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, and the Bronx with an interdisciplinary legal defense model that serves more than 2400 clients every year. In 2024, CFR will expand our family defense practice to Richmond County. 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, and teams have the support of parent advocates, who are parents with direct personal experience of being investigated and prosecuted by ACS. CFR was the first agency in the country to integrate parents with lived experience into legal teams and now has 76 parent advocates working in all three of our family defense locations. CFR’s Community Advocacy Project represents parents during a child protective investigation (to avoid court involvement where possible) and assists parents in clearing their names from state maltreatment records.
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 Queens and Manhattan in Supreme Court Youth Parts, during Probation Adjustment and in Delinquency proceedings in Family Court. CFR’s Home for Good program provides legal and social work services to CFR 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.
Recognized as experts in our fields, we annually train over 500 practitioners in the city, state and around the country on strategies to promote family preservation and interdisciplinary representation, and we provide community based “Know Your Rights” presentations to parents, youth and service providers. We advocate at the city, state and national level for policies that reduce the harm of family separation, and promote parent engagement and justice for youth and families.
The Parent Advocate Director, in partnership with other CFR’s other Directors and the Senior Leadership Team is responsible for working with and supporting our new and current Parent Advocates to build upon and grow the work of our Parent Advocates. Some of the responsibilities of the Parent Advocate Director will be to recruit, orient, train and supervise new Parent Advocates at the staff and management level; leadership and active engagement with DEIB activities at CFR; practice administration; professional development processes; problem solving in all areas of staff, program, and client management; and become an active member of the social work staff in all boroughs. This position reports directly to the Managing Director of Social Work.
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Practice Stewardship
Participate in routine and regular management meetings to discuss agency-wide routines, concerns, policies, best practices, etc.;
Deliver a variety of written and oral communications to staff including practice resources, internal memos, and important practice and administrative issues, via email and on an individual basis;
Work with CFR’s Senior Leadership Team and Social Work Directors to strategize staffing for the agency;
Where appropriate, provide assistance and guidance in the development of new practice areas and collaborate with CFR’s other practice areas to benefit all clients;
Work closely with the Executive Director and other internal and external stakeholders to identify ways to bring more impacted voices into CFR;
Participate in internal committees that further the overall functionality of CFR as identified by Managing Director of Social Work, Executive Director, and other members of the Senior Leadership Team
Support the work of CFR’s Policy Team as necessary, including providing testimony at the local and state level.
Location: CFR is a primarily in-person workforce. This role is not based in any one office. The Parent Advocate Director will be expected to have a presence in all of CFR’s offices. CFR has a generous telecommuting policy that allows staff the flexibility to work remotely when there are no in-person client or organizational obligations. However, Directors should expect to be in person frequently as the practice grows.
Travel: All Director level staff may be asked to provide temporary support to other boroughs if the organizational need arises. Travel to conferences and work events may also be required.
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At least 6 years of experience in Article 10/TPR family court proceedings.
Supervisory experience
Experience with administration and training.
Strong interpersonal communication skills, demonstrated sensitivity to DEIB issues, teamwork skills and an aptitude for problem solving and management of staff.
Strong time management skills and ability to delegate
Familiarity with community resources and supports in New York City
Experience working alongside attorneys and social work staff
A demonstrated commitment to CFR’s mission and core values
Ideal Candidates will also have:
An interest in strategic planning
Clear understanding of the disparities within the family policing system
A demonstrated commitment to building community and institutional partnerships
Familiarity with relevant NYC and NYS stakeholders in the family policing space
Familiarity with available resources in all boroughs
Candidates should submit their completed application by Friday, July 5, 2024.