Overview

The Center for Family Representation, Inc., (CFR) is an award-winning, innovative law and policy organization that was founded in 2002 to dramatically change the trajectory of indigent families impacted by child welfare and to reduce the number of children entering foster care. CFR introduced a new model of legal services to parents charged with abuse or neglect: we assign every client an attorney and a social work staff member, and teams are additionally supported by Parent Advocates. CFR’s Parent Advocates are parents with direct personal experience of being impacted by the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS), such as having been investigated or prosecuted by ACS or lost temporary custody of their children to foster care or otherwise due to the ACS involvement. CFR was the first agency in the country to integrate parents with lived experience into legal teams. Beginning with just a handful of staff, CFR now has more than 120 staff serving more than 2400 parents annually in Manhattan and Queens. CFR has been the primary, county-wide provider of legal services to indigent parents in Manhattan Family Court since 2007 and in Queens Family Court since 2011. In 2015, CFR expanded its practice to provide legal and social work services to parents in immigration, civil legal services and criminal defense matters. In 2019, we launched two new initiatives: a Youth Defense Practice that provides holistic, interdisciplinary defense to youth being prosecuted in the Family Court, and in the Youth Parts in Manhattan and Queens Supreme Courts; and a Community Advocacy Project, to represent parents during a child protective investigation (prior to court involvement) and to assist parents in clearing their names from state maltreatment records. We regularly train over 500 practitioners annually around the country on strategies to promote family preservation and on holistic, interdisciplinary representation and advocate at the city, state and national level for policies that promote parent engagement and justice for families.

CFR has an immediate opening for a Family Advocate in our Bronx, Manhattan, and Queens offices.

Family Advocates are members of the social work staff whose primary responsibilities will include:

  • Work collaboratively with attorneys representing parents in Child Protective (Article 10) and Termination of Parental Rights proceedings in Family Court. Teams are comprised of attorneys, social work staff, paralegals and parent advocates (parents who have successfully reunified with their children). Objectives of the teams include:
  • shortening lengths of stay for children in foster care; 
  • promoting quality visiting arrangements; and
  • ensuring that families receive services that are well-tailored to expediting safe and lasting reunification;
  • Provide direct social work support and advocacy to client;
  • Conduct intake and client interviews, assess clients’ needs and goals, and ensure clients are engaged in appropriate and meaningful service plans;
  • Maintain contact with service providers, and advocating for clients at ACS and foster care agency conferences;
  • Advocating for clients at ACS and foster care agency conferences;
  • Participate in team meetings as well as administrative meetings within CFR.

 

Family Advocates receive supervision from Social Work Supervisors and are expected to keep case data and client legal notes, and files up to date. Family Advocates joining CFR can expect intensive, interdisciplinary training on CFR’s Cornerstone Advocacy model, child welfare, family court, client interviewing and other critical skills. CFR is dedicated to providing ongoing professional development in all these areas in a variety of training forums for all staff.

Qualifications:

  • Applicants must have a Bachelor’s degree, preferably with some prior experience with the NYC child welfare, education, housing or public benefits’ systems or other social justice experience.
  • Applicants should be able to demonstrate a strong undergraduate academic record, strong interpersonal and communication. skills, a commitment to supporting families, and a desire to share in both the exhilaration and challenges of a growing endeavor.
  • Fluency in Spanish or other foreign language is highly desirable.
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