CFR designed the Senior Social Worker position to create additional professional development opportunities for program staff that go beyond direct client representation and case management and provide CFR with additional administrative and program support. Professional development opportunities will include supervision of staff and interns, increased training  opportunities and responsibilities, recruitment and management of Social Work interns, and working with supervisors and executive staff on strategic planning and overall management and improvement of the Youth Defense Practice (YDP). 

The Center for Family Representation Inc. (CFR) is an award-winning, innovative law and policy organization that serves primarily Black and Brown families and youth in Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx with an interdisciplinary legal defense model that serves more than 2400 clients every year. CFR was originally founded in 2002 to dramatically change the trajectory of indigent parents being prosecuted by the City’s Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). Our goal is to defend and protect our clients’ rights, reduce the harm of family separation and prevent or minimize the time any child spends in the foster system. CFR provides interdisciplinary family defense with a model that was unique at our founding and that is now being replicated nationally: we assign every client an attorney and a social work staff member.

As an agency committed to securing justice for families, we built the Youth Defense practice (YDP) to defend youth at risk of family separation through incarceration. YDP uses the same interdisciplinary model to represent youth being prosecuted in the Bronx, Queens and Manhattan in Juvenile Delinquency proceedings in Family Court. CFR’s Home for Good program provides legal and social work services to clients in immigration, civil legal services and criminal defense matters, to afford clients an efficient and well-coordinated one-stop solution to a range of issues that threaten family stability. 

CFR has an immediate opening for a Senior Social Worker for our Youth Defense Practice (YDP) in the Bronx. Objectives of YDP include providing high-quality, interdisciplinary representation to Adolescent Offenders (AOs) and JD/PINS clients, building CFR’s reputation with the Court, Corporation Counsel, Probation and other agencies serving these youth. Also building community partnerships that benefit clients, and engaging in systemic and organizational advocacy to improve support for juvenile justice engaged youth and their families. Objectives of CFR’s YDP also include demonstrating the effectiveness of the CFR collaborative model for serving YDP clients, and reducing recidivism.

Primary responsibilities will include: 

• Carry a caseload of (60-80% of full caseload)
• Supervise 1-2 MSW Social Work staff and/or interns of varying degrees of experience, who work in CFR’s interdisciplinary team model to represent YDP clients. 
• Work in partnership with the YDP Supervisors to help provide formal training to CFR’s YDP staff.  
• Help YDP Social Work staff develop mastery of skills and values introduced in initial and ongoing trainings which include: court advocacy (both verbal and written), interviewing clients, assessing their needs and providing appropriate service referrals. 

• Work collaboratively with YDP attorneys, social work staff, and paralegals to  represent youth both on Delinquency and PINS cases in Family Court, and at times in the Supreme Court Youth Part. 
• Provide social work support and advocacy to clients. 
• Prepare mitigation reports, pre-pleading memoranda, and other written advocacy materials on behalf of clients. 
• Engage  with the Court, Department of Probation, Sheriff’s Department, and other stakeholders on issues of practice administration. 
• Prepare for court appearances by conducting client interviews, assessing clients’ needs and goals, and ensuring clients are engaged in appropriate and meaningful services and educational plans. 
• Refer clients for necessary services (mental health services, Alternative to Detention and Alternative to Placement programs, recreational or job programs). 

• Maintain contact with service providers to obtain information and letters for court. 
• Advocate for clients with Probation and with any service providers working with a client as a result of a parole or dispositional order. 
• Keep up to date client legal notes and enter data in CFR’s case database. 
• Advocate for clients at conferences and other community settings.
• Conduct home, office and field visits as necessary (including Detention and Correctional facilities).    
• Develop dispositional plans and recommendations to prevent out-of-home placement.  
• Prepare youth and their families for Probation adjustment conferences, I&R  interviews, and MHS evaluations.  
• Provide educational advocacy and resources for clients. 

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  The Senior Social Worker will work in, and supervise Social Work staff in the Bronx but will have a primary office in either Manhattan or the Bronx and will be supervised by the YDP Social Worker Supervisor as well as the Directors responsible for YDP. Along with all supervisory and senior staff at CFR, this Senior Social Worker will work with other supervisors and senior staff as well as with the HR and Development staff, Training Supervisor, and Executive Director to inform decisions on strategic planning and overall program development and improvement for the entire agency. Such activities may include participation in administration, fundraising efforts, contract management, training, policy work, development, community outreach, progressive discipline, internships, recruitment and/or hiring and the agency’s work on the continuum of becoming an anti-racist organization, for the benefit of the youth we serve. 

• The ideal candidate will have familiarity with the law and procedure involving JD/PINS cases, Adolescent and Juvenile Offender cases, and service and education options available for juvenile justice-involved youth. 
• Experience working directly with juvenile justice-involved youth and their families, and some supervisory experience (can include interns).  
• LMSW is required and SIFI eligibility is preferred. 
• Fluency in Spanish or other languages and experience with public benefits, education, housing or immigration are all desirable.  
• Individuals who apply should be able to demonstrate strong interpersonal and communication skills, an aptitude for productive team problem-solving, a commitment to interdisciplinary representation of clients, and a desire to share in both the exhilaration and challenges of a growing endeavor. 

Salary

Annualized starting salary (based on years of experience):

$78,600 (3 years of experience) - $108,700 (18 years of experience)

For internal promotions, CFR uses the staff member's current salary level placement plus the appropriate stipend (i.e. $7500 for Senior Staff) when determining the above annualized salary.

Apply

Candidates should apply through CFR’s Career Portal.