2) family resource staff who conduct family and child assessments and sometimes screen families for enrollment in the program; (3) supervisors who provide administrative, clinical, and reflective supervision to family support and family resource staff; and (4) program managers who oversee program operations, funding, quality assurance, and evaluation.
The HFA National Office requires that direct service staff (family support and family resource staff) have a minimum of a high school diploma. It also requires that sites select staff based on their personal characteristics, including their experience working with or providing services to children and families; an ability to establish trusting relationships; acceptance of individual differences; their experience working with culturally diverse communities (that are present among the site’s intended population); their knowledge of infant and child development; their ability to maintain boundaries between personal and professional life; and their reflective capacity. The HFA National Office requires that supervisors have a bachelor’s degree and either three years of supervisory experience or a master’s degree with a clinical and reflective background. In addition, Infant Mental Health Endorsement is preferred, but not required, for all supervisors.
The HFA National Office requires each direct service staff member to receive a minimum of 1.5 to 2.0 hours of individualized supervision per week to provide them with skill development and professional support and hold them accountable for the quality of their work. Supervision sessions include administrative, clinical, and reflective supervision practices. In addition, supervisors shadow direct service staff at least twice per year to monitor and assess their performance and provide constructive feedback and professional development.
Before providing services, the HFA National Office requires affiliated sites to provide orientation training to supervisors, program managers, and direct service staff. The training includes information about the challenges faced by the community’s families, the local resources available to support those families, and staff safety and confidentiality. HFA core training is a mandatory four-day seminar delivered by nationally certified HFA trainers. The trainers provide separate trainings for family support staff (home visitors) and family resource staff. Supervisors and program managers attend each training and an additional day focused on administrative, clinical, and reflective supervision.
The HFA National Office requires staff to participate in ongoing professional development. Within 12 months of hire, supervisors, program managers, and direct service staff must complete wrap-around training on multiple topics. The HFA National Office offers affiliated sites more than 38 hours of distance learning modules and/or recorded webinars that meet all the mandatory training requirements within 3, 6, and 12 months of hire. Supervisors, program managers, and direct service staff must participate in annual ongoing training after the first year of employment based on staff need.